I woke the guests just before sunrise on the channel one microphone and after coffee, fruit, and some muffins we gathered on deck. Naturalist Enrique was on the sky deck and I was on the bow in front of the bridge. It was a beautiful clear morning with flat calm seas and soon we were rewarded with sightings of a large mobula ray, several flying fish, and a couple of fur seals heading into shore after a night’s fishing. At 0645 I spied a pod of a couple hundred common dolphins leaping and splashing to the northwest and upon my request via radio to the bridge, first officer Ivan turned the ship towards them.
The dolphins were unafraid and spectacular and their cream and gray flanks shone in the sun as they leapt and surfaced alongside the National Geographic Islander. There were a number of babies among the dolphins and they stuck close to the adults, surfacing and diving side by side. We circled around and followed the pod for a while, then returned to our westerly course.
Following a hearty breakfast we crowded into the bridge as we crossed the equator from north to south. Several of us, those who had jockeyed into the best positions, succeeded in photographing all zeros on the GPS. We loudly blew the ship’s horn and did the limbo under a red, yellow, and blue line (as in Ecuador’s flag) that the guides playfully held for us. Everyone received an “I crossed the equator” pin; no one was tarred and feathered this morning.
Forty-five minutes later Captain Garces dropped anchor below the dramatic cliffs at Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela. This largest island in the archipelago is shaped much like a seahorse, and we anchored this morning at the sea horses’ chin to explore the area by Zodiacs. I counted over one hundred sea turtles along a transect line that we follow every two weeks. This data is sent to the Charles Darwin Research Station. We saw numerous seabirds perched on the cliffs, marine iguanas, sea lions, and cormorants in the water.
Back on the ship again we wiggled into our wetsuits and returned to the Zodiacs to snorkel in a calm bay near where we were anchored. This snorkeling outing was marvelous! Such a variety of wildlife in the water with us! Where else on earth can one snorkel with animals from four different orders: mammals, reptiles, fish, and birds all swimming and diving around us!
Naturalist Pato gave us a fish talk in the early afternoon to help us understand the ocean currents that influence these islands and learn to identify some of the fish we are seeing each day as we snorkel. Then as the afternoon cooled off we took the Zodiacs into coast for a dry landing on the barren lava shores of Fernandina. From afar this majestic shield volcano looks black and empty but once we began our walk on the pahoehoe lava we were amazed at the amount of life to be seen and photographed here. We found hoards of marine iguanas - many were resting while dozens of females were energetically digging nest holes. The ubiquitous and ever charming sea lions were present, as were flightless cormorants and a beautiful chocolate brown adult Galapagos hawk. Rain threatened all afternoon, and indeed it poured to the south of us, but we had only a light and cooling sprinkle; even so just this quick rain made the lava rocks quite slippery. Back on board we snacked on guacamole and sipped cocktails on the sky deck as the blazing orange ball of fiery sun dropped behind the volcano.
