I made our early optional wakeup call this morning at 0615 and soon many of us had gathered on the decks. It was a lovely day, breezy and cool but sunny, and the sea was calm. We saw a couple small pods of common dolphins that would not let us approach them, a leaping mobula ray, fur seals returning for a night of chasing fish and several species of sea birds, among which the endangered Galapagos dark-rumped petrel was the most outstanding. To the south we admired Wolf volcano which is the tallest volcano in the islands and the one that erupted just a month ago!
Roxana, our wellness specialist, was leading a group of guests in stretching on the sky deck and they were interrupted when a large pod of several hundred common dolphins appeared on the horizon! We approached them slowly and this time we had an excellent view of these sleek gray marine mammals with their cream colored flanks. They leapt and splashed and at one point sprinted ahead of us and we were delighted!
After breakfast we returned to the bridge and counted down as we crossed the equator into the southern hemisphere. We spied the blow of a Bryde’s whale and soon realized there were two of them, a mother and calf. This is a medium sized baleen whale and the whale species most often seen in the archipelago. They are difficult to follow as they dive and then return to the surface often far from where they were.
Captain Patricio Jaramillo had our boson drop anchor below the dramatic cliffs at Punta Vicente Roca and the crew lowered our fleet of four Zodiacs. Everyone went out for a spectacular cruise and enjoyed seeing marine iguanas, our first flightless cormorants, penguins, sea lions and other species of wildlife. The last morning activity (hard to believe we did all of this before lunch!) was snorkeling from the Zodiacs. The visibility was not optimal and the sea conditions were choppy, but we all saw dozens of sea turtles and some saw sharks, rays, penguins and cormorants!
We had a well-deserved and delicious buffet lunch followed by a nice siesta – interrupted near the end by another pair of Bryde’s whales - and then an entertaining talk about the Human History of Galapagos given by naturalist Enrique. The afternoon had cooled off by the time we disembarked on the lava flows of Punta Espinoza, Fernandina Island.
The afternoon walk was fantastic! Against the backdrop of the huge, barren shield volcano, we skirted tidal pools and hiked on pahoehoe lava among hundreds of marine iguanas, flightless cormorants and the ever charming Galapagos sea lions. We found a newborn sea lion pup with its umbilical cord still attached and some of us spotted a Galapagos racer snake.
As the sun set in a fiery orange ball and the entire sky blushed pink, we returned to the National Geographic Islander. We have had a full day, we have seen an amazing amount and variety of wildlife, and we are looking forward to the rest of our week in the magical Islas Encantadas!
