Isabela and Fernandina

In the early hours of the day we navigated along the coast of Roca Redonda, one of the most beautiful places in Galápagos. We observed thousands of birds flying around this volcano and bottlenose dolphins swimming together in front of our ship. In the distance we spotted a large spout of a whale; we got closer to the whale and identified it as a sperm whale. Further away we saw others realizing that there were many spread in the same region. One even very close to the ship before it went on a deep dive. It was very exciting to find this species of whale since we do not find it so often.

Later on in the morning, we dropped anchor at Punta Vicente Roca where we went out for Zodiac rides and deep-water snorkeling; there were many sea turtles and curious Galápagos flightless cormorants. The waters around Isabela and Fernandina are very diverse and rich in sea life, at the same time water is cooler than on the rest of the archipelago. We loved snorkeling this morning, it was just spectacular.

In the afternoon, we walked on the young volcanic terrain of Punta Espinosa. The aridness of the terrain brought us to the idea that is how earth looked like before plants colonized it. It is easy to lose sense of time there since there is so much to see. There were many marine iguanas basking under the sun. These creatures look more like miniature dinosaurs.

Our day ended with a nice and colorful sunset over the volcanoes of Isabela and Fernandina Islands.