Isabela & Fernandina Islands
Early in the morning we found ourselves on the northern hemisphere headed towards the equinox; meanwhile, our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero and Naturalist Ernesto Vaca searched for whales and sea birds. After breakfast we all reunited at the bridge to witness crossing 0° latitude on the display of our GPS device and so leading towards the southern hemisphere; we all crossed the “Equator” colorfully. Our first outing was a Zodiac ride along the shore of the largest island of the Galápagos, Isabela Island. This place looks barren from a distance, but once close, the lava rock seemed to come to life. Marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, Pacific green sea turtles, ocean sun fish, majestic cliffs, blues skies, gentle breeze. Needless to say, our guests were astounded by the ecology and geology of this place; it's just simply magical.
We went back on board for a well deserved lunch while the National Geographic Islander repositioned to Fernandina Island for a dry landing. An impressive amount of marine iguanas, which blended in with the black lava rock, flightless cormorants and Sally Lightfoot crabs, and of course we should always mention our ever-present friends the Galápagos sea lions. Our expedition continues on as we reached the pinnacle of our journey in a place which no words can ever define – “The Enchanted Islands”.
