Saturday February 21
Today’s planned activities included: a zodiac ride at Punta Vincente Roca at the NW corner of Isabela; an hour’s snorkeling at the same location; an hour’s snorkeling at Fernandina; and a 1.5 hour hike at Fernandina.
Punta Vincente Roca is the site of Volcan Ecuador one of the string of six volcanos that make up Isabela. In this case half of the crater collapsed into the ocean, creating a bowl of shallow water and a steep cliff to the deeps. Fernandina is the newest (200,000 years old) and westernmost island in the Galapagos. Its volcano, La Cumbra, last erupted in January 2025, creating 15 acres of new land from the lava flow into the ocean. It is also the most pristine, with no human introduced species.
The morning zodiac ride introduced us to Flightless Cormorants, marine iguanas, Galapagos Penguins, and Galapagos Green Sea Turtles, including a mating pair. Our first snorkeling excursion was described as “just for practice to be sure your equipment works”—- but we saw all of the above species swimming around us. We also saw a ray almost as soon as we got into the water. Seeing a sea turtle up close rather than from the surface was amazing. We watched King Angelfish nibbling little critters off of a turtle’s shell at a pair of “cleaning station”.
And the sea lions! Many people talk about how curious and friendly the sea lions are here, but it has to be experienced to be believed. We were warned not to get too close, but the sea lions didn’t get that memo. We each had sea lions bump into us, or surprise us by how close they were.
The afternoon snorkeling suffered from reduced visibility due to a lot of phytoplankton in the water. As we returned to the ship, it started to rain. An hour later the rain stopped so we went ashore for a nature walk—- good thing we brought our ponchos as it proceeded to rain (and then pour) throughout the walk. The wildlife didn’t seem to mind. Fernandina is a nesting spot for marine iguanas, and in this season the central sandy plateau is pockmarked with the holes they dig for their eggs. There were iguanas everywhere! We also saw a number of sea lions, shorebirds and a Galapagos Hawk, the only endemic raptor in the archipelago.
Tonight’s after-dinner visitors were two sea lions that jumped up onto the stern swim deck.
Pictured: Galapagos Penguin , Galapagos Hawk and Marine Iguanas in the pouring rain, Flightless Cormorant in a mating ritual, (Galapagos subspecies) Green Sea Turtles mating, tbd fish, and proof of how close the sea lions were
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