Isabela & Fernandina
Early in the morning we found ourselves navigating on the western part of the archipelago. An early wake up call was offered by our Expedition Leader Paula Tagle, and sure enough there it was as promised: Roca Redonda, which was surrounded by all kinds of seabirds making a wide range of sounds while the waves blasted the cliffs and the breeze brought an echo.
National Geographic Polaris circumnavigated and soon after we proceed to our next destination, Isabela Island. From the northern to southern hemisphere we crossed the equator and were violently boarded by King Neptune Rex and his wife Queen Nereida Morena. Their pirates immediately held our younger guests responsible: “a sacrifice shall take place!”. We urged his majesty for his lenience, and so he allowed us to continue on, after being blessed as a Galápagos Shellbacks, to our next destination of Isabela Island.
At Isabele we Zodiac cruised along the shores in search of penguins, cormorants, sea lions and green pacific turtles to mention a few. Soon after water activities as we had wonderful close encounters with these gentile reptiles the tortoises. What a breathtaking experience.
We navigated on towards our next destination, Fernandina, while lunching, playing and talking about Darwin.
This place is a favorite for many; a pristine island with iguanas, cormorants, sea lions and geological features like recent lava flows and an impressive majestic volcano called La Cumber. Naturalist Tommy Acosta summoned us to see a perfectly camouflaged octopus as soon as we stepped onto the shoreline. We continued had many wonderful sigthings: tons of iguanas, a floating placenta close to a female sea lion and a newborn baby which had a hard time finding mommy’s nipple (but finally succeeded to our relief), a green pacific turtle on the shore and finally Graciela Cevallos called for us to see a Fernandina racer snake struggling while eating a baby marine iguana. Simply overwhelming to say the least… what a place! All these to take as a memorable experience of how fragile and wonderful this place is.
The sun set, and we all came back aboard to share our full exiting day on the western islands, as we departed for our next destination.
Early in the morning we found ourselves navigating on the western part of the archipelago. An early wake up call was offered by our Expedition Leader Paula Tagle, and sure enough there it was as promised: Roca Redonda, which was surrounded by all kinds of seabirds making a wide range of sounds while the waves blasted the cliffs and the breeze brought an echo.
National Geographic Polaris circumnavigated and soon after we proceed to our next destination, Isabela Island. From the northern to southern hemisphere we crossed the equator and were violently boarded by King Neptune Rex and his wife Queen Nereida Morena. Their pirates immediately held our younger guests responsible: “a sacrifice shall take place!”. We urged his majesty for his lenience, and so he allowed us to continue on, after being blessed as a Galápagos Shellbacks, to our next destination of Isabela Island.
At Isabele we Zodiac cruised along the shores in search of penguins, cormorants, sea lions and green pacific turtles to mention a few. Soon after water activities as we had wonderful close encounters with these gentile reptiles the tortoises. What a breathtaking experience.
We navigated on towards our next destination, Fernandina, while lunching, playing and talking about Darwin.
This place is a favorite for many; a pristine island with iguanas, cormorants, sea lions and geological features like recent lava flows and an impressive majestic volcano called La Cumber. Naturalist Tommy Acosta summoned us to see a perfectly camouflaged octopus as soon as we stepped onto the shoreline. We continued had many wonderful sigthings: tons of iguanas, a floating placenta close to a female sea lion and a newborn baby which had a hard time finding mommy’s nipple (but finally succeeded to our relief), a green pacific turtle on the shore and finally Graciela Cevallos called for us to see a Fernandina racer snake struggling while eating a baby marine iguana. Simply overwhelming to say the least… what a place! All these to take as a memorable experience of how fragile and wonderful this place is.
The sun set, and we all came back aboard to share our full exiting day on the western islands, as we departed for our next destination.
