Isabela and Fernandina Islands
I woke up at 5:30 am today. I was thrilled to see a wonderful sunrise at the foot of Wolf Volcano. At around 6:30 am we observed a lot of wildlife – Galápagos shear waters, Galápagos petrels, and Galápagos fur seals, and then we spotted a very large pod of common dolphins. We followed the dolphins and – oh boy, we were so excited! The dolphins were breaching way out of the water and all our guests were very happy with this magnificent sighting.
Breakfast was served, and then we headed back to bridge to witness the crossing of the equator. A symbolic yellow, blue and red flag line appeared. Our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero encouraged our guests to cross the line by doing the limbo which entitled them to receive an official certificate signed by King Neptune (a.k.a. National Geographic Islander’s Captain).
The National Geographic Islander continued its navigation towards our next destination, Punta Vicente Roca. We disembarked at 10:00 am and went for a Zodiac ride and, goodness me, we saw Galápagos penguins, flightless cormorants, waved albatrosses, and lots of Pacific sea turtles.
Right after that we changed into our wetsuits and went snorkeling and what an amazing experience this was. We saw a huge manta ray, Oceanic sunfish (Mola mola), flightless cormorants, sea lions playing with us and, of course, the Pacific green sea turtles. After this exciting outing we motored towards Fernandina Island. On the way we observed Bryde’s whale that seemed to be very comfortable with us being around for it hung out with us for a long time.
After lunch Celso Montalvo, one of our Naturalists, gave a wonderful presentation about Darwin, it was fascinating. At 3:00pm we went to Punta Espinoza on the island of Fernandina. This location is one the most pristine places on Earth. We saw lots of marine iguanas, Galápagos sea lions, lava cacti, lava lizards and much more. Afterward we returned to the ship and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset with a well-deserved cocktail in hand. Just before dinner, Naturalist Graciela Cevallos gave a great presentation about plankton using our stereomicroscope connected to the plasma screens in the lounge. Graciela explained the huge importance of plankton in the Oceans’ food web. Another successful day in paradise has come to an end.
