Our expedition in the Galápagos on board the National Geographic Endeavour continues, and today we are in western seas, crossing the equator and enjoying a volcanic view of some of the most active volcanoes on the southern hemisphere. The activities started early in the morning at sunrise, when the light is best for photography, and both our photo groups and natural history groups had an amazing time on Fernandina Island.
Not many ships are fortunate enough to come this far west to visit one of the most pristine places on earth. Throughout the day we were surrounded by seven different shield volcanoes, six from Isabela Island and one from Fernandina. Our guests were so lucky to be here right at the marine iguana’s nesting season. The whole morning was full of surprises and drama; a hawk took advantage of a female iguana that was exhausted after laying her eggs, and was able to score an easy catch right in front of us! Many female marine iguanas were also observed fighting over territory, since the nesting areas were starting to become scarce. The island has many lava fields and very few sandy areas where the iguanas can dig their burrows.
The afternoon was also very special for everyone, since we encountered penguins for the first time in our expedition. There are no words to describe the wonders of this paradise, where something is going on around us at every single moment.
A deep water snorkeling excursion at the northwestern side of Isabela gave our guests the opportunity to get very close to green pacific sea turtles. There were so many that we eventually lost count, and a little penguin and a couple of sea lions came along to snorkel with us.
Our day came to an end with a wonderful cocktail gathering out on deck, as we were crossing officially the equator line aboard. We look forward to more incredible discoveries tomorrow.
