Isabela and Fernandina Islands
We woke up with the view of the northern shore of Isabela Island, the largest, formed by six shield volcanoes. After breakfast we crossed the equator line to later enjoy a brief encounter with a whale, most probably a tropical whale and a few bottle-nose dolphins as well. A pirate came on board on behalf of King Neptune to provide certificates of the crossing to everyone on board. After being dubbed “Galápagos Shellbacks” we boarded the Zodiacs for a ride that took us pretty close to Ocean sun fish, green sea turtles, flightless cormorants and penguins. Some of our guests also joined the marine creatures and off they went snorkeling among lots of turtles feeding on algae and fast moving cormorants, which do fly underwater.
In the afternoon we landed on Punta Espinoza, a magical site on Fernandina Island. Dozens of frigates flew around, picking up mysterious items from the surface. We later discovered that there were hundreds of squids in the area, a feast for frigates and petrels; however boobies and pelicans ignored it all - it seems that they are not fond of squid, so they stood on their rocks oblivious to the feeding. We saw the cutest sea lions, and the largest marine iguanas and even a Galápagos snake was discovered in the area. Fernandina had a beautiful light and many got to see the green flash right at sunset time. We all loved our Tuesday on the western realm of the Galápagos.
We woke up with the view of the northern shore of Isabela Island, the largest, formed by six shield volcanoes. After breakfast we crossed the equator line to later enjoy a brief encounter with a whale, most probably a tropical whale and a few bottle-nose dolphins as well. A pirate came on board on behalf of King Neptune to provide certificates of the crossing to everyone on board. After being dubbed “Galápagos Shellbacks” we boarded the Zodiacs for a ride that took us pretty close to Ocean sun fish, green sea turtles, flightless cormorants and penguins. Some of our guests also joined the marine creatures and off they went snorkeling among lots of turtles feeding on algae and fast moving cormorants, which do fly underwater.
In the afternoon we landed on Punta Espinoza, a magical site on Fernandina Island. Dozens of frigates flew around, picking up mysterious items from the surface. We later discovered that there were hundreds of squids in the area, a feast for frigates and petrels; however boobies and pelicans ignored it all - it seems that they are not fond of squid, so they stood on their rocks oblivious to the feeding. We saw the cutest sea lions, and the largest marine iguanas and even a Galápagos snake was discovered in the area. Fernandina had a beautiful light and many got to see the green flash right at sunset time. We all loved our Tuesday on the western realm of the Galápagos.
