Northern Isabela & Fernandina Island
At sunrise, the National Geographic Endeavour was cruising the Northwest tip of Isabela Island. We woke up very early to look for whales and dolphins, and soon after, we encountered a group of common dolphins that were jumping and swimming in circles for a long time, giving us the chance to admire these beautiful and playful creatures.
After a delicious breakfast, a couple of young guests, Lea and Raymond, helped us to celebrate the crossing of the Equator line, dressed in pirate costumes. We had a lot of fun!
After this celebration and already in the southern hemisphere, we went for our first outing of the day, a Zodiac ride that took us to see the impressive cliffs of Ecuador Volcano. We did not only see a fantastic volcanic landscape but also marine iguanas feeding on algae, Galápagos fur seals, blue footed boobies, brown pelicans, and one of the highlights of the day: the sunfish or mola-mola; not only one, but three, were swimming close to the ship.
Wanting badly to go in the water as the sun was getting really strong, we came back in a hurry to put on our snorkel gear and jump in the water. What an incredible experience! The water was very clear, the temperature was perfect (75F) and we had lots of sea turtles around, in fact, they were everywhere! Turtles, fish and a curious flightless cormorant that felt in love with one of our guests, made our morning!
Soon after a very special Ecuadorian lunch, we had a little time for a siesta. Afterwards, Dr. Jim Kelley, expert in the field gave a very interesting talk about hot spots, and right after we were ready for the afternoon visit to one of the most beautiful and well preserved islands, Fernandina.
Being the youngest among all islands, and located at the western side in the archipelago, Fernandina is one of the most volcanically active islands with a recent eruption last April, and the only one without any introduced species so far.
Hundreds of marine iguanas were sunbathing near the landing site. Sea lions pups, females and a couple of males were the stars for more and more photos. Flightless cormorants were drying their little and useless wings while the beautiful red sally light foot crabs were feeding near \by.
It was time to leave, but no one seemed to be ready!!
