Isabela & Fernandina Islands
We sailed overnight about 130 nautical miles up the east coast of Isabela, the largest island in the Galápagos, made up by the fusion of six great volcanoes. We made relatively slow progress, so on waking at sunrise we found ourselves alongside the eastern rather than the northern flanks of the massive Wolf Volcano, admiring its steep slopes streaked with relatively recent black lava flows.
We could almost believe that everything happens for a reason, as due to our delay we were in this area when a school of hundreds of common dolphin came into view. Our officers of the bridge brought the National Geographic Polaris round a couple of times so we could all admire the acrobatics of these wonderful small cetaceans, before continuing on towards our crossing of the equator line. It was a spectacular day, couldn’t be better for spending some deck time surrounded by such impressive sights!
We finally anchored in front of a cave carved into the fascinating coastline of Punta Vicente Roca, and lowered Zodiacs to enjoy a ride at the base of Ecuador Volcano. The tide was low, exposing the rich algal beds covering the rocky shores, courtesy of the rich seasonal upwellings of the Equatorial Under-current.
One of the first sights we beheld were dozens of marine iguanas bobbing along in the surf, coming up from their morning feed and heading over to the shoreline to clamber out and heat up in the sun. There was definitely no mistaking where we were – only in Galápagos can one witness such a thing, as we have here the only sea-going lizard in the world. Once out of the water, these creatures struck dignified poses in the warm sun – and we couldn’t make up our minds whether we agreed with the early visitors to the islands in finding these creatures hideous (they were once dubbed “imps of darkness”!) or whether we actually find them rather majestic, in a very reptilian kind of way…
On we went with our exploration, and the naturalists were terribly excited at counting about 20 Galápagos penguins standing out on the rocks! We cannot help but feel that we have entered some kind of parallel universe, as we have just crossed the equator and now are looking at penguins! It gets even stranger later on, as we snorkel and find them flitting in and out of schools of angelfish and other typically tropical species… There are not many penguins in Galápagos, under 1500 in total, but the fact that there are any at all this far north is just amazing in itself – true little pioneers.
Our boat ride continues as we find more and more fascinating species, including flightless cormorants and Galápagos fur seals, but the greatest treat of the day, for many, was when we finally got to don our snorkelling gear and jump in to join these creatures. In the water, the greatest highlight of all was swimming among dozens of green Pacific sea turtles, some of which were swimming in the open, others resting on the bottom, yet more grazing on the algae. There were even several reports of young sea lions playing around with seemingly-unbothered, lazy-looking turtles!
As though we hadn’t had enough treats today, our departure from Isabela was heralded by the arrival in the area of two young male orcas, swimming along the coastline and repeatedly coming up for air, their long, triangular dorsal fins unmistakable.
Our unforgettable day ended with an afternoon walk over the recent lava flows of Fernandina Island, the youngest of the group, and a beautiful sunset over a Pacific Ocean that has definitely been living up to its name this week.
To see video footage from today's expedition, click here.
