Northern Isabela & Fernandina Islands

The day started off early and wonderfully – with calm seas, cool breezy weather and a huge pod of common dolphins splashing in all directions around the Islander. Although we thought we might be able to sleep in this morning, I made a ship-wide wake up call at 6:50am - as soon as Naturalist Daniel spotted the dolphins and deck officer Fernando maneuvered the ship so we could watch the lovely leaping dolphins. We were teased by the spouts of two whales in the distance, but never really had a chance to see them. And when we went below to the bountiful breakfast buffet we were all pleased and quite content with our morning’s sightings. Little did we know how much more excitement lay ahead for us on this incredible day.

Shortly after breakfast we joined Captain Pablo in the bridge for a count down as we crossed the equator line and all transformed from polly wogs into official Galápagos shellbacks. Once we had anchored, everyone boarded the Zodiacs for a ride along the coast at Punta Vicente Roca. We were entertained by plunge-diving boobies, numerous floating sea turtles, playful and curious sea lions, incredibly cute Galápagos penguins, and flightless cormorants - ungainly on land but fast swimmers in the water - as we motored along close to the shore. Further off shore we all spotted the strange looking Mola mola, the pelagic sunfish.

But when panguero Victor, still in his panga with Gabriel and her group, and I, already back on the ship, simultaneously spotted a huge male orca surrounded by frantically feeding frigates, shearwaters, terns and storm petrels – the REAL excitement began. All four Zodiacs were deployed to the scene of the whale and sea bird feeding frenzy and what a ride we had! We followed the whales – a large male and a much smaller female - for about five miles and well over an hour. They surfaced repeatedly and killed at least three times. Once some of us actually saw the female with a mola in her mouth!

The ever changing and rapidly shifting scene was extremely difficult to photograph, but none of us will ever forget the excitement of these beautiful whales - jet black with brilliant white markings - surfacing only meters from us, the sounds as they powerfully exhaled, and even the musty smell of the dozens of sea birds that darted and fluttered about, picking up the remains of the whales’ meals. Wow – even after thirty years of guiding in these enchanted islands, I can’t find the words to describe or do justice to the feelings we experienced today while following those gorgeous, wild whales in the pangas.

We returned finally to the ship; I actually, very reluctantly, called a halt to the whale watching because I had seen how crystal clear the water was and knew that it would be a shame to cancel our morning snorkeling. We were rewarded with fabulous close looks at sea turtles feeding on marine algae, colorful schools of fish and graceful sea lions. To finish the amazing first half of the day, we enjoyed a traditional Ecuadorian buffet lunch.

Siesta did not last long, as Naturalist Gaby spotted a Bryde’s whale and I called everyone up on deck again. We were thrilled to watch the whale surface and dive among a tightly packed school of large fish (probably both the large predatory fish and the whale were feeding on smaller fishes) for about 15 minutes and then we continued on to our anchorage at Punta Espinoza, Fernandina. The afternoon walk was also spectacular. Highlights were close encounters with hundreds of sunning marine iguanas, florescent reddish-orange Sally Lightfoot crabs scuttering across bright green algae flats, a chocolate colored Galápagos hawk and an exhausted, stranded sea turtle, caught high and dry as the tide went out. By now, since the tide is rising, that turtle must be floating and free again. Whew - what a magical day in Las Islas Encantadas!