Isabela & Fernandina Island
We had to sail on board the National Geographic Islander the entire night to reach the western part of this archipelago. We started our adventure by going to the outer decks for cetacean observation. The wind was a bit chilly; this fact surprised all the natural history staff, because just two weeks ago the air was very warm. We know that cold water is replacing warm water this time of the year. This means a lot of nutrients are surfacing and seabirds are just getting ready to breed in Galápagos, due to the good condition available at sea. Marine iguanas were very relaxed because they have to save energy by piling among themselves. All these changes are necessary for the flora and fauna of this unique archipelago.
Before breakfast we spotted two sperm whales very close to the ship. This extraordinary event happened even before our daily program activity started.
After breakfast we headed to the outer decks again to celebrate our Equator crossing for a second time during the week. Finally we arrived at Punta Vicente Roca, where we went on Zodiac rides to see Galápagos penguins, Galápagos flightless cormorants, Pacific green sea turtles, Galápagos sea lions, blue-footed boobies, and Nazca boobies. The geological formation of these volcanoes was explained by our naturalist guides.
For the afternoon we had a new island to explore. Fernandina Island is the fifth largest island in the Galápagos National Park, and it has just one visitor site. Probably more than 99% of the island is still unexplored.
We first went deep water snorkeling with turtles, cormorants, penguins, sea lions, marine iguanas, and a lot of fish, and we finished our day exploring Fernandina with thousands of marine iguanas basking along the coastline. We also saw a few Galápagos cormorants that came just a few feet away from us, these creatures made us wonder how all these animals were able to adapt to new conditions to survive to become the famous Galápagos animals.
