Isabela and Fernandina Islands, 12/7/2022, National Geographic Islander II
Aboard the
National Geographic Islander II
Galápagos
Galapagos is an archipelago formed by more than 300 islands, islets, rocks, and volcanoes. Some of the volcanoes are still active. Every couple of years, we observe volcanic activity.
After an overnight navigation, we woke up in the western part of the Galapagos this morning to look for whales, seabirds, and impressive geology formations.
Walter was born in a very small town on the mainland of Ecuador. His first trip to the Galápagos was when he was 12 years old, visiting friends and aunt, who had moved to the islands. From the first moment he saw the Islands, he fell in love with the...
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Today we explored the island of Santiago. In the morning, we visited Espumilla Beach and Bucaneers Cove where we went kayaking and snorkeling. In the afternoon, we visited Puerto Egas where we had our last afternoon of our expedition in the Galapagos Islands. The landscape today was full of wildlife and amazing geological formations that offered great opportunities for photography, conversations, and wonderful memories with our dear guests.
Today we navigated to the western islands of the Galapagos and early in the morning we arrived at Isabela Island, the largest island of the Galapagos Archipelago. During our time, we crossed the Equator, went on a Zodiac ride, and snorkeled along the shores in search of Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, blue-footed boobies, sea lions, and a rare fish known as ocean sunfish. While back aboard for lunch, we headed to Fernandina Island. We made a dry landing, and for two miles we were surrounded by hundreds of marine iguanas. Grouped together, they are called a mess of iguanas. We later went back on board for our recapitulation and an impressive lecture about social sustainability. Then we completed the day with a barbeque dinner among volcanoes. We are having an outstanding time in the Galapagos Islands.
Early in the morning after breakfast, we disembarked on North Seymour Island for a hike among the nesting grounds of many sea birds. On the trails, we saw several male frigatebirds in their courtship display, blue-footed boobies, and Swallow-tailed gulls. When it comes to showcasing adaptations of the Galapagos flora to dry environments, the incense tree forest is a highlight. The trail can be quite rocky, so those of us who wanted to explore North Seymour’s coast by sea had the option of taking a Zodiac ride. After our hike, we had a presentation on nature photography in the Cove Lounge aboard National Geographic Islander II . After lunch, we navigated towards Rabida Island. Once we arrived at Rabida, we had two options to either go deep-water snorkeling or snorkel off the beach along the coast of this beautiful red island. After snorkeling, we chose to kayak and walk along Rabida’s beach to search for wildlife. American flamingos were spotted in a brackish water lagoon. We came back to the ship after a breathtaking sunset.