Isabela and Fernandina Island
It was so exciting to wake up and find, in front of our temporary home, common dolphins jumping and playing close by. The up-welling formed at Roca Redonda is the perfect spot for thousands of sea birds like the Galápagos shearwater, brown noddy terns, Nazca boobies, and, additionally, the sightings of a dark-rumped petrel, a red-footed boobie and an albatross.
To continue our trip, we had to cross the Equator Line in order to go to the Southern hemisphere, and we needed to go through King Neptune’s kingdom. So, he came on board with his assistants, the pirates. He wanted victims to give us his permission to go on with our journey. We were baptized by kissing his beloved immortal lobster and drinking iguana blood, the endemic cocktail. After we got our certificates, we went on a Zodiac ride along Punta Vicente Roca.
The snorkeling was almost unreal. While sea turtles were blinking to us and feeding on the algae, brown noddy terns were having a fish festival on the surface. Furthermore, the flightless birds, penguins and cormorants, were interested in preying on the silvery black-stripped salemas.
Fernandina Island is quite an inspiration for nature to work with evolution. The pioneer plants like lava cactus grow on pahoe-hoe lava fields. They will encourage and help other plants that will arrive later to do the same thing. Nevertheless, mangroves take their position and stabilize shores. The flightless cormorants were bringing seaweed to build their nests and drying their wings. After feeding on the algae the marine iguanas were lying down next to each other and spitting salt to desalinate. What a wonderful day we had!
It was so exciting to wake up and find, in front of our temporary home, common dolphins jumping and playing close by. The up-welling formed at Roca Redonda is the perfect spot for thousands of sea birds like the Galápagos shearwater, brown noddy terns, Nazca boobies, and, additionally, the sightings of a dark-rumped petrel, a red-footed boobie and an albatross.
To continue our trip, we had to cross the Equator Line in order to go to the Southern hemisphere, and we needed to go through King Neptune’s kingdom. So, he came on board with his assistants, the pirates. He wanted victims to give us his permission to go on with our journey. We were baptized by kissing his beloved immortal lobster and drinking iguana blood, the endemic cocktail. After we got our certificates, we went on a Zodiac ride along Punta Vicente Roca.
The snorkeling was almost unreal. While sea turtles were blinking to us and feeding on the algae, brown noddy terns were having a fish festival on the surface. Furthermore, the flightless birds, penguins and cormorants, were interested in preying on the silvery black-stripped salemas.
Fernandina Island is quite an inspiration for nature to work with evolution. The pioneer plants like lava cactus grow on pahoe-hoe lava fields. They will encourage and help other plants that will arrive later to do the same thing. Nevertheless, mangroves take their position and stabilize shores. The flightless cormorants were bringing seaweed to build their nests and drying their wings. After feeding on the algae the marine iguanas were lying down next to each other and spitting salt to desalinate. What a wonderful day we had!
