Isabela & Fernandina Islands
What a wonderful day we had today! Early in the morning we found ourselves navigating on the northern hemisphere towards the Equator. Our expedition leader Carlos Romero gave us an optional wakeup call for the early risers, from a distance we were able to observe elusive beak whales; what we did not know was the impressive behavior which was about to happen. My dear reader, Orca whales!! As the National Geographic Islander approached to them, one of the whales came to us with some kind of an oval whitish disk in its mouth, to our surprise, it was a giant sun fish. Yes! A Mola mola. It felt like the whales were trying to proudly show their catch, as they maneuvered close to our motionless ship: just like you and me, when achieving a difficult goal. We agreed with the naturalists that they were young orcas. This incredible sighting was a huge and impressive reward to our patience. There were so many impressions and feelings which I cannot describe here accurately; I will simply have to say “wish you were here,” my dear reader. Now, that was a great way to start our morning.
As soon as we arrived at Isabela Island we started with the most impressive panga ride; sea turtles, flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, marine iguanas, bright red crabs, and seabirds of all different kinds, were all on an impressive volcanic landscape. Once on board we continued our navigation to Fernandina Island while lunching. This island is still in a pristine state and it is a pride for mankind for no introduced organisms by men are present on this brand new place. “La Cumbre” is the name of the huge single shield volcano that crowns Fernandina Island. Enormous black lava flows with different textures, frozen in time as if this was a poem, song or conversation with time; all of this was just under our feet. A multitude of marine iguanas made this place alive. We spotted world famous nesting flightless cormorants with their turquoise eyes, sea turtles and sea lions. We came to understand the coexistence in this fragile place called Galápagos. Clouds came and so it rained; every animal reacts to this event because there has been about four years of drought. Our time came to say goodbye and we returned with great memories of the most exciting day we spent in this archipelago. Our guests now wondered, how are we going to top this day? Hmm…! I must say that these are the “Enchanted Islands” and this paradise will find a way to continuously surprise us.
What a wonderful day we had today! Early in the morning we found ourselves navigating on the northern hemisphere towards the Equator. Our expedition leader Carlos Romero gave us an optional wakeup call for the early risers, from a distance we were able to observe elusive beak whales; what we did not know was the impressive behavior which was about to happen. My dear reader, Orca whales!! As the National Geographic Islander approached to them, one of the whales came to us with some kind of an oval whitish disk in its mouth, to our surprise, it was a giant sun fish. Yes! A Mola mola. It felt like the whales were trying to proudly show their catch, as they maneuvered close to our motionless ship: just like you and me, when achieving a difficult goal. We agreed with the naturalists that they were young orcas. This incredible sighting was a huge and impressive reward to our patience. There were so many impressions and feelings which I cannot describe here accurately; I will simply have to say “wish you were here,” my dear reader. Now, that was a great way to start our morning.
As soon as we arrived at Isabela Island we started with the most impressive panga ride; sea turtles, flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, marine iguanas, bright red crabs, and seabirds of all different kinds, were all on an impressive volcanic landscape. Once on board we continued our navigation to Fernandina Island while lunching. This island is still in a pristine state and it is a pride for mankind for no introduced organisms by men are present on this brand new place. “La Cumbre” is the name of the huge single shield volcano that crowns Fernandina Island. Enormous black lava flows with different textures, frozen in time as if this was a poem, song or conversation with time; all of this was just under our feet. A multitude of marine iguanas made this place alive. We spotted world famous nesting flightless cormorants with their turquoise eyes, sea turtles and sea lions. We came to understand the coexistence in this fragile place called Galápagos. Clouds came and so it rained; every animal reacts to this event because there has been about four years of drought. Our time came to say goodbye and we returned with great memories of the most exciting day we spent in this archipelago. Our guests now wondered, how are we going to top this day? Hmm…! I must say that these are the “Enchanted Islands” and this paradise will find a way to continuously surprise us.
