Fernandina Island
As close to paradise as we could hope to get! At least that’s the view of someone passionate about Galapagos, pristine wildness, conservation, and marine mammals, all wrapped into one incredible day’s experiences.
Ok, so Fernandina Island is my favorite island in the world. It is also the largest tropical island left on this planet that is still virtually untouched by any form of human impact. It’s an active volcano, and its natural setting at the heart of the Equatorial Countercurrent upwelling supplies its shores with one of the richest, most unique marine ecosystems known to exist. As such, today Fernandina’s aura played to our imagination until our souls were filled with wonder and our hearts overflowing with magic. Low brooding clouds played hide and seek with the brooding volcano; flightless cormorants busied themselves in amorous curtsies, while penguins danced through the shallows; marine iguanas lounged in tide pools and green turtles drifted over the seaweed beds; sea lion pups suckled their sleeping moms, even as their older brothers and sisters learned the art of wave riding further offshore.
Then we weighed anchor and… oh, what an afternoon. A lone Orca bull was the center of attention of storm petrels and frigates, suggesting a secret lunch meeting. Then sperm whales, lob-tailing and breaching in the distance. An exuberant pod of common dolphins soon revealed some much rarer striped dolphins in their midst. By sunset, bottlenose dolphins brought our list of cetacean sightings to five, not to mention oceanic sunfish, rare dark-rumped petrels and all sorts of other seabirds before we turned east toward yet another island expected by dawn.
After one and a half years away from Galapagos, returning to complete our photo collection and sharing in the warmth and excitement of such a day aboard Polaris (while hitching a ride to spend a week on Genovesa Island) is as close to Paradise as we can get. Thank you!
As close to paradise as we could hope to get! At least that’s the view of someone passionate about Galapagos, pristine wildness, conservation, and marine mammals, all wrapped into one incredible day’s experiences.
Ok, so Fernandina Island is my favorite island in the world. It is also the largest tropical island left on this planet that is still virtually untouched by any form of human impact. It’s an active volcano, and its natural setting at the heart of the Equatorial Countercurrent upwelling supplies its shores with one of the richest, most unique marine ecosystems known to exist. As such, today Fernandina’s aura played to our imagination until our souls were filled with wonder and our hearts overflowing with magic. Low brooding clouds played hide and seek with the brooding volcano; flightless cormorants busied themselves in amorous curtsies, while penguins danced through the shallows; marine iguanas lounged in tide pools and green turtles drifted over the seaweed beds; sea lion pups suckled their sleeping moms, even as their older brothers and sisters learned the art of wave riding further offshore.
Then we weighed anchor and… oh, what an afternoon. A lone Orca bull was the center of attention of storm petrels and frigates, suggesting a secret lunch meeting. Then sperm whales, lob-tailing and breaching in the distance. An exuberant pod of common dolphins soon revealed some much rarer striped dolphins in their midst. By sunset, bottlenose dolphins brought our list of cetacean sightings to five, not to mention oceanic sunfish, rare dark-rumped petrels and all sorts of other seabirds before we turned east toward yet another island expected by dawn.
After one and a half years away from Galapagos, returning to complete our photo collection and sharing in the warmth and excitement of such a day aboard Polaris (while hitching a ride to spend a week on Genovesa Island) is as close to Paradise as we can get. Thank you!
