Isabela and Fernandina Islands
I knew that it was going to be a special day since the very moment I felt the first sun rays through my cabin window; this is the west, and therefore the unusual can be expected. However, I did not anticipate that it was going to be so spectacular, with the sighting of species never reported before by Polaris people, with amazingly clear views of some of the rarest animals of this planet and with a close encounter with the top predators of the seas.
Sunrise was a perfect watercolor. Roca Redonda looked impressive, sticking out in the middle of the ocean with thousand sea birds flying around it, making it look as if it was alive, one living lava rock. A tiny petrel came closer to the bridge, a petrel we had not seen before, the black storm petrel, reported only twice before 1999.
A Dark-rumped petrel (only one thousand of them in the world) led us south to the Equator, to the heart of a collapsed volcano. Zodiacs were lowered down and then…a pod of Orcas, three or four, came to have a closer look at us, as the people in the Zodiacs, in the seven Polaris rubber boats, enjoying the show of killer whales diving and breathing around. Sea lions came too (What for? Were they crazy? Or maybe just as curious as our Video Chronicler who jumped in the water to get this wonderful shot!). Suddenly we saw one of the killer whales chasing and grabbing an ocean sun fish, killing and eating it. Then another Orca had a ray in its mouth. We couldn’t move; we had so much happening right there, we experienced a mix of feelings, and the huge volcanoes with a magnificent clear sky were the frame to this beauty. We couldn’t ask for more! But then we saw a penguin, we saw flightless cormorants, marine turtles, and in the afternoon we walked on the youngest island of this enchanted archipelago. How privileged we were, how privileged we are!
I knew that it was going to be a special day since the very moment I felt the first sun rays through my cabin window; this is the west, and therefore the unusual can be expected. However, I did not anticipate that it was going to be so spectacular, with the sighting of species never reported before by Polaris people, with amazingly clear views of some of the rarest animals of this planet and with a close encounter with the top predators of the seas.
Sunrise was a perfect watercolor. Roca Redonda looked impressive, sticking out in the middle of the ocean with thousand sea birds flying around it, making it look as if it was alive, one living lava rock. A tiny petrel came closer to the bridge, a petrel we had not seen before, the black storm petrel, reported only twice before 1999.
A Dark-rumped petrel (only one thousand of them in the world) led us south to the Equator, to the heart of a collapsed volcano. Zodiacs were lowered down and then…a pod of Orcas, three or four, came to have a closer look at us, as the people in the Zodiacs, in the seven Polaris rubber boats, enjoying the show of killer whales diving and breathing around. Sea lions came too (What for? Were they crazy? Or maybe just as curious as our Video Chronicler who jumped in the water to get this wonderful shot!). Suddenly we saw one of the killer whales chasing and grabbing an ocean sun fish, killing and eating it. Then another Orca had a ray in its mouth. We couldn’t move; we had so much happening right there, we experienced a mix of feelings, and the huge volcanoes with a magnificent clear sky were the frame to this beauty. We couldn’t ask for more! But then we saw a penguin, we saw flightless cormorants, marine turtles, and in the afternoon we walked on the youngest island of this enchanted archipelago. How privileged we were, how privileged we are!
