Northern Isabela & Fernandina Islands

Those who were on deck early this morning spied the spout of a Bryde’s whale, first off the ship’s bow, then again off our stern; the leviathan rolled, showed its back and dove, and we did not see it again. Nice at least to know the whales are out there, even if we did not manage to get a better look… It was a superbly lovely morning! There were dozens of dark-rumped petrels (an unusual seabird that nests inland and has been brought back in Galápagos from near extinction), Galápagos shearwaters and leaping mobula rays. The blue gray silhouette of Volcan Wolf was to our south and Roca Redonda shone yellow in the sun to the north as we navigated on calm seas under a clear blue sky. We crossed the equator with fanfare after breakfast and Captain Carlos dropped the anchor of the National Geographic Islander at the base of the spectacular reddish cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca.

We boarded the fleet of Zodiacs and motored slowly along the rugged coast, censusing sea turtles, photographing perched blue-footed boobies and noddy terns on tuff shelves, and catching glimpses of sea lions, fur seals, cormorants and penguins. Huge marine iguanas were sprawled in the sun and were shaking their heads in territorial display. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Zodiac cruise!

Back on National Geographic Islander, twenty of us wiggled into our wet suits and grabbed our blue bags of snorkel gear. We slipped into the calm water in a protected bay and had an absolutely marvelous hour swim with penguins, cormorants, sea lions and 82 sea turtles! The bay was literally dotted with bobbing turtles; they were floating, swimming, sleeping on the sandy bottom and grazing on algae off the rocks. In turn, fish were feeding on the algae on their shells. It was magical to swim, un-noticed among them. When they surfaced for air we had to avoid them bumping into us! I counted the turtles and noted their sex and size (adult or juvenile) and this data will be handed over to the Charles Darwin Research Station.

Our afternoon visit to Punta Espinosa on Fernandina Island was also simply magical. The highlights of this walk were nesting cormorants, hundreds and hundreds – piles – of marine iguanas, sea turtles and sea lions in tidal pools, a rare Galápagos snake, and an oystercatcher with a tiny chick. The sunset was a fiery ball behind the shield volcano as we motored back to our comfortable ship for yet another shared evening in the lounge, a delicious meal and a well deserved sleep in our cozy cabins.