Isabela and Fernandina Islands
It’s day four on our cruise in the Galápagos Islands. This morning we woke up with the dramatic views of Redonda Rock, the remains of the tip of a submerged volcano. This rock now harbours several thousands of sea birds that have made it their home. Not long after departing from Redonda Rock, our expedition leader, Paula Tagle, announced that soon we would be crossing the equator line towards the southern seas. Our youngest guests on board were delighted with the idea of being knighted by representatives of King Neptune! Back in the southern hemisphere, we disembarked to explore the beautiful surrounding areas from our Zodiacs, and soon we found amazing surprises along this beautiful coastline: dozens of Pacific green sea turtle all around us, fur sea lions, brown noddies, Galápagos penguins keeping busy as they hunted their fish of the day oblivious to our presence, and hundreds of marine iguanas covering the coastline. There was an incredible activity amongst these marine iguanas, as their breeding season has just started and the males were challenging each other and even fighting for the tenancy of their territories.
In the afternoon, the Polaris navigated for a short time, in order to visit Punta Espinosa, on Fernandina Island. This is the most pristine island of the archipelago, as well as the youngest. From the distance, it looks like a barren island, but on a closer look, we discovered its fantastic wildlife: it was here where we had our best close-ups of the amazing flightless cormorant. It’s the middle of their breeding season, so we saw them courting, building brand new nests and looking after young chicks. All the stages in one single place! On our way back, we saw several Galápagos sea lions peacefully enjoying their siesta time, and we wish we could have stayed longer near them, but it was time to go back on board, as soon we would lift anchor to navigate towards our next visit of the following day: Santa Cruz Island.
It’s day four on our cruise in the Galápagos Islands. This morning we woke up with the dramatic views of Redonda Rock, the remains of the tip of a submerged volcano. This rock now harbours several thousands of sea birds that have made it their home. Not long after departing from Redonda Rock, our expedition leader, Paula Tagle, announced that soon we would be crossing the equator line towards the southern seas. Our youngest guests on board were delighted with the idea of being knighted by representatives of King Neptune! Back in the southern hemisphere, we disembarked to explore the beautiful surrounding areas from our Zodiacs, and soon we found amazing surprises along this beautiful coastline: dozens of Pacific green sea turtle all around us, fur sea lions, brown noddies, Galápagos penguins keeping busy as they hunted their fish of the day oblivious to our presence, and hundreds of marine iguanas covering the coastline. There was an incredible activity amongst these marine iguanas, as their breeding season has just started and the males were challenging each other and even fighting for the tenancy of their territories.
In the afternoon, the Polaris navigated for a short time, in order to visit Punta Espinosa, on Fernandina Island. This is the most pristine island of the archipelago, as well as the youngest. From the distance, it looks like a barren island, but on a closer look, we discovered its fantastic wildlife: it was here where we had our best close-ups of the amazing flightless cormorant. It’s the middle of their breeding season, so we saw them courting, building brand new nests and looking after young chicks. All the stages in one single place! On our way back, we saw several Galápagos sea lions peacefully enjoying their siesta time, and we wish we could have stayed longer near them, but it was time to go back on board, as soon we would lift anchor to navigate towards our next visit of the following day: Santa Cruz Island.
