Isabela & Fernandina Island
What a wonderful day we had today.
Early in the morning we found ourselves in the northwestern part of the archipelago as we were navigating to our next visitor site on Isabela Island. Suddenly we were surrounded by many common dolphins which occasionally jumped high out the water, much to our surprise.
Our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero gave us a general call and we were all rewarded with this magical wake-up call. After breakfast we crossed the equator and we were greeted by King Neptune and his court. After this visit we now have onboard newly officially baptized “shellbacks”; life will never be the same for them!
Our Zodiacs were deployed and we started the most dramatic ride along the shoreline of Isabela Island. Flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, marine iguanas, Galápagos sea lions, Galápagos fur seals, birds of different species and many sea turtles were seen all over the area. It is just overwhelming to be surrounded by such a pristine place under blue skies and stunning geological features. My dear reader, you just have to be here to have this wonderful feeling and to be mesmerised by the majestic might of this indescribable place.
Back onboard we were ready for our next outing; snorkelling. Today was “turtle day” as probably hundreds of them all around us floated peacefully in this third dimension we call ocean. They seem just like UFOs under this silent space and we were there for an experience of a life time.
We continued to Fernandina Island, the youngest of all Islands in the archipelago. There is only one visitor site on the island, Punta Espinoza, and not many visitors can make it this far. This place is surreal, you can see hundreds of marine iguanas which were undisturbed with our presence, red Sally light foot crabs over the black lava rock, Flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, sea turtles and the ever present Galápagos sea lions under the watchful eye of a Galápagos hawk. Today we saw a baby Galápagos sea lion diligently searching for a mother which has not come to shore. It was tough to see it searching in vain and to imagine his possible future, to say the least, as we can only watch this behaviour, for this is a pristine place where Nature has its own laws, whatever they may be.
Tomorrow is our last day of the year, life continues on, and we feel very lucky to be here at this time and with our friends and family, this is just perfect. Our expedition continues as we have reached the peak of the week and are ready for more.
What a wonderful day we had today.
Early in the morning we found ourselves in the northwestern part of the archipelago as we were navigating to our next visitor site on Isabela Island. Suddenly we were surrounded by many common dolphins which occasionally jumped high out the water, much to our surprise.
Our Expedition Leader Carlos Romero gave us a general call and we were all rewarded with this magical wake-up call. After breakfast we crossed the equator and we were greeted by King Neptune and his court. After this visit we now have onboard newly officially baptized “shellbacks”; life will never be the same for them!
Our Zodiacs were deployed and we started the most dramatic ride along the shoreline of Isabela Island. Flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, marine iguanas, Galápagos sea lions, Galápagos fur seals, birds of different species and many sea turtles were seen all over the area. It is just overwhelming to be surrounded by such a pristine place under blue skies and stunning geological features. My dear reader, you just have to be here to have this wonderful feeling and to be mesmerised by the majestic might of this indescribable place.
Back onboard we were ready for our next outing; snorkelling. Today was “turtle day” as probably hundreds of them all around us floated peacefully in this third dimension we call ocean. They seem just like UFOs under this silent space and we were there for an experience of a life time.
We continued to Fernandina Island, the youngest of all Islands in the archipelago. There is only one visitor site on the island, Punta Espinoza, and not many visitors can make it this far. This place is surreal, you can see hundreds of marine iguanas which were undisturbed with our presence, red Sally light foot crabs over the black lava rock, Flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, sea turtles and the ever present Galápagos sea lions under the watchful eye of a Galápagos hawk. Today we saw a baby Galápagos sea lion diligently searching for a mother which has not come to shore. It was tough to see it searching in vain and to imagine his possible future, to say the least, as we can only watch this behaviour, for this is a pristine place where Nature has its own laws, whatever they may be.
Tomorrow is our last day of the year, life continues on, and we feel very lucky to be here at this time and with our friends and family, this is just perfect. Our expedition continues as we have reached the peak of the week and are ready for more.
