We woke early while navigating in the northern hemisphere along the north coast of Isabela Island. In the distance we could see the volcanoes of Wolf and Ecuador and later we could see Fernandina, the youngest Island in the archipelago. No cetaceans were sighted but we enjoyed seeing several species of sea birds including storm petrels, shearwaters, dark-rumped petrels and frigate birds. We also saw a mola sun fish, a few leaping mobula rays, a flying fish and fur seals returning from a night of fishing. After a hearty breakfast we gathered in the bridge and watched the GPS tick down to 0.00 as we crossed the equator and travelled back into the southern hemisphere. Soon the captain dropped the anchor of the National Geographic Islander at the base of dramatic cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca.
We boarded the Zodiacs for a cruise along the rocky shoreline and found much wildlife this morning! We saw huge marine iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorants, sally light foot crabs and many noddy terns. Further off shore some of us glimpsed the dorsal fins of pelagic sun fish, the wing tips of a large manta ray and the fin and tail of a sword fish!
Three groups of guests donned their wetsuits and loaded the Zodiacs to go snorkeling with Fernando, Antoinio and I. The conditions were fabulous and we saw more than 30 sea turtles, some feeding on algae, some swimming and others sleeping on the sandy sea floor. There were dozens of species of fish including several vibrant orange harlequin wrasses. Penguins zipped by us, a sea lion swirled along with us and we watched a flightless cormorant dive and poke among the rocks for bottom dwelling fish and octopi. We had a marvelous time snorkeling and no one was ready to get out of the water when it was time to do so!
After our lunch and deserved siesta, naturalist Jonathan gave an interesting talk about the human history of the Galapagos. Then we got back in the Zodiacs and landed on the lava shores of Fernandina Island. On the afternoon walk we saw hundreds of marine iguanas, enjoyed the antics of curious, playful and utterly fearless sea lion pups, and watched three hawks feeding on a marine iguana carcass. As the sun set behind the shield volcano of Fernandina and painted the sky a deep orange, we motored back to the ship. We had yet another busy and very fulfilling day in Las Islas Encantadas!
