Northern Isabela & Fernandina
We sailed on a glassy calm ocean under sunny skies along the coast of Northern Isabela Island. Although no dolphins or whales were seen, we delighted in the glorious conditions and watched endemic dark-rumped petrels, Galápagos shearwaters, noddy terns, a manta ray and several pods of fur seals that were returning from a night of fishing. Captain Carlos ordered the anchor dropped, the “marineros” lowered our fleet of floating limos – the four Zodiacs – and off we went to explore the rugged shore of Punta Vicente Roca. We found sea lions, fur seals, flightless cormorants, blue-footed boobies, noddy terns and lots and lots of SEA TURTLES!!!! As we do each week, I did a census of the turtles we passed along a transect while we motored in the Zodiac, and I today I counted an all-time high: 109 sea turtles!
The reason these marine reptiles were gathered in great numbers in the bay today became immediately apparent: there were thousands of sea jellies with medusas pulsating and some trailing tentacles a foot and a half long. The turtles were lazily feeding on the jellies and we were amazed at the numbers of both jellies and turtles. I had my foot in the water during the Zodiac ride and could feel that these particular jellies had only a tiny sting, so we decided to go ahead and snorkel in spite of them.
Three Zodiacs of courageous ladies, each boat with a naturalist and 6-10 guests, braved the thousands of pulsating jellies and snorkeled with sea turtles, penguins and cormorants. There were huge schools of “booby bait” – black striped salema, schools of yellow-tailed razor fish, damselfish and bright, gorgeous king angels. Sure, the jellies tingled a bit against our bare skin (and a few who were extra sensitive got a few small welts…). We were all wearing long sleeved shirts and long pants under our wet suits for protection – but everyone agreed that swimming among turtles and the colorful fish was well worth it!
In the afternoon we disembarked at Punta Espinoza for a slow, relaxing and lovely walk alternately on sand and then on ropey, pahoehoe lava. The tide was super high and parts of the trail were underwater. We observed hundreds of marine iguanas, found several herons and shorebirds, and enjoyed watching the antics of a huge bull and then the ever rowdy and playful sea lion pups; no one could tire of watching sea lions… As the sunset behind the massive shield volcano of Fernandina and the clouds blushed with pink and orange, we contentedly returned to our cozy ship for more joyful camaraderie, great food and a well-deserved rest.
