Isabela & Fernandina Islands
The sun rising above the volcanoes of Isabela Island and the sea breeze was our wake-up call this morning; as we were navigating along the coast we could sea one of the most amazing volcanic formations of the whole archipelago. We crossed the equator line for the first time at two in the morning when we were heading to the north of Isabela; we crossed the equator again at eight thirty in the morning. This time we made it official so all of our guests came out to the bow of the ship to get their certificates signed by King Neptune.
We visited two National Park sites today, located on two different Islands, Isabela and Fernandina. We had time for a Zodiac ride, deep water snorkeling and a hike.
The Zodiac ride took us along the coast of a place called Vicente Roca Point, on Isabela; at this site we found a lot of flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, blue footed boobies, Nazca boobies and a large amount of green pacific sea turtles that were feeding. After seeing all these wonders at Vicente Roca Point, we organized a snorkeling outing at the same location, so we had our best chance of the entire week to be close to a sea turtle. There were many; we counted nearly 40. The white-tipped reef sharks and the Galápagos penguins were also a highlight of our snorkeling outing.
Later in the day we went on a hike on Fernandina, which is the most pristine island in the whole archipelago due to the lack of introduced species. We found our first Galápagos hawk, the main predator of the islands. All of us walked among big marine iguanas. This is the island that has one of the biggest populations of these marine reptiles!
The day was full of surprises; we have a lot of expectations for tomorrow!
