Isabela & Fernandina Islands
Today the National Geographic Endeavour brought us to the western side of the archipelago; we woke up surrounded by impressive volcanoes.
Early in the morning we went to the outside decks to be delighted with the scenery of the Enchanted Islands: the volcanoes, the calm seas and the mist that covered the summit of each one of the volcanoes of Isabela Island. We crossed the equator line north to south and received the visit of King Neptune himself who, together with some pirates, had fun with our youngest guests.
As soon as we anchored, we left the ship to explore the shores with our Zodiacs. These are the richest waters in the Galápagos as the upwelling of the Cromwell current reaches the surface here. Marine iguanas are the biggest ones. We found penguins and cormorants, blue footed boobies were diving close to us, and we were able to see – for the first time – the second species of sea lion in the islands: the fur seal.
In the afternoon we visited Fernandina, the youngest and most pristine island of all. The island itself is just a huge volcano and the lava fields that came from it. All lava rocks were covered with hundreds of marine iguanas. Flightless cormorants have started to form their nesting colonies. Sea lions were sleeping in every sandy corner that we crossed by. Finally before we left the island we found a group of bottle nose dolphins. With our Zodiacs, we encountered them to enjoy their jumps full of energy.
Today was the fourth day of our trip. Every place is so different from the other, every day everything is new, and we keep on learning and discovering new things with every step.
