Isabela & Fernandina Islands
It was a beautiful morning with a gentle breeze blowing westwards as we cruised around the north western side of Isabela. National Geographic Islander Officers and Natural History Staff followed every movement on the ocean expecting something special to appear.
Moments later we spotted a pod of dolphins at the horizon and we changed course in order to meet the playful marine mammals. The guests woke up and all moved to the bow with cameras and binoculars in hand. As we approached the dolphins, the excitement increased.
Once we were close enough we could see that we had a pod of more than three hundred common dolphins breaching in all directions, some staying in the same place and others speeding away and jumping in unison, giving us a stunning show of speed and breaching agility.
At the moment we reached Punta Vicente Roca on north Isabela we boarded the Zodiacs to explore this area. We found so many things new to our eyes such as the elusive ocean sun fish that is considered to be the most prolific vertebrate on Earth! This place is home to a large colony of Galápagos fur seals as well. These marine mammals share their habitat with hundreds of marine iguanas.
Later on we went to snorkel. It was absolutely beautiful, for we saw myriads of tropical fish. Sea turtles meet in this particular spot for foraging and sometimes mating too. In this area we spotted a pair of turtles apparently mating out of season.
In the afternoon we disembarked on Fernandina Island. Here we went for a walk on the lava flows that are not older than two hundred years; the lava is still shiny and glassy looking. This is evidence of the continuous activity of the ever-restless volcanoes that have formed this magnificent paradise in the middle of the Pacific.
This particular spot is teeming with a big variety of organisms such as marine iguanas, Flightless cormorants, Galápagos sea lions, etc. Fernandina is the youngest island of the archipelago and probably one of the most volcanically active ones in the Galápagos. Its last eruption occurred as recently as in April this year.
It has been an amazing day!
