Isabela and Fernandina Islands
When one contemplates some of the Galapagos Islands from the airplane, they seem desolated. When one looks at the islands from the ship, it is the same illusion; they appear barren and uninhabited. This also happened to Darwin, who wrote, “nothing could be less inviting” once he viewed his first Galapagos island from the HMS Beagle 168 years ago. But once you set foot on the island you discover the many wonderful creatures, the amazing landscapes, the bubbling of life in every little fissure in the lava.
Sometimes you don’t even have to disembark; it is enough just to get closer by Zodiac, and then dozens of boobies, brown-noddy terns, frigates, and tropicbirds are obvious to your eyes. Roca Redonda and Punta Vicente Roca reverberated with birds this morning. And in the water we found a few Mola mola fish (ocean sunfish) and even bottlenose dolphins and many green sea turtles. While walking on Fernandina lava flows this afternoon we had to be careful in not stepping on marine iguanas and lava lizards.
I am sure that the islands had been missing the Polaris. This is our first week after dry dock and it seems that every species wants to welcome us back. The islands have been and their best, and the western realm of the Galapagos at its very very best.
When one contemplates some of the Galapagos Islands from the airplane, they seem desolated. When one looks at the islands from the ship, it is the same illusion; they appear barren and uninhabited. This also happened to Darwin, who wrote, “nothing could be less inviting” once he viewed his first Galapagos island from the HMS Beagle 168 years ago. But once you set foot on the island you discover the many wonderful creatures, the amazing landscapes, the bubbling of life in every little fissure in the lava.
Sometimes you don’t even have to disembark; it is enough just to get closer by Zodiac, and then dozens of boobies, brown-noddy terns, frigates, and tropicbirds are obvious to your eyes. Roca Redonda and Punta Vicente Roca reverberated with birds this morning. And in the water we found a few Mola mola fish (ocean sunfish) and even bottlenose dolphins and many green sea turtles. While walking on Fernandina lava flows this afternoon we had to be careful in not stepping on marine iguanas and lava lizards.
I am sure that the islands had been missing the Polaris. This is our first week after dry dock and it seems that every species wants to welcome us back. The islands have been and their best, and the western realm of the Galapagos at its very very best.
