Isabela & Fernandina Islands
We arrived early this morning to the youngest area in the Galápagos National Park. Today was a great day, as we started looking for sea birds and marine mammals while navigating along the coast of Isabela Island. We saw the magnificent beauty of Wolf and Ecuador volcanoes and their shield shapes.
Later on we crossed the equator line and headed south to our anchorage site. There we went on a Zodiac ride and found Galápagos penguins, flightless cormorants, boobies, sea lions, fur seals and lots of marine iguanas. Right along the cliffs we could observe some females marine iguanas digging their nests. We also saw several small rocks falling as the result of marine iguanas trying to nest in the most unsteady area. No wonder we see small landslides every marine iguana nesting season.
Along the cliffs we also saw lots of sea turtles feasting on comb jellies; these were all juveniles in all sizes. Some were shy, others very curious, and others ignored us completely. After our Zodiac ride we returned to the ship, changed and went snorkeling with sea turtles.
This afternoon we went for a great walk on Fernandina Island, the youngest in the archipelago. We explored the coastal area where Galápagos marine iguanas thrive; here in the west realm of Galápagos food is plentiful. Some dark clouds were also abundant, but we were so lucky and had no rain at all.
We will remain anchored here tonight and will leave the region tomorrow early in the morning.
