Isabela & Fernandina Island
We awoke this morning on board the Islander to found ourselves surrounded by volcanoes. The landscape of the shield-shape giant dormants of the westernmost part of the Galápagos was simply breathtaking!
We started our morning adventure by Zodiac cruising along Punta Vicente Roca, at Isabela Island. This impressive location had so much life above and underwater that it was hard for us to focus on only one thing at a time!
Knots of marine iguanas were found all over the hill side and lots of species of sea birds as well. One of the most interesting encounters of the morning was to find the giant sunfish or Mola mola. This gigantic fish could measure up to 10 feet in diameter and weigh as much as four thousand pounds!
Shortly after coming back to the Islander, we headed out again for snorkelling. The amount of pacific green sea turtles in the area was overwhelming. It was a lot of fun to play also with some sea lions, which always find a way to surprise us with their ballet-like acrobatic swimming.
We spent the afternoon at Fernandina Island. What a delightful place! The one single volcano that adorned the landscape of this island is call Fernandina or “la cumbre volcano.” We decided to take a Zodiac cruise along its coastline first. What a great choice! As we were cruising, a flightless cormorant emerged from the bottom of the sea. It was only a few feet from us and it was not alone. He was holding and struggling with an octopus that did not want to become lunch. It was an incredible sight that we rarely witness, so we all felt pretty lucky!
The sunset was pretty as usual, and as the sun was setting, the moon was rising on the other side of the island. Simply superb!
We awoke this morning on board the Islander to found ourselves surrounded by volcanoes. The landscape of the shield-shape giant dormants of the westernmost part of the Galápagos was simply breathtaking!
We started our morning adventure by Zodiac cruising along Punta Vicente Roca, at Isabela Island. This impressive location had so much life above and underwater that it was hard for us to focus on only one thing at a time!
Knots of marine iguanas were found all over the hill side and lots of species of sea birds as well. One of the most interesting encounters of the morning was to find the giant sunfish or Mola mola. This gigantic fish could measure up to 10 feet in diameter and weigh as much as four thousand pounds!
Shortly after coming back to the Islander, we headed out again for snorkelling. The amount of pacific green sea turtles in the area was overwhelming. It was a lot of fun to play also with some sea lions, which always find a way to surprise us with their ballet-like acrobatic swimming.
We spent the afternoon at Fernandina Island. What a delightful place! The one single volcano that adorned the landscape of this island is call Fernandina or “la cumbre volcano.” We decided to take a Zodiac cruise along its coastline first. What a great choice! As we were cruising, a flightless cormorant emerged from the bottom of the sea. It was only a few feet from us and it was not alone. He was holding and struggling with an octopus that did not want to become lunch. It was an incredible sight that we rarely witness, so we all felt pretty lucky!
The sunset was pretty as usual, and as the sun was setting, the moon was rising on the other side of the island. Simply superb!
