We left the central part of Galapagos heading west to visit the youngest islands, Fernandina and Isabela. Baptized in honor to the Queen and King of Spain who helped Columbus to discover America in 1492, these islands are located along the ring of fire with six of the most active volcanoes in the world.
Last night we crossed the equator twice and after a long navigation, we finally arrived to the Bolivar Channel that separates Isabela and Fernandina islands. Early in the morning, we landed at Fernandina Island, the youngest island, where the most recent eruption took place in 2009. We landed on the small dock made during 1960s, and just few meters behind, dozens of marine iguanas remained immobile as petrified statues of lava; we walked alongside them carefully, trying to do not touch them, and they remained unperturbed by our presence. It was clear that they were trying to absorb the energy of the first beams of the sun. We walked inland and headed to the black beach where we found a group of sea lions. The most impressive was a big male who was barking incessantly, ordering to his females to move to the upper part of the beach; we also had to obey because he looked very aggressive. Walking to the other side of the beach, we observed the abandoned nests of the marine iguanas, while on the top of the mangroves, two Galapagos hawks captivated the attention of our guests. At the end of the trail, we arrived to the flightless cormorant nesting area, where we saw many of them on the rocks and swimming in the water, trying to catch some fish.
In the afternoon, we headed to Punta Vicente Roca, but this time we did not land—instead we headed out with the Zodiacs for a beautiful ride along Isabela’s coastline, observing the remnants of the collapsed volcano and its different colors of lava, resulting from different eruptions at different times over the years. On the rocks, a group of flightless cormorants worked actively to collect seaweed to make their nest. Beside them, a flock of penguins observed us quietly, posing as if they knew how beautiful they looked. With the last beams of sun, we sailed north, crossing the equator as we observed the magnificence of Ecuador volcano. To the west, a beautiful sunset gave us the last gift of this magical day, offering a unique red sun that little by little disappeared on the horizon, while in our minds the unique landscapes and the innocence of the creatures we observed today, will remain with us forever.
