Northern Isabela & Fernandina
Today we had an absolutely magical day, and not one of our guests has any doubt why these marvelous islands are called Las Islas Encantadas! Although many of us had expected to sleep in a bit this morning, Naturalist Ernesto called me at 0600 shouting, cachalote! I was dressed in less than a minute, as that translates to: "sperm whale"! Ahead he had spotted the tell-tale slanting left waterspout of a sperm.
I must admit that I was slightly hesitant to make a loud, ship wide wake-up call; sperm whales so often breathe a few times on the surface and then fluke up and dive for an hour or more. I feared that I would wake the entire ship, and all for nothing. I couldn’t have been more wrong and I sure am glad I did make that call!
We spent about 45 minutes following the whale. He was not diving deep; he would surface, breath and log, then roll under to feed, and within 10 minutes he would surface and begin spouting again. The last time we spied him, about a half mile to the stern of the National Geographic Islander, we decided to turn back once more for a final look at this whale we had named “Wally.” Good decision! Wally logged for 10 minutes as we approached cautiously, everyone could see his odd humped back and bulbous head, and then he turned towards us, lifted his huge smooth head out of the water, rolled on his side and splashed his flukes as he dove. We cheered and hollered in approval and with great satisfaction, we left him to continue feeding, as we too descended to the breakfast buffet.
We crossed the equator with fanfare and now all have certificates proclaiming that we are “Galápagos Shellbacks.” Captain Carlos Garcia anchored the ship off the “chin” of the sea horse shaped island of Isabela. We headed out in the Zodiacs for a panga ride along the coast and were thrilled with excellent sightings of huge iguanas and sea lions, penguins and boobies, sea turtles and cormorants in a landscape of dramatic cliffs and jumbled lava boulders.
Returning to the ship we wiggled into our wetsuits and jumped into the rubber boats again for our first deep water snorkeling session. We spent more than an hour swimming and utterly fascinated by the underwater world. The visibility was superb and the list of creatures that delighted us is long. In an hour’s time, who else has ever snorkeled with: penguins, diamond sting rays, flightless cormorants, sea lions, fur seals, marine iguanas, marbled sting rays, zillions of fish of more than a dozen species and over 30 sea turtles!! Not that many people on earth, I am sure. This was “as good as it gets” for snorkeling in Galápagos! The turtles were particularly amazing, as most were sleeping quietly on the sandy bottom and we could float above them only a couple meters away. We were exuberant and reluctant to end the snorkeling; but the tradition Ecuadorian lunch that awaited us on board was also worth our attention.
The afternoon walk over the pahoehoe lava flows at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina, one of the most pristine islands in the world, was also amazing. We strolled among huge piles of marine iguanas, watched a new born sea lion finally connect with his mother to suckle, found the endemic lizard eating Galápagos constrictor snake, observed and photographed a small yellow sea turtle hauled out on the beach, examined an aborted sea lion fetus still in the birth sac, and saw an unborn pup moving in its mother’s belly. We witnessed first hand the struggle for survival and felt the throb of life under our very feet as we hiked on the wild shores of Fernandina. Yes, it was a magical day today in the enchanted islands of Galápagos!
Today we had an absolutely magical day, and not one of our guests has any doubt why these marvelous islands are called Las Islas Encantadas! Although many of us had expected to sleep in a bit this morning, Naturalist Ernesto called me at 0600 shouting, cachalote! I was dressed in less than a minute, as that translates to: "sperm whale"! Ahead he had spotted the tell-tale slanting left waterspout of a sperm.
I must admit that I was slightly hesitant to make a loud, ship wide wake-up call; sperm whales so often breathe a few times on the surface and then fluke up and dive for an hour or more. I feared that I would wake the entire ship, and all for nothing. I couldn’t have been more wrong and I sure am glad I did make that call!
We spent about 45 minutes following the whale. He was not diving deep; he would surface, breath and log, then roll under to feed, and within 10 minutes he would surface and begin spouting again. The last time we spied him, about a half mile to the stern of the National Geographic Islander, we decided to turn back once more for a final look at this whale we had named “Wally.” Good decision! Wally logged for 10 minutes as we approached cautiously, everyone could see his odd humped back and bulbous head, and then he turned towards us, lifted his huge smooth head out of the water, rolled on his side and splashed his flukes as he dove. We cheered and hollered in approval and with great satisfaction, we left him to continue feeding, as we too descended to the breakfast buffet.
We crossed the equator with fanfare and now all have certificates proclaiming that we are “Galápagos Shellbacks.” Captain Carlos Garcia anchored the ship off the “chin” of the sea horse shaped island of Isabela. We headed out in the Zodiacs for a panga ride along the coast and were thrilled with excellent sightings of huge iguanas and sea lions, penguins and boobies, sea turtles and cormorants in a landscape of dramatic cliffs and jumbled lava boulders.
Returning to the ship we wiggled into our wetsuits and jumped into the rubber boats again for our first deep water snorkeling session. We spent more than an hour swimming and utterly fascinated by the underwater world. The visibility was superb and the list of creatures that delighted us is long. In an hour’s time, who else has ever snorkeled with: penguins, diamond sting rays, flightless cormorants, sea lions, fur seals, marine iguanas, marbled sting rays, zillions of fish of more than a dozen species and over 30 sea turtles!! Not that many people on earth, I am sure. This was “as good as it gets” for snorkeling in Galápagos! The turtles were particularly amazing, as most were sleeping quietly on the sandy bottom and we could float above them only a couple meters away. We were exuberant and reluctant to end the snorkeling; but the tradition Ecuadorian lunch that awaited us on board was also worth our attention.
The afternoon walk over the pahoehoe lava flows at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina, one of the most pristine islands in the world, was also amazing. We strolled among huge piles of marine iguanas, watched a new born sea lion finally connect with his mother to suckle, found the endemic lizard eating Galápagos constrictor snake, observed and photographed a small yellow sea turtle hauled out on the beach, examined an aborted sea lion fetus still in the birth sac, and saw an unborn pup moving in its mother’s belly. We witnessed first hand the struggle for survival and felt the throb of life under our very feet as we hiked on the wild shores of Fernandina. Yes, it was a magical day today in the enchanted islands of Galápagos!
