Punta Espinosa & Punta Vicente Roca
Fernandina and Isabela Islands lay west of the Galápagos. Being closest to the hot spot that created this archipelago, they are still volcanically active. Evidence of this is found all around us in the shape of lava flows and the majestic outline of the shield volcanoes that surrounded us this morning.
The early wakeup call of today invited us to go to the outside deck as pilot whales had already been spotted. What a way to start the day! Once anchored near Punta Espinosa, a small peninsula located in the northeast of Fernandina Island, we were ready to set foot ashore. Fernandina is one of the last, most pristine islands on earth, and it holds one of the largest populations of marine iguanas in the Galápagos. When we started our hike the marine iguanas were already basking in the morning sunshine, and we could not believe how many we saw! Another endemic inhabitant of this area is the flightless cormorant; their breeding season has begun so we could observe them courting and nesting right next to the trail. The tidal pools of Punta Espinosa offer a safe home to a bunch of Galápagos sea lion pups; they passed the time by playing together and climbing up and down the rocks while waiting for their mothers to return. The lavas we walked on are relatively new, and still retain the texture and shapes as when they cooled down, which can be either ‘pahoehoe’ or ‘aa’ type. After such an amazing visit we had a chance to snorkel along this black, rocky shore. The area is highly productive and many marine species forage here, amongst them the Pacific green sea turtles and the marine iguanas.
The morning was spectacular but the amazing encounters continued during the afternoon. A pod of common dolphins approached our ship while we navigated northwards to our next destination, Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island. We lowered our Zodiacs in order to explore this spectacular coastline. This is the outer wall of a collapsed crater, and it was teaming with life! Here, we could observe endemic Galápagos penguins and flightless cormorants, large-sized marine iguanas and Nazca boobies, Galápagos sea lions and brown noddy terns, just to mention a few species. But it was definitely a ‘marine mammal’s day’, and to our great luck a huge pod of bottle nosed dolphins accompanied us during the entire Zodiac ride, leaping and doing acrobatics in the air right next to us! To end a fantastic day, we celebrated the crossing of the equator line with a toast in the sundeck of the National Geographic Endeavour… we can hardly wait to find out what new experiences await for us tomorrow!
