Isabela & Fernandina Island
We started our activities very early in the morning searching for marine mammals from the upper decks of the National Geographic Islander; when the sun started shining brightly, it made this part of the archipelago even more beautiful.
Far out in the distance we saw something jumping out of the water, and immediately we changed course. They were a huge pod of common dolphins doing some acrobatic jumps; who knows exactly what they were doing, maybe feeding, courting, traveling or just having fun!
After this amazing morning experience we had breakfast, and soon after we were again on the outside decks, this time to celebrate the Equatorial line crossing. As soon as we dropped anchor we were out for a Zodiac ride to explore the northwest tip of Isabela Island. It was spectacular because we saw so many things during this adventure: Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, Nazca and blue footed boobies, marine iguanas, lots of turtles, and many species of sea birds.
And to finish with our morning activities we headed out again for snorkeling, and our main interest was to see Pacific green sea turtles (which we did a-plenty).After this adventure, we came back on board for lunch and a nap before Harvard’s Museum of Natural History presented a talk titled “Oceans in Motions: Waves, tides and the current situation” – to much acclaim. By 3:30pm we started out on our afternoon activities at Fernandina Island.
Once on Punta Espinoza the first impression that our guests had of the landscape of this part of this archipelago was of black lava flows maybe just a few years old, green patches of vegetation confirming the rainy season, and the lava cactus forest which made this excursion so impressive.
At the same time we saw piles of male marine iguanas while some females were busy digging their nesting-holes to lay eggs.
Everyone was happy at the end of the day with this fantastic experience, and we finished our day on the sky deck observing some of the most famous southern constellations.
‘Til tomorrow dear folks and sweet dreams.
We started our activities very early in the morning searching for marine mammals from the upper decks of the National Geographic Islander; when the sun started shining brightly, it made this part of the archipelago even more beautiful.
Far out in the distance we saw something jumping out of the water, and immediately we changed course. They were a huge pod of common dolphins doing some acrobatic jumps; who knows exactly what they were doing, maybe feeding, courting, traveling or just having fun!
After this amazing morning experience we had breakfast, and soon after we were again on the outside decks, this time to celebrate the Equatorial line crossing. As soon as we dropped anchor we were out for a Zodiac ride to explore the northwest tip of Isabela Island. It was spectacular because we saw so many things during this adventure: Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, Nazca and blue footed boobies, marine iguanas, lots of turtles, and many species of sea birds.
And to finish with our morning activities we headed out again for snorkeling, and our main interest was to see Pacific green sea turtles (which we did a-plenty).After this adventure, we came back on board for lunch and a nap before Harvard’s Museum of Natural History presented a talk titled “Oceans in Motions: Waves, tides and the current situation” – to much acclaim. By 3:30pm we started out on our afternoon activities at Fernandina Island.
Once on Punta Espinoza the first impression that our guests had of the landscape of this part of this archipelago was of black lava flows maybe just a few years old, green patches of vegetation confirming the rainy season, and the lava cactus forest which made this excursion so impressive.
At the same time we saw piles of male marine iguanas while some females were busy digging their nesting-holes to lay eggs.
Everyone was happy at the end of the day with this fantastic experience, and we finished our day on the sky deck observing some of the most famous southern constellations.
‘Til tomorrow dear folks and sweet dreams.
