Today began extra early for our guests traveling on the National Geographic Islander, but no one complained when I called them at 0400 to come to the bow to see the glowing orange cloud reflecting the eruption of Volcano Wolf! Most of us sat for a half hour or so on deck, watching the faintly glowing cloud under a nearly full moon. Later as the moon set and the sky cleared, we could see the silhouette of the huge shield volcano and a large, bright and ever-changing orange cloud. Wolf, the tallest of the volcanoes in Galapagos, last erupted 33 years ago in 1982. This current eruption began on Monday, 25 May – thus it has now been erupting for 5 weeks!
At 0615 I woke our guests again and we now observed the white eruption cloud as it shown in the sun above the shield volcano. We were rewarded for rising early when a pod of common dolphins were spotted far ahead of us and as we approached them they leapt and splashed all around the ship. After breakfast we watched the GPS in the bridge as we crossed the equator and all officially became “shellbacks.” Once Captain Pablo Garces had anchored the ship at Punta Vicente Roca, the Zodiacs were lowered and we all went out to explore the coast. We had a fabulous ride: penguins, cormorants, many marine iguanas, diving blue-footed boobies, sea turtles, sea lions and fur seals were among the creatures we observed and photographed.
Back again at the ship, many of us opted to join Walter, Enrique and Mauricio for snorkeling in the bay. The water was choppy and cool, the visibility was poor, but the wildlife was fantastic! All of us swam with sea turtles and many swam with sea lions and penguins. We deserved our lunch and siesta after this busy morning, but the bridge alerted me that a whale had been sighted at 1400 so I gave a ship wide call! It was a large gray whale with a small dorsal fin and it fluked straight as it dove: that sure sounded like a sperm whale to me. These huge cetaceans are seen in Galapagos a few times each year but unfortunately for us, when they dive, they often go down a mile and stay below for an hour. We waited a half hour and then navigated south to Punta Espinoza, Fernandina and were not blessed with a second view of this leviathan.
Enrique gave a spirited talk about the Human History of Galapagos and we went to shore for a dry landing on the lava flows of the youngest island in the archipelago. This was an amazing walk! There were marine iguanas by the dozens, and sea lions resting, nursing and playing in the surf. Several snakes were spotted; one swallowing a lava lizard, and we got close to a magnificent hawk. By the late afternoon the tide had dropped so we slipped across the exposed and still damp lava to the safety of the pangas and motored to the ship. We have had a tremendously full and exciting day and we cannot imagine what more tomorrow could possibly bring, as we continue our exploration of the magical Islas Encantadas of Galapagos!
