Our navigation took us to the western and youngest of the Galapagos islands. As we navigated early in the morning along the northern tip of Bolivar channel, we encountered 4 humpback whales swimming north. A morning wake up call for whale watching was offered we got a fantastic show. A few pelagic ocean birds were also spotted including the endemic Galapagos petrel.
After breakfast another pod of whales was spotted, but this time we observed three very rare Blue whales, two adults and one juvenile. They were swimming north and then headed down towards the central part of Bolivar channel. It was just mind-blowing to watch these titans of the ocean (the largest animal on the planet) as they swam just off the side of the National Geographic Islander. We enjoyed many moments to photograph these beautiful creatures and we enjoyed the show. Soon we crossed the equator line and got ready to go deep water snorkeling off the coast of Punta Vicente Roca, a well visited site off the coast of the northern tip of Isabela Island. We encountered several Pacific green sea turtles, some sleeping on the bottom of the ocean, while others were very active chewing on the green algae growing on the rocky bottom. Some flightless cormorants and a couple of penguins were spotted while snorkeling, as well as a couple of Galapagos sea lions playing in the water with us! What an amazing snorkeling outing!
During the afternoon we had a dry landing on Fernandina Island (the youngest island of the Galapagos), to explore the pristine and barren ecosystems. These qualities are similar to the conditions on the islands before humans impacted the archipelago. These young lava fields are the perfect example of primary succession, as life stablishes for the first time on a new terrain. Hundreds of marine iguanas were seen basking on top of each other under the sun! Flightless cormorants are at the beginning of their nesting season and we witnessed as males brought pieces of sea weed as an offering to the females, then the females used the sea weed as nesting material.
We had an amazing day full of whales, penguins, cormorants, and hundreds of iguanas.
Once back on board the National Geographic Islander, we got everything ready in order to see what one of the largest marine reserves of the world was about to show us. Deep water snorkeling was great; we had a perfect combination of clear waters an incredible under water activity. Schools of razor surgeon fish were cruising among parrot fish that were feeding on patches.
