Isabela & Fernandina Island
A beautiful clear sky and calm seas were announcing another spectacular day in the Galápagos Islands. We are now on the western side of the archipelago and the landscape was quite unique as we were surrounded by large young shield volcanoes, sailing down south and crossing the Equator Line. Traditions could not be missed and we had to celebrate the Equator crossing, asking permission from King Neptune and his pirates! That was a fun way to start the day!
And as soon as we were getting over all the laughter, Paula called us all onto the sky deck as some whales that had been spotted by the captain turned out to be a Tropical whale. We followed them for a while during our navigation down to Punta Vicente Roca.
When we finally set anchor, everyone was ready to go on the panga rides and we had a really good time observing all the different wildlife found in the area: penguins, flightless cormorants, fur seals, giant iguanas, boobies… and even the unexpected Mola mola (also know as the Ocean Sunfish). We then headed back to the National Geographic Polaris to get our snorkel gear and we were out again ready for a nice swim with the Pacific green sea turtles that were just everywhere we looked. Time passes by so fast when you are having fun, we were there for an hour watching the turtles swim in every direction around us; when it was time to get back on our ship and move on to our next site it felt as we were there just five minutes.
In the afternoon, we went for a land visit to Punta Espinoza on Fernandina island, the geologically youngest island of the archipelago. We could see the difference as we landed on beautiful lava fields full of Sally Lightfoot crabs and giant marine iguanas which we could see even though they blend in so well with the setting – one just walks by them without noticing until the last second! Turns out this place is one of the largest colonies and they just gather in huge groups one on top of each other to stay warm. As we continued our explorations we found a flightless cormorant colony and we observed one male coming back to his nest with seaweed in his beak; we wondered if it would then be put to use around the nest by the female to make it bigger or more comfortable.
Sea lions were basking in the sun, soaking up the beautiful afternoon and lovely breeze. Boobies and frigates were up in the sky, while we could see large numbers of sea turtles resting at the surface, probably catching some heat from the sun before it gets replaced by the beautiful moon that was already high in the sky when we went back to the National Geographic Polaris.
A beautiful clear sky and calm seas were announcing another spectacular day in the Galápagos Islands. We are now on the western side of the archipelago and the landscape was quite unique as we were surrounded by large young shield volcanoes, sailing down south and crossing the Equator Line. Traditions could not be missed and we had to celebrate the Equator crossing, asking permission from King Neptune and his pirates! That was a fun way to start the day!
And as soon as we were getting over all the laughter, Paula called us all onto the sky deck as some whales that had been spotted by the captain turned out to be a Tropical whale. We followed them for a while during our navigation down to Punta Vicente Roca.
When we finally set anchor, everyone was ready to go on the panga rides and we had a really good time observing all the different wildlife found in the area: penguins, flightless cormorants, fur seals, giant iguanas, boobies… and even the unexpected Mola mola (also know as the Ocean Sunfish). We then headed back to the National Geographic Polaris to get our snorkel gear and we were out again ready for a nice swim with the Pacific green sea turtles that were just everywhere we looked. Time passes by so fast when you are having fun, we were there for an hour watching the turtles swim in every direction around us; when it was time to get back on our ship and move on to our next site it felt as we were there just five minutes.
In the afternoon, we went for a land visit to Punta Espinoza on Fernandina island, the geologically youngest island of the archipelago. We could see the difference as we landed on beautiful lava fields full of Sally Lightfoot crabs and giant marine iguanas which we could see even though they blend in so well with the setting – one just walks by them without noticing until the last second! Turns out this place is one of the largest colonies and they just gather in huge groups one on top of each other to stay warm. As we continued our explorations we found a flightless cormorant colony and we observed one male coming back to his nest with seaweed in his beak; we wondered if it would then be put to use around the nest by the female to make it bigger or more comfortable.
Sea lions were basking in the sun, soaking up the beautiful afternoon and lovely breeze. Boobies and frigates were up in the sky, while we could see large numbers of sea turtles resting at the surface, probably catching some heat from the sun before it gets replaced by the beautiful moon that was already high in the sky when we went back to the National Geographic Polaris.
