Fernandina and Isabela Islands
Today the National Geographic Endeavour navigated to the western side of the archipelago, where the youngest islands are found and pristine life is plentiful everywhere you look. After finding some Bryde’s whales along our route, we disembarked on a young lava field at Espinoza Point (the only visitor site on Fernandina).
Hundreds of marine iguanas welcomed us as they were basking under the sun; flightless cormorants were seen along the coast and many sea turtles were feeding on green algae in the shallow tide pools. What’s fascinating about Galápagos is the fact that one can travel back in time as we move between islands to the west; on Fernandina you certainly get the idea of how the islands were before humans got here.
During the afternoon, we anchored at the northern side of Isabela (the largest of all the islands), a young island full of volcanoes. We had a zodiac ride along the giant cliffs of this wonderful visitor site known as Punta Vicente Roca, where we were lucky to spot a large colony of the Galápagos fur seals, Galápagos penguins, as well as the Pacific green sea turtles. Many shore and marine birds were resting on the tuff walls of this visitor site.
After a great day exploring two pristine islands, we crossed the equator line and celebrated another day in the enchanted islands.
