Isabela & Fernandina Islands
Roca Redonda is a beautiful eroded volcano in the middle of the ocean, north of Isabela Island. Early morning we were circumnavigating the rock, looking for seabirds; these are really deep waters and therefore great feeding areas rich in plankton and fish.
After our circumnavigation, we officially crossed the equator line and became “shellbacks” a title given to us by Neptune Rex, King of the Seas (since we had just invaded his territory). Our younger guests had to pay a high fee, to allow us to continue with our journey.
Shortly afterwards we did a coastal exploration close to Ecuador Volcano on board our fleet of Zodiacs, followed by some deep water snorkelling. Since this is a place of upwelling in the Galápagos Islands, we found a great diversity of species in both land and water. Several of the highlights were ocean sun fish, flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, and the amount of sea turtles that we saw while we were snorkeling!
In the afternoon after a nice navigation towards the Bolivar Channel we finally arrived to the island of Fernandina which is a jewel in the crown of Galápagos, one of the few places that have remained really pristine without any introduced species.
We went on a delightful hike where we imagined this was how all the islands looked when recently formed. The landscape here is volcanic with mainly two different kinds of lava, the pahoehoe (ropey) and the aa (sharp). We walked on both of these hard surfaces, and then came back on board to soft comfort right in time for the sunset. What a great day full of emotions!
Roca Redonda is a beautiful eroded volcano in the middle of the ocean, north of Isabela Island. Early morning we were circumnavigating the rock, looking for seabirds; these are really deep waters and therefore great feeding areas rich in plankton and fish.
After our circumnavigation, we officially crossed the equator line and became “shellbacks” a title given to us by Neptune Rex, King of the Seas (since we had just invaded his territory). Our younger guests had to pay a high fee, to allow us to continue with our journey.
Shortly afterwards we did a coastal exploration close to Ecuador Volcano on board our fleet of Zodiacs, followed by some deep water snorkelling. Since this is a place of upwelling in the Galápagos Islands, we found a great diversity of species in both land and water. Several of the highlights were ocean sun fish, flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, and the amount of sea turtles that we saw while we were snorkeling!
In the afternoon after a nice navigation towards the Bolivar Channel we finally arrived to the island of Fernandina which is a jewel in the crown of Galápagos, one of the few places that have remained really pristine without any introduced species.
We went on a delightful hike where we imagined this was how all the islands looked when recently formed. The landscape here is volcanic with mainly two different kinds of lava, the pahoehoe (ropey) and the aa (sharp). We walked on both of these hard surfaces, and then came back on board to soft comfort right in time for the sunset. What a great day full of emotions!
