Isabela & Fernandina Islands
It is early morning, the sun is above the horizon creating a very bright, blue sky, and some of us are already on the sky deck. We are circumnavigating Roca Redonda, a small rock north of the Equator, a safe place for seabirds, no predators, home for them. We searched the place trying to identify some of their inhabitants, and after that, we moved on to our next stop, Isabela Island, the largest in the archipelago.
On our way there, we happen to cross the Equator Line, and a spectacular view of Volcano Ecuador was in front of us; a major event happened, perhaps a couple of hundred thousands years ago, left the caldera of that volcano exposed and allowed us to see the inside of this incredible landscape.
We didn’t know though, that at the same moment we invaded the kingdom of Neptune, God of the seas, who came aboard, very disappointed. How could we dare to enter his kingdom without his permission! Therefore every young member of this expedition around the Galápagos Islands had to pay; Iguana blood they had to drink, or else...
After that (there were no victims after all), the anchor fell at Punta Vicente Roca and as soon as we could, everybody jumped into the “Pangas”. We wanted to see what Isabela has to offer: young volcanic formations, unusual wildlife such as flightless cormorants, and penguins… on the Equator? Green sea turtles were spotted everywhere and some of us even got the opportunity to see Mola mola, an odd looking huge fish, and almost right after before the morning was over we snorkeled in the same place, and got plenty of opportunities to be near these very gracious creatures – “the turtles”.
On our way to Fernandina we had common dolphins as traveling companions for a short while, but time enough to let us see how small and playful they are. Upon arrival we went ashore, to get the feeling of the youngest island of the Archipelago. It is so young that hardly anything grows there, only a few plants such as mangroves and lava cactus; it is so inhospitable that only a few creatures survive there, like marine iguanas, piles and piles blending with the lava, also the top predator of the island was there, the hawk, who flew above our heads, reminding us that this is such a rugged environment but awesome at the same time.
It is early morning, the sun is above the horizon creating a very bright, blue sky, and some of us are already on the sky deck. We are circumnavigating Roca Redonda, a small rock north of the Equator, a safe place for seabirds, no predators, home for them. We searched the place trying to identify some of their inhabitants, and after that, we moved on to our next stop, Isabela Island, the largest in the archipelago.
On our way there, we happen to cross the Equator Line, and a spectacular view of Volcano Ecuador was in front of us; a major event happened, perhaps a couple of hundred thousands years ago, left the caldera of that volcano exposed and allowed us to see the inside of this incredible landscape.
We didn’t know though, that at the same moment we invaded the kingdom of Neptune, God of the seas, who came aboard, very disappointed. How could we dare to enter his kingdom without his permission! Therefore every young member of this expedition around the Galápagos Islands had to pay; Iguana blood they had to drink, or else...
After that (there were no victims after all), the anchor fell at Punta Vicente Roca and as soon as we could, everybody jumped into the “Pangas”. We wanted to see what Isabela has to offer: young volcanic formations, unusual wildlife such as flightless cormorants, and penguins… on the Equator? Green sea turtles were spotted everywhere and some of us even got the opportunity to see Mola mola, an odd looking huge fish, and almost right after before the morning was over we snorkeled in the same place, and got plenty of opportunities to be near these very gracious creatures – “the turtles”.
On our way to Fernandina we had common dolphins as traveling companions for a short while, but time enough to let us see how small and playful they are. Upon arrival we went ashore, to get the feeling of the youngest island of the Archipelago. It is so young that hardly anything grows there, only a few plants such as mangroves and lava cactus; it is so inhospitable that only a few creatures survive there, like marine iguanas, piles and piles blending with the lava, also the top predator of the island was there, the hawk, who flew above our heads, reminding us that this is such a rugged environment but awesome at the same time.
