Today our expedition headed toward the two youngest of the Galapagos Islands. With the first beams of sun, early risers tried to find some marine life from the sundeck while we circumnavigated the northern shore of Isabela Island. The gigantic Ecuador and Wolf volcanoes looked spectacular with colorful lava fields reflecting the colors of the sunrise. After breakfast the captain announced our arrival at the equator and we celebrated with a special ceremony, limbo-ing underneath the Ecuadorian flag. That was quite entertaining! After dropping anchor at Punta Vicente Roca, we soon headed on Zodiac rides along the northern coast of Isabela, in search for brown Noddy terns, blue footed boobies, and frigate birds. The sun appeared, warming up this place and marine iguanas did not lose time jumping in the water trying to eat some seaweed. There were also some Galapagos penguins feeding on small black striped Salemas. After the Zodiac ride we decided to go snorkeling. We spotted several varieties of fish, but probably the highlight were the Pacific green turtles gently swimming with us and resting in the bottom of the calm bay. Of course, Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants delighted our guests, who enjoyed swimming with incredible creatures like nowhere else in the world.
During the afternoon exploration we landed on Fernandina Island. This island is the youngest jewel in the crown. Comparing the islands gives us the opportunity to imagine traveling back in time to see the beginning of every island and the succession of their ecosystems. After being welcomed by hundreds of marine iguanas, who tried to warm up their bodies basking under the sun, we walked on the sandy trail where we found sea lions, Flightless cormorants, and on the branches of a tall mangrove tree, there was a Galapagos hawk scoping out some pray for the day.
The young lava fields were also quite spectacular and the pristine ecosystems gave us a sense of pureness and succession.
