Isabela & Fernandina Islands
This day began early in the morning with an optional wake up; our guests had an opportunity to enjoy, from the sky deck, a singular welcome to the western part of Galápagos. Common dolphins and whales swam near the National Geographic Islander, and from time to time sea lions showed their heads from the water, as if they also wanted to call our attention. Behind, the landscape was spectacular with the Ecuador and Fernandina volcanoes showing – magnificent and beautiful.
After crossing the Equator line, we started a delighted dinghy ride along Isabela’s coastline. In front of us, the collapsed caldera of the Ecuador volcano looked gigantic, making us feel so small compared with that great formation. As soon as we arrived to the southern part of Punta Vicente Roca, we saw a group of marine iguanas jumping and swimming against huge waves. On the rocks, the smallest iguanas preferred to remain because it was safer than the risk that the ocean implied.
After lunch, we arrived to Fernandina Island, the youngest in the archipelago. We landed during the high tide at Espinosa Point. This place was uplifted a few years ago and landing here is impossible with low tides. We saw very large marine iguanas taking sunbaths on black rocks, piled like rocks or grapes, unperturbed by our presence. We enjoyed seeing curious lava lizards walking on sea lions’ bodies, crabs on rocks escaping from herons and, maybe the best attraction, the flightless cormorants drying their feathers and showing us their short wings, the result of millions of years of evolution.
All here on Fernandina means life; all here is beautiful for us, but for these incredible creatures, all is different. Today we saw and understood a little bit more about how nature can work very slowly creating new islands, new landscapes and new species of animals.
