Isabela and Fernandina Islands
We awoke this morning to very pleasant, sunny weather; and despite this being the rainy season and somewhat cloud-strewn weather, the sunlight eked through, giving us a very interesting perspective of the islands.
The ocean at this time of the year is pretty much calm and a clear blue, which allowed us to have an easy navigation, a nice sleep and accumulate plenty of energy for the following day’s activities.
We had several real treats today, as we awoke to a school of acrobatic common dolphins displaying all around us. We then pulled in to an area of northern Isabela called Punta Vicente Roca, when just as we were about to drop anchor the cry “whale ahead” came from our Expedition Leader. It was a young Bryde’s whale, that surfaced several times and swum right in front of our bow, giving us an amazing spectacle! Due to the rich, cool waters bathing the coastline, this the best place during our trip to have a “panga” ride to search for some marine life. The snorkeling is fantastic too; some resident turtles are always ready to give the welcome to anyone who is ready to jump in the water, and they were joined today by some penguins, cormorants and sea lions.
After sailing through lunch and learning more about the “El Niño” phenomenon from our staff, we anchored off Punta Espinoza. Fernandina is the jewel in the crown of the Galápagos, as we naturalists often say: it is an island that brings peace to the beholder, being so pure, untouched, young, and topped by a volcano that has the appearance of those ones from fantasy movies, but inhabited by many real and innocent animals that completely lack fear of human beings.
Today was particularly special because as some of us we were walking along the trail, we saw killer whales close to the shore, probably checking for some sea lions. We radioed this information to our colleagues that were still riding Zodiacs, and they had the wonderful opportunity to get extremely close to these fantastic marine mammals, as they were feeding on some kind of living animal. This is something we don’t come across every day and reminds how worthwhile it is to travel around and encounter many unique experiences, that we couldn’t possibly hope to glimpse if we stayed at home.
Just look at our picture: a penguin and iguanas together! No place else on our planet could look anything like this.
We awoke this morning to very pleasant, sunny weather; and despite this being the rainy season and somewhat cloud-strewn weather, the sunlight eked through, giving us a very interesting perspective of the islands.
The ocean at this time of the year is pretty much calm and a clear blue, which allowed us to have an easy navigation, a nice sleep and accumulate plenty of energy for the following day’s activities.
We had several real treats today, as we awoke to a school of acrobatic common dolphins displaying all around us. We then pulled in to an area of northern Isabela called Punta Vicente Roca, when just as we were about to drop anchor the cry “whale ahead” came from our Expedition Leader. It was a young Bryde’s whale, that surfaced several times and swum right in front of our bow, giving us an amazing spectacle! Due to the rich, cool waters bathing the coastline, this the best place during our trip to have a “panga” ride to search for some marine life. The snorkeling is fantastic too; some resident turtles are always ready to give the welcome to anyone who is ready to jump in the water, and they were joined today by some penguins, cormorants and sea lions.
After sailing through lunch and learning more about the “El Niño” phenomenon from our staff, we anchored off Punta Espinoza. Fernandina is the jewel in the crown of the Galápagos, as we naturalists often say: it is an island that brings peace to the beholder, being so pure, untouched, young, and topped by a volcano that has the appearance of those ones from fantasy movies, but inhabited by many real and innocent animals that completely lack fear of human beings.
Today was particularly special because as some of us we were walking along the trail, we saw killer whales close to the shore, probably checking for some sea lions. We radioed this information to our colleagues that were still riding Zodiacs, and they had the wonderful opportunity to get extremely close to these fantastic marine mammals, as they were feeding on some kind of living animal. This is something we don’t come across every day and reminds how worthwhile it is to travel around and encounter many unique experiences, that we couldn’t possibly hope to glimpse if we stayed at home.
Just look at our picture: a penguin and iguanas together! No place else on our planet could look anything like this.
