Isabela & Fernandina
There are some days in the week when you wake up and look around the ship for a little surprise and, as a good observer, take some binoculars for having a better close-up of things.
After a few minutes this morning, someone saw orcas in the distance. A more curious event was to see a group of about twenty dolphins in the distance being chased by their closest relative (orca). This turned into a spectacular show when someone saw more orcas that were part of the family joining the pod to finally separate a dolphin from its group and practice some kind of game, or training, or feeding. We are not certain of what really happened to the dolphin, but after a while we lost sight of everything, Orcas and dolphin included. That’s part of nature and we all understand of course.
The rough conditions of the sea didn’t stop us. The panga ride along the cost of Punta Vicente Roca can be impressive on a sunny day, and many bird species, like Nazca boobies, blue- footed boobies and Galápagos shearwaters were still nesting here. Some marine iguanas at the sharp edges of the rocks ate algae underwater.
Fernandina Island was another amazing visit. Lava cactus is probably one of the best examples of adaption according to the available conditions on hard rocks. Their roots acidify grounds in order to decompose certain minerals in small amounts that can be easily absorbed in a slow process.
This is the most pristine of all the Islands and could be as young as 300,000 years old. Since that time, volcanism has been creating new land every few decades and the last known activity was seen 2 months ago.
It was an incredible adventure.
