Isabela Island
While visiting today one of the youngest islands in this archipelago, I remembered that the last Galápagos eruption happened on this island and not too long ago – only six years ago! This was one of the most exciting things that I have ever seen. It made me remember my very first eruption, the one I saw when I was a child. I didn’t understand then what was going on when it happened. Everybody in town was very excited and scared at the same time. I was in Santa Cruz Island, and the eruption was on Volcan Chico, Isabela Island, but we could see at night time the red lines of liquid lava coming down from the volcano. That memory was still fresh on my mind when I saw my second eruption from the Polaris on 1998. That is one of the things that Isabela Island brings back to my mind.
Today we were doing a Zodiac ride in the base of one of the volcanoes of Isabela. Some of our guests did want to see an eruption, some preferred not to. One thing that we did not expect today was to see a baby marine iguana climbing up in the Zodiac, and walking toward a Naturalist shoulder. This iguana was swimming far away from shore. Probably the strong currents had taken it away and then some fish (or playful sea lion) bit its tail. The only close and safe place to rest and escape was the Zodiac, and once on the Zodiac, the comfortable shoulder of Daniel.
During the boat ride we saw some Galápagos penguins, some turtles, and also the oceanic sun fish, known as the “Mola mola.” Some of our guests decided to go snorkeling and they had a very good opportunity to see marine turtles. I like this young island a lot, not only for the wild life, but also for the incredible landscapes, full of black lava fields, contrasting with the mangroves and the blue ocean.
While visiting today one of the youngest islands in this archipelago, I remembered that the last Galápagos eruption happened on this island and not too long ago – only six years ago! This was one of the most exciting things that I have ever seen. It made me remember my very first eruption, the one I saw when I was a child. I didn’t understand then what was going on when it happened. Everybody in town was very excited and scared at the same time. I was in Santa Cruz Island, and the eruption was on Volcan Chico, Isabela Island, but we could see at night time the red lines of liquid lava coming down from the volcano. That memory was still fresh on my mind when I saw my second eruption from the Polaris on 1998. That is one of the things that Isabela Island brings back to my mind.
Today we were doing a Zodiac ride in the base of one of the volcanoes of Isabela. Some of our guests did want to see an eruption, some preferred not to. One thing that we did not expect today was to see a baby marine iguana climbing up in the Zodiac, and walking toward a Naturalist shoulder. This iguana was swimming far away from shore. Probably the strong currents had taken it away and then some fish (or playful sea lion) bit its tail. The only close and safe place to rest and escape was the Zodiac, and once on the Zodiac, the comfortable shoulder of Daniel.
During the boat ride we saw some Galápagos penguins, some turtles, and also the oceanic sun fish, known as the “Mola mola.” Some of our guests decided to go snorkeling and they had a very good opportunity to see marine turtles. I like this young island a lot, not only for the wild life, but also for the incredible landscapes, full of black lava fields, contrasting with the mangroves and the blue ocean.
