Northern Isabela & Fernandina
We awoke early today with high hopes of seeing marine mammals: we did, but only in the form of a few fur seals returning to shore after a night of fishing. No whales or dolphins broke the surface of the sea, however we did spy a few leaping mobula rays and several species of sea birds, and in any case it was a beautiful morning to be on deck.
After breakfast we crossed the Equator and all officially became Galápagos shellbacks. As we navigated along the collapsed caldera of Volcan Ecuador we observed the tall dorsal fins of several pelagic sunfish or mola mola. Captain Carlos had the boson drop anchor in a sheltered bay off Punta Vicente Roca and we headed off in the four Zodiacs with our Naturalists to explore the coast. We were delighted to find our first flightless cormorants, several penguins, huge marine iguanas, and a long list of other species, from the comfort of the rubber boats. A group of teens and tweens went out with Naturalist Sofia and Panguero Ricky, and they had a fabulous look at one of the big mola molas!
We snorkeled next, and despite terrible visibility due to both wave action and the enormous amount of plankton and algae in these rich waters, we had a wonderful experience. We swam with a dozen sea turtles, an utterly fearless and incredibly curious juvenile cormorant, two playful “teen” sea lions and a couple of penguins. The water was chilly, so the hot chocolate and cookies we found waiting for us in reception when we returned to the ship were eagerly devoured.
After lunch, Magda and I worked with the young folks on their log books, and we were interrupted by the welcome cry of “whales!” Second officer Byron turned the ship and indeed there were two Bryde’s whales surfacing for only seconds at a time, but close enough to the ship for all to see.
The afternoon walk at Punta Espinoza was wonderful. The huge shield volcano serves as a backdrop for the trail that leads out to a rocky point. We enjoyed watching playful sea lions, and cormorants and some of us found some hard-to-find species: two Galápagos snakes and an endemic rice rat. There were literally piles of huge marine iguanas, bright red Sally light foot crabs and dark lava lizards that darted around our feet after flies.
Back on the ship for the evening, we gathered in the lounge to look at the mass of plankton that Juan Carlos had captured in our plankton net; I showed a video of the April eruption of Fernandina and outlined the activities for tomorrow.
Yet another great day in the Islas Encantadas!
