Isabela and Fernandina Islands
Early in the morning Tommy Acosta, naturalist guide and my roommate on National Geographic Islander woke me up! He was very excited: Whale Shark! Whale shark! I dressed up and went to the bridge of our vessel, some of our guests were there and saw the whale shark, the biggest fish in Galápagos waters. I couldn’t see it, but my reward for waking early came few minutes later when a Bryde’s whale showed up. What a great way to start our day!
We were sailing to “the mouth of the sea horse” (Isabela Island has that shape) and crossing the Equator. We saw mola molas (sunfish) and fur sea lions jumping alongside us, and finally we arrived. After a delicious breakfast we disembark for a Zodiac ride along the cliff of Ecuador Volcano at the north of Isabela.
Once there the show started—marine iguanas, noddy terns, sea gulls, sea lions, flightless cormorants, Galápagos penguins, blue-footed boobies mating on the cliffs, Nazca boobies, and wandering tattlers decorated the shoreline. Meanwhile in the ocean the Pacific green sea turtles showed their heads above water and a sunfish its dorsal fin. The morning was magnificent. Punta Vicente Roca is a magical place, and our time here was full of life, energy, positivism.
Our guests were very happy, and we heard many great comments about how unique and amazing this place is. Soon we returned to the ship to suit up for snorkeling, cleaning our masks to defog them and then with our fins in our hands we jumped into the water. The water is colder here, somebody exclaimed! But after few seconds all the faces were looking down, no more conversations, no more voices. We were very entertained with the quantity of marine life found here. The walls have plenty of sea fans, algae, barnacles, starfish, and blennies. Deeper on the sea bed were some hog fish, king angel fish, and marine turtles taking a nap and some of them eating algae from the rocks, and many other marine creatures that make Galápagos one of the best places for snorkeling and scuba diving in the world. A commentary from a lady was: Wow! It’s a dream to be here, much better than watching it in a movie. Suddenly some juvenile sea lions came to play with us, and a penguin busy hunting swam nearby, and in the end all of us happily returned to National Geographic Islander.
Then, in the afternoon we visited Punta Espinoza on Fernandina, the youngest island and the second most active volcano in the world—it’s a very pristine place. That afternoon we walked among sea lions, colonies of cormorants and marine iguanas, seabirds and some migratory birds along the shore such as turnstones, sand pipers and more. Later a Galápagos hawk circled overhead reminding us that it is the king of the islands, the one on the top of the food chain. Later another reptile of the islands was seen, a Galápagos snake. Coming back on board with great memories and moments I was thinking that no matter how many times I visit the islands there’s always something new, something to learn, and something to admire in this unique place in the world. My amazing Galapagos!
