Punta Espinosa and Punta Vicente Roca
The sun arose between Wolf and Darwin volcanoes, two of the 5 active volcanoes that form Isabela Island, it is 6:10 a.m. and far on the horizon several spouts of whales alerted our captain and his crew officers in the bridge of the National Geographic Endeavour, meanwhile one by one of our enthusiastic travelers arrived to the bow of our ship to contemplate this magical moment. About fifteen bride’s whales were swimming around, it was the perfect beginning for our day in the west of Galapagos, where the richest waters and the most unique creatures are found.
After breakfast we arrived at Punta Espinosa, and walked one of the most pristine places on earth. As always, the marine iguanas were basking on the black rocks, absorbing the sun’s heat to be ready to dive later in search of green algae. Sea lions were playing in pools at the intertidal zone, and bright red crabs decorating the shoreline, farther in the mangroves fight for the colonization of new areas, and the lava cactus, which is a pioneer plant that grows on barren lava, begs for a bit of moisture in the sunny morning on this incredible place. Punta Espinosa is magical, dramatic, unique, amazing, one of the best spots in the enchanted archipelago called Galapagos.
As soon as we returned on board we moved to snorkel with penguins, iguanas, harlequin wrasses, marine turtles and a very multicolor marine life seen in this magnificent marine reserve, later we had lunch and motored to our next destination: Punta Vicente Roca, a very spectacular collapsed caldera that has formed a semi-bay, where hundreds of marine turtles rest at the sea bed, Galapagos penguins feed on small fish, sun fishes “mola mola” are seen surfacing the ocean, Nazca and blue footed boobies rest on a tuff cliff after a hard journey of fishing, and Galapagos fur sea lions climb the rocks to find crevices where to spend the night.
We had such a great day, and to finish it we crossed the Equator line! We celebrated this event with champagne and pictures of all our happy travelers, while the sun was giving the warmest welcome to a sky full of stars. Then it was time for dinner and later, time to go bed to dream of another beautiful day in paradise.
