Today was one of those extra special days in the Galapagos. From early morning on, the dolphins were enchanting us with their presence. The boobies delighted us with their plunge-diving and the weather could not have been better.
We started the day cincumnavigating Roca Redonda at 6:30. The rock is the plug of an old volcano that serves today as one of the best nesting sights for sea birds. From the small storm petrels to the large Nazca boobies, all were seen flying around. As the morning moved on, bottlenose dolphins came to play with us. After all this excitement, it was time for us to enjoy breakfast as we sailed towards the Southern Hemisphere. This, by the way, was the second time we crossed the equatorial line, as earlier in the morning we crossed it from south to north. Heading on to Isabela, our expectations were increasing as we had already seen plenty. In the Galapagos, things always occur in different, varied ways: you are always bound to have new experiences. Time to lower our Zodiacs and off we went. Guess what? We had a feeding frenzy! Dolphins, sea lions and blue-footed boobies, all having a marvelous time fishing. Everything was happening right beside us. All this exhilaration woke up our appetite for lunch.
As incredible as the morning was, that was not all. The afternoon was a whole different world of wonder. Fernandina is one of the most pristine islands in the world, and it is here that one finds the largest colonies of the largest marine iguanas. It is also here that we had a close encounter with the Galapagos penguin and the flightless cormorant, both of which are endemic species to the islands.
Well, I could go on and on telling you about how breathtaking this day has been, so I decided to leave the rest to your imagination, with this photo of the astonishing blue footed boobies at sunset.
P.S. We are very concerned about the San Cristobal oil spill on the east side of Galapagos and look forward to our visit tomorrow to the Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora for the latest news. It is difficult to be here in Galapagos knowing about the situation, but so removed in communication and geography and not being able to do anything specific. Imagine getting our local information through our home office in New York! We hope to have more to report tomorrow.
