Fernandina and Isabela Island
This area receives a smaller percentage of visitors due to its remote location in the westernmost part of the archipelago. The only access to this area is by boats with enough fuel supply for a few days. This morning the National Geographic Endeavour took us to these marvelous places, full of peace and isolation. This experience gave us the impression of being the only ones in this enchanted archipelago.
Fernandina is a pristine Island; most of its landscape is covered with fresh lava flows and small patches of vegetation. At first sight this place looks uninhabitable for any creature, but as soon as we disembarked we realized that our impression from the distance proved to be wrong. That was exactly what Charles Darwin thought at first glimpse. This territory is covered with the largest marine iguanas in the archipelago, the largest population of Galápagos penguins and the whole population of Galápagos flightless cormorants as well; the colonization is just taking place on this island. This morning we learned that the inhabitants of Galápagos are so unique because they were able to adapt to these harsh conditions at the beginning of the colonization process.
We also went snorkeling here; the water was very refreshing and with lots of turtles, penguins, cormorants and many different species of fish.
For the afternoon we had a different activity in a place known as Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island, where we boarded our Zodiacs to explore the coastline. This expedition was really a success because the water was crystal blue with lots of penguins, boobies, sea lions, terns, pelicans, golden rays and the odd-looking creature called the Pacific Ocean sunfish.
We finished our perfect day on the outer decks of the National Geographic Endeavour crossing the equatorial line.
