Isabela & Fernandina Island
It is amazing to wake up every morning and look around one of the pristine Islands in the world and feel the fresh air.
The morning circumnavigation around Roca Redonda reminded us about the main forces of creation. Just imagine that the small rock in the middle of nowhere is only the top of a submarine volcano nearly 12 miles wide and 4 miles tall, which is still active; the evidence lies in hundreds of bubbles that escape from it.
Not so far on the distance the first rays of the sun showed us Isabela. Punta Vicente Roca is part of the collapsed caldera of a volcano that remains as part of an important ecosystem because of the submarine walls that drop a little more than 300 meters creating an upwelling of the Cronwell current that comes from the west; this is absolutely unique in the world. It provides shelter for many animals that come from the deepness; strange creatures come to the surface at night in search of food hidden by the darkness, but this becomes a galaxy of bioluminescent plankton with completely different active animals at night.
During the day we spent one hour in the Zodiacs where just at the beginning an ocean sunfish came up to us. At the snorkeling site animals were going nuts, especially a flightless cormorant that “attacked” our guests’ flippers and a marine iguana that turned back to the underwater camera and started chewing it! We also saw a seahorse that I had never seen before alive plus a humongous scorpion fish hanging on the rocks.
In the afternoon at Fernandina Island, the long walk with our young explorers was really good. Their enthusiasm for every little form of life and the hundred questions that they ask make us feel good, especially because they are learning something that will remain in their memories for many years.
And maybe when they are old enough to travel by themselves, they’ll be back to us.
