After navigating from the central area of Galapagos, we arrived to the western realm. Our day began with a walk on Fernandina Island, which is the youngest island in the archipelago. We walked to a site called Punta Espinoza, located on the northeastern corner of this island.
At the landing site we were greeted by a large group of Galapagos marine iguanas—as the morning was very sunny, lots of iguanas were warming up to go feeding on algae later on. We were also surprised to observe some females still digging their nests in the sand. In a few more weeks there will be hatchlings emerging from those nests.
As we continued along the path, looking at the different species of animals, we also got the chance to admire the desolate volcanic landscape; this island has erupted several times in the past, and most of the lava flows still look black, with little vegetation growing on it.
Later in the morning, we returned aboard and went snorkeling from the Zodiacs along the coast of Fernandina. This was a great opportunity to swim and snorkel with green sea turtles, stingrays, and some of our guests had close encounters with a very curious Galapagos flightless cormorant that followed and touched some of our guests with its bill.
During the afternoon we went on a Zodiac ride along the coast of Punta Vicente Roca, where we found a school of golden rays, large schools of puffer fish, green sea turtles, Galapagos sea lions, fur seals and a small group of Galapagos Penguins taking a little rest on a large lava boulder. At the end of the afternoon, we crossed the Equator line while enjoying a wine tasting activity on the sky deck. What a perfect way to end our day in paradise.
