I made an early wake-up call on channel one this morning, just at sunrise. After coffee, fruit, and muffins we gathered on deck. It was an absolutely lovely morning! The sea was flat calm, the sun lit up fluffy clouds behind us and south of us and to the west we admired the impressive silhouettes of the huge volcanoes of Isabela Island. Naturalist Walter was on the sky deck and I was on the bow in front of the bridge. We pointed out soaring sea birds (the most interesting ones being the endemic dark-rumped petrels) several flying fish and a half dozen fur seals that were heading onto shore after a night’s fishing. Then, at 7:05 a.m., our first officer Victor spied a pod of a couple hundred common dolphins leaping and splashing to the northwest and turned the ship towards them.
The dolphins leapt high and splashed down, their cream and gray flanks flashing in the sun. We followed them at a distance and tried our best to snap photos while they were mid-air. Contentedly we filed into the restaurant for a hearty breakfast, and later crowded into the bridge as we crossed the Equator from north to south. We blew the ship’s horn and some of us did the limbo under a red, yellow, and blue line (like Ecuador’s flag) that the guides playfully held for us. I passed out “I crossed the Equator” pins and we are now all officially “shellbacks.”
Captain Garces had his boson drop anchor at the base of the dramatic cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela. This large island, shaped like a seahorse, is bigger than all the other islands in the archipelago combined! We explored the area by Zodiacs, counting sea turtles, spying our first flightless cormorants and photographing large “hoards” of marine iguanas and swimming sea lions.
We returned to the ship and donned our snorkeling gear then boarded the Zodiacs and motored into a calm bay where we found dozens of sea turtles. Really, this snorkeling outing was marvelous! There was an incredible concentration and variety of wildlife in the water with us! I have mentioned this before about Punta Vicnete Roca: but where else on earth can one snorkel with animals from 4 different orders? Mammals (sea lions and fur seals), reptiles (sea turtles and marine iguanas), fish of dozens of species (king angels, harlequin wrasse and big fast mackerel) and birds (penguins and cormorants) were all swimming, feeding, and resting all around us!
After lunch and our much appreciated siesta, naturalist Jonathan gave us a talk about the Human History of Galapagos. Once the afternoon had cooled off we boarded the Zodiacs and headed into the coast for a dry landing on the barren lava shores of Fernandina Island. As soon as we began our walk on the pahoehoe lava we were amazed and delighted by the amount of life to be seen and photographed here. Marine iguanas rested on the rocks and were returning from feeding in the sea, the ever charming sea lions nursed pups and snoozed, and flightless cormorants dried their feathers in preparation for the night. As we completed our hike and prepared to come back by Zodiac to the ship, the sun set in a blazing orange ball of fire.
