Fernandina & Northern Isabela
Where do I begin – it has been an utterly fabulous day! I just knew, when our birder guests requested an extra early wake-up call at 0530, that today was going to be superb. And was it ever! Wow!! We saw just about everything that one can possibly see in a long, full and exciting day in the western realm of Galápagos. Well, I guess we missed a whale shark, and a volcanic eruption, if the truth be known – but I haven’t see either of those in a couple of years.
By 0600 we had all learned to identify and distinguish the storm pertrels, shearwaters and terns and had gotten some good looks at the endemic dark-rumped petrels whose characteristic flight pattern makes them easy to recognize. In the distance I spotted a turbulent, dark patch of water on the otherwise wonderfully calm sea. A large pod of common dolphins! I made a shipwide wake-up call because the show we were about to witness would be, I knew, well worth crawling out of bed for, even for those who had chosen to sleep in. For a good half hour, several hundred dolphins leapt and splashed off the ship’s bow as we followed them.
Crossing the equator line at sea, soon after breakfast, we all officially became “Galápagos shellbacks.” Captain Carlos Garcia took the ship close to shore and we viewed the caldera floor of the cross sectioned Volcan Ecuador. Half of this huge collapsed and eroded shield volcano slipped into the sea over 100,000 years ago, probably causing a tsunami of unparalleled dimensions: perhaps 10 times the size of the devastating wave that recently hit Indonesia. We spotted a Mola mola and for a short time we followed an elusive whale – probably a Bryde’s whale – and another fast moving pod of dolphins. Then we anchored at Punta Vicente Roca and the crew lowered our fleet of black floating limos for a Zodiac cruise along the coast.
At first we were surrounded by a feeding frenzy of noddy terns, penguins and diving blue-footed boobies. We motored along, counting sea turtles as we traveled and observing marine iguanas, sea lions, cormorants and other sea birds. The geological features were fabulous: tuff layers cemented over basaltic flows, columnar lava dikes where molten lava under pressure had squeezed into a crack and forced its way to the surface, we entered a cave eroded by the constant lapping of the ocean waves and saw lava bombs imbedded in the softer, more fragile tuff. When Naturalist Carlos yelled “orca!” over his radio to alert us all, we roared off to the open sea to follow and admire a large male. Once when he came up from a dive, we could see that he had a sea turtle in his mouth! What an unbelievable experience! Our guests cheered and yelled with excitement each time this gorgeous creature surfaced and spouted. We topped the morning off with extraordinary snorkeling among resting and feeding sea turtles, cormorants and huge schools of bait fish that were hiding in the shallows from the diving boobies.
Our afternoon walk at Punta Espinoza was equally outstanding. From a distance this black and barren shield volcano appears almost lifeless. But as you disembark among the red and white mangroves, you realize it is actually teeming with life. Sea lions, just next to fur seals, dozens of fat, salt snorting marine iguanas, cormorants, a Galápagos snake and a Galápagos hawk hunting a noddy tern were some of the many highlights of this visit.
As the sun set and a rosy glow illuminated the dramatic outline of the shield volcano that dominates the pristine and enchanting island of Fernandina, we motored to the ship. Every one of us had a satisfied smile on our face. This has been a day to remember. Awesome! I don’t think these written words can quite do justice; Galápagos is an absolutely magical place.
Where do I begin – it has been an utterly fabulous day! I just knew, when our birder guests requested an extra early wake-up call at 0530, that today was going to be superb. And was it ever! Wow!! We saw just about everything that one can possibly see in a long, full and exciting day in the western realm of Galápagos. Well, I guess we missed a whale shark, and a volcanic eruption, if the truth be known – but I haven’t see either of those in a couple of years.
By 0600 we had all learned to identify and distinguish the storm pertrels, shearwaters and terns and had gotten some good looks at the endemic dark-rumped petrels whose characteristic flight pattern makes them easy to recognize. In the distance I spotted a turbulent, dark patch of water on the otherwise wonderfully calm sea. A large pod of common dolphins! I made a shipwide wake-up call because the show we were about to witness would be, I knew, well worth crawling out of bed for, even for those who had chosen to sleep in. For a good half hour, several hundred dolphins leapt and splashed off the ship’s bow as we followed them.
Crossing the equator line at sea, soon after breakfast, we all officially became “Galápagos shellbacks.” Captain Carlos Garcia took the ship close to shore and we viewed the caldera floor of the cross sectioned Volcan Ecuador. Half of this huge collapsed and eroded shield volcano slipped into the sea over 100,000 years ago, probably causing a tsunami of unparalleled dimensions: perhaps 10 times the size of the devastating wave that recently hit Indonesia. We spotted a Mola mola and for a short time we followed an elusive whale – probably a Bryde’s whale – and another fast moving pod of dolphins. Then we anchored at Punta Vicente Roca and the crew lowered our fleet of black floating limos for a Zodiac cruise along the coast.
At first we were surrounded by a feeding frenzy of noddy terns, penguins and diving blue-footed boobies. We motored along, counting sea turtles as we traveled and observing marine iguanas, sea lions, cormorants and other sea birds. The geological features were fabulous: tuff layers cemented over basaltic flows, columnar lava dikes where molten lava under pressure had squeezed into a crack and forced its way to the surface, we entered a cave eroded by the constant lapping of the ocean waves and saw lava bombs imbedded in the softer, more fragile tuff. When Naturalist Carlos yelled “orca!” over his radio to alert us all, we roared off to the open sea to follow and admire a large male. Once when he came up from a dive, we could see that he had a sea turtle in his mouth! What an unbelievable experience! Our guests cheered and yelled with excitement each time this gorgeous creature surfaced and spouted. We topped the morning off with extraordinary snorkeling among resting and feeding sea turtles, cormorants and huge schools of bait fish that were hiding in the shallows from the diving boobies.
Our afternoon walk at Punta Espinoza was equally outstanding. From a distance this black and barren shield volcano appears almost lifeless. But as you disembark among the red and white mangroves, you realize it is actually teeming with life. Sea lions, just next to fur seals, dozens of fat, salt snorting marine iguanas, cormorants, a Galápagos snake and a Galápagos hawk hunting a noddy tern were some of the many highlights of this visit.
As the sun set and a rosy glow illuminated the dramatic outline of the shield volcano that dominates the pristine and enchanting island of Fernandina, we motored to the ship. Every one of us had a satisfied smile on our face. This has been a day to remember. Awesome! I don’t think these written words can quite do justice; Galápagos is an absolutely magical place.
