Roca Redonda, Isabela & Fernandina Islands
This morning we got up very early, with the hope of seeing something blowing from the surface of the sea, but nothing happened. Instead, we were greeted by thousands of sea birds.
Roca Redonda is one of the most spectacular geological formations in the Galápagos Archipelago. From the distance it looks like a glacier floating in the surface of the ocean. We continued our way back to the southern hemisphere again, and this time to enjoy the beauty of Ecuador Volcano; half of its caldera has collapsed into the sea, allowing the National Geographic Polaris to be inside of what was once a huge volcano.
But at that point our morning was far from getting over, our guests joined us for a Zodiac ride a long Bolivar Channel, in between Isabela and Fernandina Islands, this time searching for one of the oddest looking fish on earth, the Mola mola or Pacific Sunfish. Everyone was very happy to see this amazing, gigantic tail-less fish. After this adventure we went out for our last morning activity and this time in the water, we all enjoyed playing with sea lions and swimming with lots of turtles, cormorants, penguins and fish.
We repositioned our floating home to the youngest Island, Fernandina. As soon as we disembarked we were surrounded by hundreds of marine iguanas; there was no way to avoid them at all, so we had to walk over them making sure no marine iguana tails were in the way. This reminded me about Charles Darwin’s comment when he was in Santiago Island, in 1835. He mentioned not being able to found any empty space to place his tent.
Back to our afternoon activities, we walked over a nesting area for the largest marine iguanas; females were very busy digging their holes for laying eggs. In a few more weeks we’ll have lots of babies to decorate the coastal area.
At the end of the walk we also saw a nesting area of flightless cormorants. Charles Darwin didn’t mention anything about these seabirds, he probably never saw them in his visit to this living laboratory.
We came back on board just when the sun was setting below the horizon; it was like a very nice farewell to all the people that had set foot in this island.
This morning we got up very early, with the hope of seeing something blowing from the surface of the sea, but nothing happened. Instead, we were greeted by thousands of sea birds.
Roca Redonda is one of the most spectacular geological formations in the Galápagos Archipelago. From the distance it looks like a glacier floating in the surface of the ocean. We continued our way back to the southern hemisphere again, and this time to enjoy the beauty of Ecuador Volcano; half of its caldera has collapsed into the sea, allowing the National Geographic Polaris to be inside of what was once a huge volcano.
But at that point our morning was far from getting over, our guests joined us for a Zodiac ride a long Bolivar Channel, in between Isabela and Fernandina Islands, this time searching for one of the oddest looking fish on earth, the Mola mola or Pacific Sunfish. Everyone was very happy to see this amazing, gigantic tail-less fish. After this adventure we went out for our last morning activity and this time in the water, we all enjoyed playing with sea lions and swimming with lots of turtles, cormorants, penguins and fish.
We repositioned our floating home to the youngest Island, Fernandina. As soon as we disembarked we were surrounded by hundreds of marine iguanas; there was no way to avoid them at all, so we had to walk over them making sure no marine iguana tails were in the way. This reminded me about Charles Darwin’s comment when he was in Santiago Island, in 1835. He mentioned not being able to found any empty space to place his tent.
Back to our afternoon activities, we walked over a nesting area for the largest marine iguanas; females were very busy digging their holes for laying eggs. In a few more weeks we’ll have lots of babies to decorate the coastal area.
At the end of the walk we also saw a nesting area of flightless cormorants. Charles Darwin didn’t mention anything about these seabirds, he probably never saw them in his visit to this living laboratory.
We came back on board just when the sun was setting below the horizon; it was like a very nice farewell to all the people that had set foot in this island.
