Isabela & Fernandina Islands
We woke up this morning with a view of the youngest Island of the Galápagos – Fernandina. Although the volcano that has been recently in the news is no longer erupting, steam was still visible.
After breakfast, we took the Zodiacs out for a tour of the Punta Vicente Roca coast. The marine iguanas were especially active, swimming in the water, climbing on the rocks, and of course posing for photos. Our naturalist in training Christopher taught us a lot about the island and all the animals that inhabit it. We were able to observe the many sea turtles that seem to gravitate toward the shallow water for good eating. The cliffs offered opportunities to see the roosting places of the blue footed boobies, frigate birds and the brown noddy terns. On the shore, the flightless cormorants entertained us by diving and swimming underwater. We took a short ride to the deeper water and the sharp eye of our zodiac driver Luis spotted multiple Mola mola fish swimming—they were breathtaking.
After returning to the ship, we gathered our snorkeling gear to head out once again on the Zodiacs to explore in depth the underwater sea life of Punta Vicente Roca. The water temperature was cool but exhilarating. The sea life was astounding. We snorkeled along the coast and into the large cave. The king angel fish was cleaning the shells of the sea turtles; parrot fish, trigger fish, and wrasse fish were among the few and of course our friends the sea lions were doing their underwater acrobatics.
We had a lovely lunch followed by a short lecture, then it was time for our late afternoon excursion to Punta Espinosa. What an amazing adventure! It was like stepping back into prehistoric times. The landscape was ropy lava fields covered with marine iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs. We were fortunate to have onboard National Geographic photographers. They helped with our photos and taught us some useful techniques. Celso, our group naturalist, always gave us time to capture the moment while teaching us about the wildlife and environment all with a smile. We ended the day with a lesson in how to properly photograph a sunset thanks to Mike!
From sunrise to sunset, it has been an amazing day and there is still tomorrow……
Love,
The Galapagirls (National Geographic Endeavour guests) - Peggy Lellek, Nancy O’Marra, Laurie Kydon, Donna Pontrelli, Pam Roth, Christine Taylor
