After spending the first day of our voyage at Santa Cruz, visiting the conservation programs and learning all about the problems and the need to solve them, we got to visit one of the most beautiful areas the archipelago has to offer. Fernandina is the largest pristine area in the world, and during our walks, we really got the feeling that this is how it all began. To put it in Darwin's words, we were brought closer to "that mystery of mysteries, the first appearance of new beings on this earth."
Fernandina was at its most spectacular, with the low tides meaning the intertidal activity was abundant. The marine iguanas (the only sea-going lizards in the world, unique to Galapagos) were particularly active. They are in their breeding season, and although we have become used to seeing the males displaying, and even fighting, the naturalists were thrilled to finally catch a couple copulating, a first for many of us!
