Punta Vicente Roca & Fernandina
A soft breeze blows from the south east; kind of chilly, but pleasant enough. It is seven o’clock in the morning and we have both good weather and good luck: we have located a medium size pod of common dolphins! There are at least a hundred of them, and they allowed us a very close view of their sleek, gray anatomy. An hour and a half later, we were crossing the Equator, hence everyone is officially proclaimed a “shellback.” This is just the beginning of another intense experience in the Galápagos. Still to follow in the morning were a panga ride – where curious penguins, several Mola mola and the incredible volcanic landscapes were the highlights. Afterwards we donned our snorkel gear and were soon surrounded by sea turtles, penguins and sea lions. Though the water was somewhat murky, this was an unforgettable snorkeling session at Punta Vicente Roca.
After all these exciting experiences, we boarded the Islander, partook in a magnificent Ecuadorian buffet lunch and sailed on to Fernandina Island, the youngest of all the Galápagos sisters. Once again (as we have seen during the last month and a half) we watched a huge flock of numerous blue-footed boobies diving in a spectacular feeding frenzy. Upon landing on the island, we found dozens of marine iguanas warming up in the last rays of the afternoon sun after having eaten their supper. The tide had been coming down and the marine algaes that they feed upon were exposed on the rocky shore. Flightless cormorants were on their seaweed nests, feeding their large dull gray chicks. A Galápagos hawk perched in the mangroves and a Galápagos snake wandered along the rocks, oblivious of our presence. Both the hawk and the snake were searching inquisitively for newly hatched iguanas that were hiding in the cracks and crevasses of the jagged lava rocks.
Today we witnessed an intense display of nature and - as Darwin noted when he was in these magical islands – we now felt closer to an understanding of “that mystery of mysteries.”
A soft breeze blows from the south east; kind of chilly, but pleasant enough. It is seven o’clock in the morning and we have both good weather and good luck: we have located a medium size pod of common dolphins! There are at least a hundred of them, and they allowed us a very close view of their sleek, gray anatomy. An hour and a half later, we were crossing the Equator, hence everyone is officially proclaimed a “shellback.” This is just the beginning of another intense experience in the Galápagos. Still to follow in the morning were a panga ride – where curious penguins, several Mola mola and the incredible volcanic landscapes were the highlights. Afterwards we donned our snorkel gear and were soon surrounded by sea turtles, penguins and sea lions. Though the water was somewhat murky, this was an unforgettable snorkeling session at Punta Vicente Roca.
After all these exciting experiences, we boarded the Islander, partook in a magnificent Ecuadorian buffet lunch and sailed on to Fernandina Island, the youngest of all the Galápagos sisters. Once again (as we have seen during the last month and a half) we watched a huge flock of numerous blue-footed boobies diving in a spectacular feeding frenzy. Upon landing on the island, we found dozens of marine iguanas warming up in the last rays of the afternoon sun after having eaten their supper. The tide had been coming down and the marine algaes that they feed upon were exposed on the rocky shore. Flightless cormorants were on their seaweed nests, feeding their large dull gray chicks. A Galápagos hawk perched in the mangroves and a Galápagos snake wandered along the rocks, oblivious of our presence. Both the hawk and the snake were searching inquisitively for newly hatched iguanas that were hiding in the cracks and crevasses of the jagged lava rocks.
Today we witnessed an intense display of nature and - as Darwin noted when he was in these magical islands – we now felt closer to an understanding of “that mystery of mysteries.”
