The morning had us navigating toward Fernandina Island, the most western island in Galapagos. It is one of five large islands in this archipelago. The scenery we are approaching is hard to describe, it is a great example of the shield volcano, volcanology you can expect in oceanic archipelagos. The island itself is one large volcano that has the deepest caldera a volcano in Galapagos could ever have. Dry, very dry, is how the slopes of this one single volcano look. The green you expect on the island is found along the coast specifically, where the pioneer plant is highly dominant. Before we anchor on the island we saw a spout – it was the largest mammal of the ocean. Yes, a couple of blue whales were close to the National Geographic Endeavour! They helped us envision the rest of the exciting day coming up. By 8:00 a.m. we are disembarking on the rocky tidal area where the explorers are surprised by the local attractions at every turn – the marine iguanas, the flightless cormorant, sea lions, green sea turtles and the view of this magical place help us have a great time.
Later on we move to our next destination, the smallest volcano of six forming the largest island in Galapagos, Isabela. Isabela is situated in the western part of the archipelago with Fernandina. The first of the activities gets us in the water to visit a fascinating place you could call pacific green sea turtle’s “Eden.” We play with sea lions and enjoy the company of the turtles which couldn’t be closer. Zodiac riding along the coast of the collapsed Ecuador volcano is the next activity, with fantastic attractions all close enough for pictures and excitement. And that’s not all! We navigate to the Equator line not far from our last stop and there is a great celebration of our Equator crossing before beginning to plan our following day. What a great adventure today.
