Isabela & Fernandina Islands
We sailed 105 nautical miles overnight, leaving the southern island of Floreana to the seahorse-shaped Isabela, by far the largest of the Galápagos Islands.
Dawn broke over the calm surface of the Pacific Ocean, gentle rolling swells telling of wilder seas long distances away. The towering cliffs of Roca Redonda, the remote remnants of a once-huge volcano, loomed on our starboard side; standing sentinel over our entry to the western realm of this enchanted archipelago. Western Galápagos is a truly magical place: towering shield volcanoes streaked with fresh black lava flows; green coastlines covered in luxuriant algal beds and lined with dense mangrove thickets; rich cool waters upwelling along the coastlines and supporting rich marine ecosytems. It is an area that is beloved by those who regularly sail these waters, as we learn to always expect the unexpected here – the west always holds some little treat up its sleeves for us!
We were escorted by large flocks of seabirds as we sailed round Roca Redonda, and then greeted by an enormous school of graceful and acrobatic common dolphins that leapt simultaneously out of the water as we approached among a cacophony of splashes – an unforgettable spectacle. We then lowered our fleet of Zodiacs to ride along the base of a giant volcano, which initial appearance, so lifeless from a distance, was soon belied by hundreds of sea turtles, giant marine iguanas, tiny hunting penguins, improbable-looking Galápagos flightless cormorants and the even more unbelievable ocean sunfish! We could not but help wonder: “What strange, other-worldly place have we been transported to?” To get a closer look, we returned to the ship and donned snorkelling gear to immerse ourselves in the cool waters – the temperature was soon forgotten as we contemplated the wonders of the Galápagos marine life: everything we had glimpsed above water was now fully visible underwater, a truly amazing experience.
During the afternoon we re-positioned to an island that represents the true essence of the Galápagos: the pristine Fernandina, youngest and strangest of all islands of the group. Lava flows seemingly warped into piles of black marine iguanas as we took a closer look, all interspersed with jewel-like red and blue crabs; mangrove-lined intertidal pools were filled with turtles temporarily trapped by lowering tidal conditions; the black rocks along the coastline were covered with nesting flightless cormorants and their noisy chick clamouring for a meal…
What a wealth of sensory impressions we have been bombarded with today – almost an overload to sort through over our evening gathering and subsequent dinner, the one lasting feeling being that we would never forget this magical place.
We sailed 105 nautical miles overnight, leaving the southern island of Floreana to the seahorse-shaped Isabela, by far the largest of the Galápagos Islands.
Dawn broke over the calm surface of the Pacific Ocean, gentle rolling swells telling of wilder seas long distances away. The towering cliffs of Roca Redonda, the remote remnants of a once-huge volcano, loomed on our starboard side; standing sentinel over our entry to the western realm of this enchanted archipelago. Western Galápagos is a truly magical place: towering shield volcanoes streaked with fresh black lava flows; green coastlines covered in luxuriant algal beds and lined with dense mangrove thickets; rich cool waters upwelling along the coastlines and supporting rich marine ecosytems. It is an area that is beloved by those who regularly sail these waters, as we learn to always expect the unexpected here – the west always holds some little treat up its sleeves for us!
We were escorted by large flocks of seabirds as we sailed round Roca Redonda, and then greeted by an enormous school of graceful and acrobatic common dolphins that leapt simultaneously out of the water as we approached among a cacophony of splashes – an unforgettable spectacle. We then lowered our fleet of Zodiacs to ride along the base of a giant volcano, which initial appearance, so lifeless from a distance, was soon belied by hundreds of sea turtles, giant marine iguanas, tiny hunting penguins, improbable-looking Galápagos flightless cormorants and the even more unbelievable ocean sunfish! We could not but help wonder: “What strange, other-worldly place have we been transported to?” To get a closer look, we returned to the ship and donned snorkelling gear to immerse ourselves in the cool waters – the temperature was soon forgotten as we contemplated the wonders of the Galápagos marine life: everything we had glimpsed above water was now fully visible underwater, a truly amazing experience.
During the afternoon we re-positioned to an island that represents the true essence of the Galápagos: the pristine Fernandina, youngest and strangest of all islands of the group. Lava flows seemingly warped into piles of black marine iguanas as we took a closer look, all interspersed with jewel-like red and blue crabs; mangrove-lined intertidal pools were filled with turtles temporarily trapped by lowering tidal conditions; the black rocks along the coastline were covered with nesting flightless cormorants and their noisy chick clamouring for a meal…
What a wealth of sensory impressions we have been bombarded with today – almost an overload to sort through over our evening gathering and subsequent dinner, the one lasting feeling being that we would never forget this magical place.
