Fernandina and Isabela Islands
Early this morning we visited Fernandina Island, with a sunrise landing for photographers and a later landing for natural history groups. This island is my favorite: a true jewel. Big aggregations of marine iguanas, nesting flightless cormorants and Galapagos penguins were the most admired and photographed by our guests. Fernandina is the youngest island in the archipelago. Its huge shield volcano looked at its best today, towering up in an incredibly clean blue sky. The breathtaking lava flows that cover this island are not less impressive.
Right after lunch we spotted a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins from the Polaris, they were busy feeding but great to watch. In the afternoon we visited one of the most beautiful visitor sites that the largest island in the archipelago, Isabela, has to offer: an area called Urvina Bay. Everywhere we looked we saw luxurious green, a sure sign that it had been a good rainy season this year. Some very large land iguanas were spotted and towards the end of our visit some of us even encountered a small tortoise grazing quietly on the trail. These terrestrial reptiles have been in for a real treat this year, with an unaccustomed abundance of vegetation.
Early this morning we visited Fernandina Island, with a sunrise landing for photographers and a later landing for natural history groups. This island is my favorite: a true jewel. Big aggregations of marine iguanas, nesting flightless cormorants and Galapagos penguins were the most admired and photographed by our guests. Fernandina is the youngest island in the archipelago. Its huge shield volcano looked at its best today, towering up in an incredibly clean blue sky. The breathtaking lava flows that cover this island are not less impressive.
Right after lunch we spotted a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins from the Polaris, they were busy feeding but great to watch. In the afternoon we visited one of the most beautiful visitor sites that the largest island in the archipelago, Isabela, has to offer: an area called Urvina Bay. Everywhere we looked we saw luxurious green, a sure sign that it had been a good rainy season this year. Some very large land iguanas were spotted and towards the end of our visit some of us even encountered a small tortoise grazing quietly on the trail. These terrestrial reptiles have been in for a real treat this year, with an unaccustomed abundance of vegetation.
