Isabela & Fernandina Islands
The National Geographic Islander had been navigating all night long to reach the westernmost part of this archipelago; here we expect the unexpected, and indeed since early this morning we have been on the outside decks searching for marine mammals. Just after the crossing of the Equator line we spotted a whale, so our captain changed the course to have a better look at this elusive marine mammal.
The ship then continued navigating towards Ecuador volcano, which is a perfect cross-section of a huge shield volcano build up from the Galápagos submarine platform.
Late morning found us at Punta Vicente Roca where we had an amazing Zodiac ride; the whole place was teeming with wildlife such as marine turtles, iguanas swimming near the coast, penguins resting on the lava rocks and blue-footed boobies performing their famous plunge diving.
Once everybody came back onboard we decided to explore the same area again, but from a different perspective: snorkeling! It was great to see a lot species of tropical fishes plus some black sea turtles gracefully passing by and Galápagos flightless cormorant performing what they are known best for, diving.
In the afternoon we went ashore at Punta Espinoza on the island of Fernandina. This is a magical place; here we literally traveled back in time. A walk on this Punta gave us an idea of how the islands must have been at the very beginning of their formation. At first devoid of life, due to the very harsh environment the first colonizers found. But nowadays this area is home to hundreds of marine iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs and the ever present Galápagos sea lions. We all came back from the fulfilling walk and were already dreaming of more exiting things to come.
