Punta Vicente Roca & Punta Espinosa
Visiting the western archipelago is always an adventure. We never know what to expect in this area, but for sure something outstanding happens one way or another. By six in the morning today, we had already spotted some whales near the ship. An hour later while they were still close, we had identified them: no less than a dozen Bryde’s whales, some of which came really close to the NG Islander.
Crossing the equator was also a fun experience. Everybody was at the bridge watching the coast line and the GPS, both at the same time. The guests want to discover if together with the electronic device, it was possible to see the mythical “yellow line” that divides our planet in two halves. For sure they found it true, electronically on the three GPS’s that we have on the bridge, but no matter what we’ll have that yellow line imprinted in our minds and hearts since it represented for most of our guests the opportunity of becoming “shell backs” instead of the mere pollywogs they were before the crossing.
Later during the Zodiac ride along the coast of Pta. Vicente Roca, we enjoyed the presence of numerous sea birds perched on the shelves that the wind had carved on the tuff that mostly forms the colossal slopes of Ecuador Volcano.
The morning hasn’t finished and we still had another activity to perform, snorkeling along the same spot we had ridden before on board the Zodiacs. For our benefit we found numerous green sea turtles. After that we also enjoyed the sun fishes (known by their Latin name, Mola mola) that were disrupting the surface of the ocean here and there.
One of the most striking sightings of today while snorkeling was the presence of an immense school of indopacific bonito tuna. However the highlight of the morning was the curiosity displayed by a young flightless cormorant that was really into pecking on everyone’s wet suits, fins, watches, rings, etc.
At Punta Espinosa on Fernandina Island, we were entertained by a young adult Galápagos hawk that was hunting in a very peculiar way, on foot. The bird was just walking among the crevices on the lava, probably looking for young iguanas. It was a funny sighting, alas not for the iguanas. Besides that, the place showed a passivity that overwhelmed all of us and fulfilled our necessity of being touch in our souls to the splendor of nature.
Visiting the western archipelago is always an adventure. We never know what to expect in this area, but for sure something outstanding happens one way or another. By six in the morning today, we had already spotted some whales near the ship. An hour later while they were still close, we had identified them: no less than a dozen Bryde’s whales, some of which came really close to the NG Islander.
Crossing the equator was also a fun experience. Everybody was at the bridge watching the coast line and the GPS, both at the same time. The guests want to discover if together with the electronic device, it was possible to see the mythical “yellow line” that divides our planet in two halves. For sure they found it true, electronically on the three GPS’s that we have on the bridge, but no matter what we’ll have that yellow line imprinted in our minds and hearts since it represented for most of our guests the opportunity of becoming “shell backs” instead of the mere pollywogs they were before the crossing.
Later during the Zodiac ride along the coast of Pta. Vicente Roca, we enjoyed the presence of numerous sea birds perched on the shelves that the wind had carved on the tuff that mostly forms the colossal slopes of Ecuador Volcano.
The morning hasn’t finished and we still had another activity to perform, snorkeling along the same spot we had ridden before on board the Zodiacs. For our benefit we found numerous green sea turtles. After that we also enjoyed the sun fishes (known by their Latin name, Mola mola) that were disrupting the surface of the ocean here and there.
One of the most striking sightings of today while snorkeling was the presence of an immense school of indopacific bonito tuna. However the highlight of the morning was the curiosity displayed by a young flightless cormorant that was really into pecking on everyone’s wet suits, fins, watches, rings, etc.
At Punta Espinosa on Fernandina Island, we were entertained by a young adult Galápagos hawk that was hunting in a very peculiar way, on foot. The bird was just walking among the crevices on the lava, probably looking for young iguanas. It was a funny sighting, alas not for the iguanas. Besides that, the place showed a passivity that overwhelmed all of us and fulfilled our necessity of being touch in our souls to the splendor of nature.
