Isabela and Fernandina Islands
One of the best days of the week has been this one spent at the westernmost realm of the Galápagos Archipelago.
Before breakfast, a guest spotted a big group of common dolphins that played alongside us for about forty minutes. And then after lunch we saw three dolphins and a Bryde’s whale – what a day!
The morning highlight was observing the wonderful volcanic formations and the many animals we saw there during the Zodiac ride. After King Neptune visited National Geographic Endeavour while we crossed the equator, we had a wonderful Zodiac ride where we saw Galápagos fur sea lions, sea turtles, one Mola-Mola, flightless cormorants, penguins and a variety of colorful tropical fish.
The highlight of the morning was the very rare Mola-Mola. This was truly a wonderful first outing in the morning.
We all went back on board and geared up to go snorkeling with lots of sea turtles we’d spotted. We were snorkeling in the middle of the Pacific Ocean surrounded by dozens of sea turtles, a couple of penguins, several endemic flightless cormorants and a big array of tropical fish. The water was 68F, but that didn’t stop our intrepid guests from enjoying one of the best snorkeling times of the week.
The afternoon walk was also full of excitement. During the nice easy stroll along the shores of the uplifted platform of Punta Espinoza we saw a large number of huge, well-fed marine iguanas in a beautiful landscape of surrounding shield volcanoes.
We returned to National Geographic Endeavour just before sunset where we all said a ‘cheers’ to this day with a drink at the bow of the ship. This is really a great vacation!
