Southern Isabela Island

I can’t even begin to explain the incredible day we just had, it has been unreal!

The day started a lot earlier than it was originally intended, but again, we are in the Galápagos and wildlife sightings don’t have a scheduled appearance, which is partly why this place is so magical.

Everything that happened today seems to be taken from an adventure book, so I decided to divide it in two important chapters.

Chapter One: The Orcas
It was close to 6:30 in the morning and I was already awake, but not quite yet ready to abandon my bed. The loud ringing of the phone next to my ear made me jump and shake all at once. Two minutes after I answered, I found myself moving quickly through the hallway and towards the bridge to look for the reason I was called by the officer on duty, there were Orcas nearby and they were hunting!

You might believe that seeing orcas here in the Galápagos is a daily event, but it is not. And, even further, to see them showing their most primitive instincts such as hunting is more than pure luck, it is a privilege.

After I confirmed the sighting, I decided that it was more than worth it to wake the entire ship, so I did.

As I expected, everyone showed up on deck, some already drinking their coffees, some still in their pajamas. As a result, we all got the incredible experience of witnessing what looked like four adults orcas teaching a baby orca how to get its meal. Part of the teaching involved everything that we tell our human kids NOT to do: first, play with your food as long as you want and second, just eat what you want and leave the rest!

The chosen prey happened to be an unconcerned (seemed like it) young sea lion. For the whole hour that we were watching, we did nothing but wait for the inevitable, but it did not happen, at least not until we left the area, so as great as this chapter turned out to be, I leave the end entirely to your imagination.

Chapter Two: The Rescue of Charlotte
I disembarked with a group of 12 guests to do what we called the “fast walking” option for the morning. We walked at a slightly faster pace than everyone else, on the three-mile trail on Bahia Urbina, Southern Isabela.

The sightings here were many: a giant baby tortoise on the trail, a large number of land iguanas and more importantly, we walked on an area recently uplifted in 1954. We had completed at least three quarters of the trail when we reached the jagged lava flows near the Ocean when we met Charlotte. She was an old, giant female sea turtle that had spent probably the whole night digging a nest (we are in the middle of the nesting season) and was clearly exhausted from doing so.

It was ten in the morning and the sun was out and hitting her right on her bare shell, but despite her efforts, she was nowhere near the ocean. In fact, there was a large field of jagged lava rocks blocking her way to it, and the next high tide was still ten hours away -this is the moment when you start crying.

I have been told during my whole Galápagos training when I became a naturalist that we should not interfere with nature, but every cell in my body was struggling with that idea, so we had to do something to save Charlotte! I was barely opening my mouth to ask for help when everyone offered it at once! It took four of us to lift an almost 300 pound animal, and we walked it over the lava field and to the edge of the water.

At the sight of water, the turtle pushed herself rapidly towards it, but before it took the last impulse to keep going, it stooped and turned its head back to look where we were all standing and watching, and suddenly it bowed her head, turned again to the water and, with recharged energy, disappeared in the small channel heading to the sea.

As for the name, Charlotte, it was the name suggested by one of the guests, as today is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday and we decided to honor him by naming the turtle with the female version of his name.