Captain Jaramillo and our crew hauled up the anchor before midnight and we navigated north and then west through the night. In the wee hours of the morning we crossed the equator and all of our guests became “shellbacks.” Sunrise found us north of the largest island of the archipelago, Isabela. I gave an optional early wakeup call at 0615, and it was those who were up before my call who saw the first pod of common dolphins! We spotted two more groups of leaping and splashing dolphins – they never gave us a very good look, but we were delighted just to know they were out there. The morning was gorgeous with sunlight streaking through the clouds over Volcan Wolf and flying fish darting in front of the ship.
Soon after breakfast we crossed the equator, gathered in the bridge to watch the GPS counting down to 00.0, and then anchored below dramatic cliffs at the visitor site of Punta Vicente Roca. We boarded the National Geographic Islander’s fleet of Zodiacs and, with a naturalist in each, we cruised along the coast searching for both marine and terrestrial species. We saw marine iguanas, the males shaking their jowls as they set up territories along the shoreline, and our first flightless cormorants and more penguins. Nazca and blue-footed boobies perched on the cliffs and graceful noddy terns fluttered above the water, delicately grabbing tiny pieces of food from the sea. We returned to the ship with smiles on our faces.
Our next activity was snorkeling from the Zodiacs, and three Zodiacs went out with eager guests, and we had an amazing time! Water clarity was superb and the variety and abundance of wildlife incredible: sea turtles, sharks, cormorants, penguins, sea lions, yellow fin tuna, and dozens of other species of colorful fish. We don’t have the beautiful corals and huge number of fish species that I saw recently while on the Exotic Indonesia trip on the National Geographic Orion (the snorkeling there was some of the best in the world!), but where else on our planet can you see mammals, reptiles, fish, and birds in the water with you while snorkeling, and all within an hour? That is incredible – now we had even BIGGER smiles!
In the afternoon, following lunch, siesta and an interesting talk given by naturalist Vanessa about the Human History of Galapagos, we disembarked at Punta Espinoza, Fernandina. Fernandina is an amazing place, appearing from a distance to be just a huge barren shield volcano, when in reality it harbors myriad plant and animal life – and much of them are unique species! We managed a dry landing when we arrived, and then walked along the pahoehoe lava among territorial male marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, many sea lions (some darling tiny pups!), lava lizards and shore birds. As it began to drizzle we waded through an unusually fast rising tide back to the landing dock and were taken by Zodiac to the ship. It has been an interesting and busy day in the magical Islas Encantadas of Galapagos! We look forward to more adventures tomorrow!
