Isabela & Fernandina Islands
After spending our first three days in the central—and oldest—part of the archipelago, we set our course toward the western region of this enchanted paradise, composed of the youngest islands in the Galápagos. As the sun was rising, our dear guests were coming little by little to the outer decks to enjoy the view of an amazing volcanic landscape. Wolf volcano was spectacular, with its sitting clouds, typical of this time of the year. As we were heading for our Equatorial line crossing, we spotted storm petrels, Galápagos petrels, frigate birds, sea lions, turtles, and Galápagos shearwaters.
Following our Equator-crossing ceremony, we observed one of the most amazing geological formations in Galápagos: Ecuador volcano. Isabela and Fernandina islands have some the most active volcanoes in the world, one of the main reasons their landscapes look so barren.
Galápagos is bathed by three main currents: the Panama, Humboldt and Cromwell currents. The latter is the most important for the western part of the archipelago. The great amount of nutrients this enormous upwelling current brings to the surface is one of the reasons we were so successful in finding many marine creatures. We continue our morning adventure with a Zodiac ride to explore the coast line of Ecuador volcano. After a successful Zodiac ride, where Galápagos penguins, cormorants and many other species were seen, we finished our morning activities snorkeling in the area. The main attractions were many sea turtles and more Galápagos penguins. We even saw a huge Manta ray and the mighty sunfish.
Our final activity of the day took place in Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island. We went on a hike to explore the, geologically speaking, new terrain of the island. The largest marine iguanas in the archipelago are found here, everywhere you look. Punta Espinoza is also the best place in the Galápagos to have a close look at an excellent example of biological evolution: the flightless cormorant.
We came back on board to observe a magical sunset from the foredeck of the ship, marking the end of a fascinating day cruising the western realms of the Galápagos.
