Northern Isabela & Fernandina
Even before I made the scheduled early morning wake-up call, First Officer Fernando radioed to announce that he had spotted dolphins ahead of us in the distance. I grabbed my binoculars and hurried to the bridge and by watching them leap and splashing in the rosy light just before the sun came up, I identified them as common dolphins. I made a quiet announcement, urging those who were awake to come on deck.
What a lovely – downright spectacular – morning we had! As the sun rose, pinks faded to golden and sun flashed off the flanks of the leaping dolphins. We watched flocks of Galápagos shearwaters, storm petrels and a few dark-rumped petrels feeding among the dolphins. Ahead a Bryde’s whale surfaced and spouted, showing its back as it dove to continue feeding. This is a small baleen whale with coarse baleen for feeding on schooling fish.
After breakfast we gathered in the bridge and counted down with the GPS as we crossed into the southern hemisphere. Another Bryde’s whale blew ahead of us, and three mola molas were spotted with their wide dorsal fins visible between the waves.
We anchored off Punta Vicente Roca and lowered the Zodiacs for a cruise along the coast. We observed and photographed penguins, blue-footed boobies and noddy terns on the ledges and rocks and were escorted by sea turtles and sea lions in the water. Back on the ship we donned our wet suits and grabbed our snorkel gear and went for a swim. This outing was spectacular! We snorkeled with over a dozen sea turtles, and some of us spied an octopus, a swimming iguana, penguins, a sea turtle being cleaned by king angel fish and everyone saw many species of fish.
The afternoon’s walk at Punta Espinoza, on the volcanically active island of Fernandina (the last eruption was in April!) was unusual in that we hiked in the season’s first rain! The rainy season officially began today; and that means the leaves will soon come out on the barren palo santo trees and finches, mockingbirds and land iguanas will begin breeding. The trail on Punta Espinoza took us among sea lions and piles of marine iguanas to an area where we watched penguins and cormorants. The rain slacked off so we could take pictures and by the time we returned to the ship we had mostly dried off.
Another great day in the magical islands of Galápagos!
