Isabela and Fernandina
The islands historically known as “Islas de los Galapagos,” due to their most astonishing inhabitants (Galapagos being an old Spanish word for saddle, which was used to describe the giant tortoises), are actually the tips of huge oceanic volcanoes that have emerged from what was once the unbroken Pacific Ocean.
The bases of these volcanoes are joined to form an extensive platform, meaning that the waters between the central islands are relatively shallow (600 to 1200 feet or so). The Galapagos platform ends just west of the westernmost island of Fernandina, where the water depths plunge down to thousands of feet. The most important oceanic current to affect the Galapagos ecosystems is the cold and nutrient-rich Cromwell Current, travelling from the west. As it encounters the Galapagos platform it upwells, thus bringing these nutrients to the surface and entraining high levels of productivity to the area. As a result of this, waters are rich here, and abundant algal growth covers the shorelines of Isabela and Fernandina.
This high productivity supports abundant marine life, including the largest and most numerous marine iguana populations in the islands and seeming herds of the Pacific green turtles grazing of the coastal algae.
As we sailed through the swirling mists that partially covered the towering volcanoes of the area, we were all on watch for any marine life that could appear, and we were richly awarded with glimpses of oceanic sunfish, bottle-nosed dolphin and the rare but beautiful striped dolphin.
The snorkeling option allowed us to swim amongst dozens of blissfully-unaware grazing turtles, whilst the ensuing Zodiac rides and walks brought us to closer contact with the unique, pioneering Galapagos penguin and that most emblematic of oceanic creatures, the flightless cormorant.
Here we truly are in a world away from worlds, almost a parallel universe where humans are in harmony with nature, rather than at war with it.
The islands historically known as “Islas de los Galapagos,” due to their most astonishing inhabitants (Galapagos being an old Spanish word for saddle, which was used to describe the giant tortoises), are actually the tips of huge oceanic volcanoes that have emerged from what was once the unbroken Pacific Ocean.
The bases of these volcanoes are joined to form an extensive platform, meaning that the waters between the central islands are relatively shallow (600 to 1200 feet or so). The Galapagos platform ends just west of the westernmost island of Fernandina, where the water depths plunge down to thousands of feet. The most important oceanic current to affect the Galapagos ecosystems is the cold and nutrient-rich Cromwell Current, travelling from the west. As it encounters the Galapagos platform it upwells, thus bringing these nutrients to the surface and entraining high levels of productivity to the area. As a result of this, waters are rich here, and abundant algal growth covers the shorelines of Isabela and Fernandina.
This high productivity supports abundant marine life, including the largest and most numerous marine iguana populations in the islands and seeming herds of the Pacific green turtles grazing of the coastal algae.
As we sailed through the swirling mists that partially covered the towering volcanoes of the area, we were all on watch for any marine life that could appear, and we were richly awarded with glimpses of oceanic sunfish, bottle-nosed dolphin and the rare but beautiful striped dolphin.
The snorkeling option allowed us to swim amongst dozens of blissfully-unaware grazing turtles, whilst the ensuing Zodiac rides and walks brought us to closer contact with the unique, pioneering Galapagos penguin and that most emblematic of oceanic creatures, the flightless cormorant.
Here we truly are in a world away from worlds, almost a parallel universe where humans are in harmony with nature, rather than at war with it.
