Isabela & Fernandina Islands
Today we woke at Albemarle Point, right around the western edge of Wolf Volcano while navigating to Punta Vicente Roca. We had breakfast and then we all headed towards the bridge to see the crossing of the equator when the GPS marked OO°OO.00 and so we made our way across to the southern hemisphere.
We arrived at Punta Vicente Roca at the foot of Ecuador volcano just past 9:00 am. The dinghies came down and we took off for a ride which allowed us to explore this site. Here we saw a mixture of things such as very interesting geological features, Galápagos fur seals, Pacific green sea turtles, flightless cormorants, blue footed boobies diving, penguins and we had a great finale with an encounter with a solitary male Orca, WOW!
Immediately after the dinghy ride, we went snorkeling and it was magic! We swam with sea lions, penguins, flightless cormorants, sea turtles, sting rays and a very wide variety of fish.
After coming back on board the National Geographic Endeavour, we weighed anchor and motored across to the island of Fernandina and on the way we found common dolphins leaping high, who chose to stay with us for a while. We also had Professor Karen Fisher from Brown University give an outstanding explanation of plate tectonics and the volcanism of the archipelago.
At three thirty, we all went to visit Punta Espinoza on the island of Fernandina. This island is the youngest place on earth and also the most pristine island in Galápagos. What do I mean by pristine? That not a single organism has been introduced here and hopefully will stay that way. Here we saw lava cactus, fresh lava flows, cormorants fishing in the shallow waters, marine iguanas grazing in the low tide, sea turtles basking and plenty of shore birds and Sally Lightfoot crabs.
Ok, I can go on talking about today but I better leave something for later! What a wonderful day. Viva la evolucion!!!!
