Isabela and Fernandina Islands
Today the National Geographic Endeavour went to the western part the Galapagos Islands. As we started our zodiac ride this morning we saw bottle nose dolphins jumping over waves next to the boat and whale spouts in the distance. After the dolphins Most of the passengers on the boat gathered on the sun deck and took pictures by an Ecuadorian flag made into a long fabric line. After breakfast around eight in the morning we took a zodiac ride around Isabela Island in a place called Punta Vicente Roca. Then we went snorkeling around the area. It was amazing!
There was many sea turtles just swimming about the blue waters. There were Galapagos penguins that swam through us minding their own business while we watched. There was a sleek brown sea lion that blew bubbles through his nose and was very playful. There were also many colorful unique schools of fish. After about fifty minutes of snorkeling it was time to return back to the Endeavour. Most of us didn’t want to leave.
Fernandina Island in the afternoon with the giant iguanas of the Galapagos. Gabriel the guide explained how the female iguanas make nests on this island so we had to be very careful where we stepped. The nests are holes in the ground where mothers lay up to fourteen eggs. The mother guards the nests for one or two days then she leaves. It takes around 90 days for incubation. The ground was made out of ropey lava, and the beach out of sea shells and sand. There were a lot of crevices in the lava that were easy to step over. We walked onto lava fields where there were a few small ponds full of salt water which came from the ocean. We were gone about an hour and a half and had to walk little over a mile. We took the zodiac back to the Endeavour to close the expeditions off the boat for the day. Isabela and Fernandina Islands were beautiful islands which was full of exotic wildlife.
