Isabela and Fernandina
As my alarm clock rang this morning, I eagerly jumped out of bed to enjoy the sunrise over my very favourite area of the Galápagos. The westernmost islands of Isabela and Fernandina are characterized by towering shield volcanoes, the black basaltic shores of which are bathed by cool, nutrient rich waters. As we approached the equator line that runs straight through the two northernmost volcanoes of Isabela, everyone joined me on deck to witness the crossing of the most famous line on earth. We did however have to make a little detour first, as we encountered a school of over a hundred common dolphins that joyfully leapt out of the water all around us – this is what I love about western Galápagos, expect the unexpected!
The day only continued to get better, as we took Zodiac cruises along spectacular cliffs amongst Galápagos fur seals, penguins and flightless cormorants then jumped in the cool waters to snorkel with sea turtles. And the afternoon had the spectacular Fernandina in store for us: walking over the tortuous shapes the once-liquid lava had solidified into, we encountered one strange Galápagos denizen after another. As though the odd-looking cormorants with their straggly remnants of wings, and the tiny equatorial penguins wandering through mangrove roots were not enough to give us an otherworldly feeling, we also had to pick our way through hundreds of incomparable marine iguanas, the only sea-going lizards in the world!
When Charles Darwin visited these islands in 1535, he described the marine iguana thus: “it is a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid and sluggish in its movements.” Before him, visitors had also dubbed the poor animals “imps of darkness”! It is true however that he was fascinated by them, and their strange aquatic habits. He was the first person to discover that they were not hunting fish, as was previously thought, rather grazing on algae along the intertidal zone – although he did have to cut them open for this! His torture of the poor animals was not over here: he also spent hours throwing an unwitting iguana into the water over and over again, only to watch it keep swimming back to the same place, rather than swimming off to safety. At this he concluded they had more predators in the water than on land, thus instinctively searching for shelter on the latter – alright, so he also proved they were not the brightest animals on earth, but personally I find them rather engaging, as well as fantastically photogenic. I mean, who could possibly resist such a smile as this? It might also be that I have been living here a little too long now…
As my alarm clock rang this morning, I eagerly jumped out of bed to enjoy the sunrise over my very favourite area of the Galápagos. The westernmost islands of Isabela and Fernandina are characterized by towering shield volcanoes, the black basaltic shores of which are bathed by cool, nutrient rich waters. As we approached the equator line that runs straight through the two northernmost volcanoes of Isabela, everyone joined me on deck to witness the crossing of the most famous line on earth. We did however have to make a little detour first, as we encountered a school of over a hundred common dolphins that joyfully leapt out of the water all around us – this is what I love about western Galápagos, expect the unexpected!
The day only continued to get better, as we took Zodiac cruises along spectacular cliffs amongst Galápagos fur seals, penguins and flightless cormorants then jumped in the cool waters to snorkel with sea turtles. And the afternoon had the spectacular Fernandina in store for us: walking over the tortuous shapes the once-liquid lava had solidified into, we encountered one strange Galápagos denizen after another. As though the odd-looking cormorants with their straggly remnants of wings, and the tiny equatorial penguins wandering through mangrove roots were not enough to give us an otherworldly feeling, we also had to pick our way through hundreds of incomparable marine iguanas, the only sea-going lizards in the world!
When Charles Darwin visited these islands in 1535, he described the marine iguana thus: “it is a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid and sluggish in its movements.” Before him, visitors had also dubbed the poor animals “imps of darkness”! It is true however that he was fascinated by them, and their strange aquatic habits. He was the first person to discover that they were not hunting fish, as was previously thought, rather grazing on algae along the intertidal zone – although he did have to cut them open for this! His torture of the poor animals was not over here: he also spent hours throwing an unwitting iguana into the water over and over again, only to watch it keep swimming back to the same place, rather than swimming off to safety. At this he concluded they had more predators in the water than on land, thus instinctively searching for shelter on the latter – alright, so he also proved they were not the brightest animals on earth, but personally I find them rather engaging, as well as fantastically photogenic. I mean, who could possibly resist such a smile as this? It might also be that I have been living here a little too long now…
