Isabela & Fernandina Islands
Today we started very early, going to the outer decks of the National Geographic Endeavour, to enjoy the sunrise and a beautiful navigation along the northern part of Isabela Island; we came across a lot of storm petrels and shearwaters feeding near us. After our breakfast, continuing with our navigation, we crossed the equator line for the second time, this was our “official” crossing because we crossed the line for the first time at two in the morning so not everyone was awake. We had a large celebration on the pool deck and many of our young explorers ended up jumping into the pool.
Later in the morning, we dropped anchor at Punta Vicente Roca which is located on the northwestern side of Isabela Island. Once there, we lowered our fleet of Zodiacs to go on a coastal exploration, some of us even went deep water snorkeling. We saw many green sea turtles, frigatebirds, sea lions, flightless cormorants and marine iguanas. Our most memorable sighting was of a sea lion in the middle of the sea eating a fish while the frigatebirds tried to pick the leftovers from the water’s surface.
In the afternoon, we headed to the Island of Fernandina, one of the youngest Islands and the most active volcanically speaking. The last eruption occurred here just a couple of months ago. Unlike others, this island has just one visitor’s site and is the most pristine place in the archipelago because it does not have any introduced species. We went ashore and walked nearly a mile along the coastline searching for flightless cormorants and marine iguanas. Now we can say that we walked among iguanas, there were many!
Back on the National Geographic Endeavour we saw two Galápagos hawks; one by the landing site and the other one on a big mangrove tree. All of us made many new memories, and there is no doubt that Fernandina will always remain in our hearts.
