Isabela and Fernandina Islands
My beloved enchanted archipelago is full of surprises. You meet people that enrich your life with laughter, and also with tears; all of this together with close encounters with nature. And this morning we did have a pretty close meeting with the top predators of the ocean, killer whales.
It happened while we were having our Zodiac ride along Punta Vicente Roca. We had seen Galápagos fur seals, Galápagos penguins, flightless cormorants and marine iguanas, all of them unique to this part of the world. At the time we moved out at sea to look at a Mola mola or ocean sunfish, we spotted frigates, shearwaters and petrels flying in a frenzy north of the tuff volcano. We peeled our eyes to discover that they were feeding on the left overs of a kill. Orcas were hunting, and at a closer look we discovered they were getting Mola molas, a practice we have observed a few times before in this part of the Galápagos. We felt very fortunate and enjoyed quietly this amazing sighting.
King Neptune and his pirates paid us a visit while we crossed the equator line, and many of our guests got baptized as Galápagos shellbacks. The afternoon found us at the largest pristine island in the world, Fernandina, where we felt as if we were walking on an island recently emerged, with fresh lava flows and innocent wildlife.
My beloved enchanted archipelago is full of surprises. You meet people that enrich your life with laughter, and also with tears; all of this together with close encounters with nature. And this morning we did have a pretty close meeting with the top predators of the ocean, killer whales.
It happened while we were having our Zodiac ride along Punta Vicente Roca. We had seen Galápagos fur seals, Galápagos penguins, flightless cormorants and marine iguanas, all of them unique to this part of the world. At the time we moved out at sea to look at a Mola mola or ocean sunfish, we spotted frigates, shearwaters and petrels flying in a frenzy north of the tuff volcano. We peeled our eyes to discover that they were feeding on the left overs of a kill. Orcas were hunting, and at a closer look we discovered they were getting Mola molas, a practice we have observed a few times before in this part of the Galápagos. We felt very fortunate and enjoyed quietly this amazing sighting.
King Neptune and his pirates paid us a visit while we crossed the equator line, and many of our guests got baptized as Galápagos shellbacks. The afternoon found us at the largest pristine island in the world, Fernandina, where we felt as if we were walking on an island recently emerged, with fresh lava flows and innocent wildlife.
