Fernandina Island
Today our guests visit one of the most pristine islands in the world. Here there are no introduced animals. This is Fernandina Island. Fernandina is the youngest island of this enchanted archipelago. It is only three hundred thousand years old and the last eruption occurred in 1995 on the western side of the island. What an incredible sight! The volcano was not too far from the shoreline, and we could see the lava rivers racing down its slopes, pouring into the ocean. The resulting explosion produced an enormous amount of steam!
This is my favorite island because the landscape is unique; you can see young formations of lava all around you. Our guests enjoy tremendously the morning and afternoon outings. In the morning we swim and snorkel with sea lions, marine iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorants, and many other underwater creatures. In the afternoon we take an interesting walk over the young lava flows and watch huge colonies of very active marine iguanas.
As we return to the landing site, we pass a Galapagos hawk resting on the National Park monument. He appears to be checking on us and keeping us on the marked trail. There are only a small number of hawks in the Galapagos, so we are fortunate to spy one today. They are at the top of the food chain and this afternoon I think they are investigating a newborn sea lion. What a wonderful way to finish a spectacular day: watching a hawk (which is watching us) who is posing for our cameras in the pink and golden light of the setting sun.
Today our guests visit one of the most pristine islands in the world. Here there are no introduced animals. This is Fernandina Island. Fernandina is the youngest island of this enchanted archipelago. It is only three hundred thousand years old and the last eruption occurred in 1995 on the western side of the island. What an incredible sight! The volcano was not too far from the shoreline, and we could see the lava rivers racing down its slopes, pouring into the ocean. The resulting explosion produced an enormous amount of steam!
This is my favorite island because the landscape is unique; you can see young formations of lava all around you. Our guests enjoy tremendously the morning and afternoon outings. In the morning we swim and snorkel with sea lions, marine iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorants, and many other underwater creatures. In the afternoon we take an interesting walk over the young lava flows and watch huge colonies of very active marine iguanas.
As we return to the landing site, we pass a Galapagos hawk resting on the National Park monument. He appears to be checking on us and keeping us on the marked trail. There are only a small number of hawks in the Galapagos, so we are fortunate to spy one today. They are at the top of the food chain and this afternoon I think they are investigating a newborn sea lion. What a wonderful way to finish a spectacular day: watching a hawk (which is watching us) who is posing for our cameras in the pink and golden light of the setting sun.
