Isabela & Fernandina
There are certain days in which the events you witness are so many and so intense that there are few words that can translate or accompany them. Today it has been one of these days. I would not be able to tell what moment had been the outsider. Who can tell if a school of common dolphins rushing at the bow of the boat is more impacting than a dozen sea turtles gazing at the balancing pace of the waves? Is it more impressive to follow the clumsy pace of a Giant Sunfish (Mola mola) just below the surface than swimming with Galápagos penguins? And among all that, we found the time to celebrate the crossing of the Equatorial line. King Neptune did not tolerate any intrusion into his Kingdom and came onboard to baptize the intruders.
We had great expectations, as usual, for the afternoon visit to Fernandina Island. Fernandina Island rarely disappoints its visitors, in fact always astonish them; it is the least we can say. The sandy nesting grounds of Punta Espinosa were delivering babies iguanas, just born but well aware of a danger. And the danger today was real: snakes.
We spotted three big fat ones in a single visit. The second Galápagos snake we saw had wrapped itself around a baby iguana and was working on the almost impossible task of swallowing it all. Right in front of us, in just some 20 minutes, it did it. When the cruel, and at the same time fascinating, spectacle was over, we turned our attention to a couple of innocent juvenile sea lions that were playing in a tide pool. There we spotted another tragic event, a Galápagos sea lion creeping its wounded body victoriously back to the shore after a shark attack.
The prey and predator life or death game is crude, real and perhaps misunderstood as well. But today it was clear to us that this is nothing but the other side of the coin of the overwhelming beauty of life. I wish you were here to see it.
There are certain days in which the events you witness are so many and so intense that there are few words that can translate or accompany them. Today it has been one of these days. I would not be able to tell what moment had been the outsider. Who can tell if a school of common dolphins rushing at the bow of the boat is more impacting than a dozen sea turtles gazing at the balancing pace of the waves? Is it more impressive to follow the clumsy pace of a Giant Sunfish (Mola mola) just below the surface than swimming with Galápagos penguins? And among all that, we found the time to celebrate the crossing of the Equatorial line. King Neptune did not tolerate any intrusion into his Kingdom and came onboard to baptize the intruders.
We had great expectations, as usual, for the afternoon visit to Fernandina Island. Fernandina Island rarely disappoints its visitors, in fact always astonish them; it is the least we can say. The sandy nesting grounds of Punta Espinosa were delivering babies iguanas, just born but well aware of a danger. And the danger today was real: snakes.
We spotted three big fat ones in a single visit. The second Galápagos snake we saw had wrapped itself around a baby iguana and was working on the almost impossible task of swallowing it all. Right in front of us, in just some 20 minutes, it did it. When the cruel, and at the same time fascinating, spectacle was over, we turned our attention to a couple of innocent juvenile sea lions that were playing in a tide pool. There we spotted another tragic event, a Galápagos sea lion creeping its wounded body victoriously back to the shore after a shark attack.
The prey and predator life or death game is crude, real and perhaps misunderstood as well. But today it was clear to us that this is nothing but the other side of the coin of the overwhelming beauty of life. I wish you were here to see it.
