South Plaza & Santa Fe, 8/25/2022, National Geographic Islander II
Aboard the
National Geographic Islander II
Galápagos
It is the beginning of our expedition aboard National Geographic Islander II, and today we visited two central islands, Plaza and Santa Fe. These two islands offered us land iguanas and one of the largest colonies of sea lions in the archipelago. We all got the chance to explore the islands by land and sea, and we enjoyed amazing encounters with the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands.
Charles was raised in the Galápagos Islands. He is the grandson of Rolf Wittmer, the first person documented to have been born on the island of Floreana after his parents, Margret and Heinz Wittmer, emigrated from Germany in 1932.
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Last but not least, for our final full day of expedition we navigated to the western side of the archipelago. We started our day with an optional early observation of the volcanic activity from La Cumbre, the shield volcano that makes Fernandina Island, over 500-700 thousand years. Its location is at the upwelling zone of the Cromwell current, this makes the western region one of the most productive areas in the Galapagos. This is the reason why we encountered many marine iguanas during our hike and Zodiac ride. We continued our day heading to Punta Vicente Roca and concluded our day with an afternoon Zodiac ride along the coastline of Isabela. We explored around the mouth of the seahorse shaped island, surrounded by volcanoes and marine life.
For our second full day of expedition on board National Geographic Islander II , we anchored at Chinese Hat, a satellite islet off the coast of James Island. We started our morning with some kayaking at the rising sun and complemented it with a Zodiac ride exploration and snorkeling; all of this while having a complete view of the monogenic cinder formation and the lava fields from James’s coastline. By the afternoon, we moved to the southeastern side of James Island to a famous anchorage spot known as Sulivan Bay. This spot allowed us to appreciate a scenic view that contrasts the iron-oxide lava fields and different pyroclastic material formations from hundreds, thousands, and millions of years ago, with the beautiful deep blue Pacific water. We finished the day witnessing a clear sky filled with stars and a crescent moon.
Early in the morning we visited the small Island of South Plaza. After a dry landing on a small pier, we were surrounded by young Galapagos sea lions, as the colony of this mammal is very dense here. The amazing and unique landscape of Plaza is surrounded by cliffs, where colonies of different marine birds can be observed, like swallow-tailed gulls, Nazca boobies, and great frigate birds. The fantastic Galapagos land iguana was resting beside our trail below some prickly pear cactus. We spent the afternoon on the marvelous Santa Fe Island. Located in the center of the archipelago, it offered us different activities inland and inside a very calm cove for kayaking and snorkeling. The adventure of walking over a rocky terrain is accentuated by the presence of the unique Santa Fe land iguana that, at this time of the afternoon, is usually absorbing the last heat of the day and getting ready to spend their night inside their burrows where they sleep.