Isabela and Fernandina Islands
We awoke to moody yet magical skies, rays of sunlight escaping the clouds to illuminate patches of grey sea. Towering above the waves in this eerie atmosphere stands a lone rock, home to myriad seabirds swirling around the summit, silhouhetted against the early morning sky. Its name is Roca Redonda. It was immortalized by Herman Melville in his short stories about the Galápagos, and stands as a beacon, welcoming us to the western realm of the archipelago as we circumnavigated it in the first hour of daylight.
It is here that the cool, rich waters of the Cromwell Undercurrent hit the Galápagos platform and upwell, forming the basis of a complex food chain that supports creatures ranging from the microscopical to the humongous. Miniature members of the planktonic community abound in these waters, as we observed under our video microscope during recap, food to some of the largest creatures on our planet, such as the giant filter-feeding whales and the enormous manta rays and oceanic sunfish, all of which we encountered in a mid-morning Zodiac cruise. Dozens of graceful and oddly wise-looking green sea turtles beckoned us to join them in the cool but clear waters, and for those that did, the experience was unforgettable.
We sailed on, surrounded by the majestic volcanoes wreathed in this wisps of clouds in an otherwise clear sky, aware that any of these might rumble to life at any moment. Stretches of black lava and parasitic cones that dot the gentle slopes of these enormous structures bear witness to the agitated past of the area. Late afternoon walks and further Zodiac cruises revealed the decidedly odd creatures that inhabit the stark black coasts: from tiny penguins to flightless cormorants, their straggly wings still spread as a reminder of a recent airborne past. Even more incongruous than the presence of hundreds of solemn black dragon-like creatures, spread along the coastline awaiting lowering tides that expose the rich algal beds that support the only sea-going lizard in the world is the Galápagos marine iguana.We gather back on board this evening, after the most beautiful of sunsets bathed the surrounding scenery in purple haze, and find we cannot shake to feeling of having been immersed in a world very different to anything we had ever encountered before.
We awoke to moody yet magical skies, rays of sunlight escaping the clouds to illuminate patches of grey sea. Towering above the waves in this eerie atmosphere stands a lone rock, home to myriad seabirds swirling around the summit, silhouhetted against the early morning sky. Its name is Roca Redonda. It was immortalized by Herman Melville in his short stories about the Galápagos, and stands as a beacon, welcoming us to the western realm of the archipelago as we circumnavigated it in the first hour of daylight.
It is here that the cool, rich waters of the Cromwell Undercurrent hit the Galápagos platform and upwell, forming the basis of a complex food chain that supports creatures ranging from the microscopical to the humongous. Miniature members of the planktonic community abound in these waters, as we observed under our video microscope during recap, food to some of the largest creatures on our planet, such as the giant filter-feeding whales and the enormous manta rays and oceanic sunfish, all of which we encountered in a mid-morning Zodiac cruise. Dozens of graceful and oddly wise-looking green sea turtles beckoned us to join them in the cool but clear waters, and for those that did, the experience was unforgettable.
We sailed on, surrounded by the majestic volcanoes wreathed in this wisps of clouds in an otherwise clear sky, aware that any of these might rumble to life at any moment. Stretches of black lava and parasitic cones that dot the gentle slopes of these enormous structures bear witness to the agitated past of the area. Late afternoon walks and further Zodiac cruises revealed the decidedly odd creatures that inhabit the stark black coasts: from tiny penguins to flightless cormorants, their straggly wings still spread as a reminder of a recent airborne past. Even more incongruous than the presence of hundreds of solemn black dragon-like creatures, spread along the coastline awaiting lowering tides that expose the rich algal beds that support the only sea-going lizard in the world is the Galápagos marine iguana.
