Monday January 26
Floreana Island
Floreana is a peaceful, rolling island dotted with numerous extinct volcanic cones amidst a variety of scrubby vegetation. Its colorful human history goes back almost two centuries and, at times, verges on the bizarre: from marooned whalers to prisoners and colonists, and from a toothless dentist to a self-proclaimed empress.
Our day began with a glass bottom boat ride to view the aquatic life off a small offshore volcanic cone named Champion Islet. We were able to see clearly king angel fish, a yellow tailed surgeon fish, a Creole fish, a parrot fish, several types of wrasse of magnificent orange color, sea stars of brilliant colors including a rare “chocolate chip” variety, and a giant sea turtle. We transferred to a zodiac and continued a tour around the islet where we saw hundreds of marine iguanas, sea lions with their pups and various marine birds indigenous to the Galapagos.
In the late afternoon, we headed to Punta Cormorant via zodiac. Ironically, there are no cormorants here; it is named after a boat wreck. We wet-landed (walked to the beach from the point we were dropped off in the bay) and walked along the olivine beach where the sand is tinted light green from the crushed olivine it contains. Next we walked down to a white-sand (or something that color) brackish lagoon where
flamingos were feasting in a large saline pond. The walk continued down to a favorite nesting place of sea turtles where we saw the numerous sand bowls with flipper 
marks leading down to the water. We didn’t see any sea turtles on land, but did observe numerous ones in the water, waiting for dark to set in before returning to their nests.
Our day began with a glass bottom boat ride to view the aquatic life off a small offshore volcanic cone named Champion Islet. We were able to see clearly king angel fish, a yellow tailed surgeon fish, a Creole fish, a parrot fish, several types of wrasse of magnificent orange color, sea stars of brilliant colors including a rare “chocolate chip” variety, and a giant sea turtle. We transferred to a zodiac and continued a tour around the islet where we saw hundreds of marine iguanas, sea lions with their pups and various marine birds indigenous to the Galapagos.
In the late afternoon, we headed to Punta Cormorant via zodiac. Ironically, there are no cormorants here; it is named after a boat wreck. We wet-landed (walked to the beach from the point we were dropped off in the bay) and walked along the olivine beach where the sand is tinted light green from the crushed olivine it contains. Next we walked down to a white-sand (or something that color) brackish lagoon where
flamingos were feasting in a large saline pond. The walk continued down to a favorite nesting place of sea turtles where we saw the numerous sand bowls with flipper 
marks leading down to the water. We didn’t see any sea turtles on land, but did observe numerous ones in the water, waiting for dark to set in before returning to their nests.Tuesday January 27
Isabela Island
Our day began extremely early this morning with an announcement that several schools of dolphins were playing in the surf next to the ship. They were magnificent and seemed to be showing off for us, jumping backwards and high into the air. As we rounded the north end of Isabela Island we could see many vents on the side of Ecuador volcano, as well as long and wide lava flows. We joined the Captain on the bridge at approximately 8:15 am to count down crossing the Equator. It was in waiting for this that we spotted two whales, although they were pretty far away. This was followed by an amazing zodiac ride along the cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca. We encounter
ed swimming iguanas, sea lions, blue footed boobies, numerous huge sea turtles and penguins! We were cruising in the crescent-shaped caldera of Ecuador volcano. Whatever caused about half of the volcano to vanish left nearly vertical cliffs of ash varying in color from yellow to red to black, and laced with lava dikes. We also saw several whales spouting and swimming around the zodiac. The naturalist in our zodiac identified them as Brydes whales (a baleen whale about ¼ the size of a Blue whale) based on size and on their apparent interest in us. After a quick change, we headed out for the same cliffs for our first deep water snorkeling adventure. Deepwater means that we enter water that is deeper than we stand from the zodiac. The water was rather murky, but we still saw several fish and a sea lion. We need to practice snorkeling a few more times on this trip.
ed swimming iguanas, sea lions, blue footed boobies, numerous huge sea turtles and penguins! We were cruising in the crescent-shaped caldera of Ecuador volcano. Whatever caused about half of the volcano to vanish left nearly vertical cliffs of ash varying in color from yellow to red to black, and laced with lava dikes. We also saw several whales spouting and swimming around the zodiac. The naturalist in our zodiac identified them as Brydes whales (a baleen whale about ¼ the size of a Blue whale) based on size and on their apparent interest in us. After a quick change, we headed out for the same cliffs for our first deep water snorkeling adventure. Deepwater means that we enter water that is deeper than we stand from the zodiac. The water was rather murky, but we still saw several fish and a sea lion. We need to practice snorkeling a few more times on this trip.
Fernandina Island
Fernandina is another imposing volcano rising to nearly 5,000 feet in elevation and has a history of erupting every few years (last in May of 2008) and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Our landing site this afternoon was Punta Espinosa where marine iguanas lie piled on top of each other and all around us (we had to step over them!). The landscape was astounding with dark black ropy lava containing swirls and fissures all around us. We saw sea lions lying about with iguanas sleeping along side them, thousands of bright red/orange/blue crabs, (all called Sally Golightly but in different stages of molting) and flightless cormorants. We have a breather now for an hour, followed by a recap of the day and dinner. Tonight’s presentation after that will be about the Charles Darwin Research Center which we will see tomorrow. We can’t wait!
It's wonderful hearing all about your adventures and your photos are an added bonus. The photos looks so real - I can only imagine what all these places must look like "in person."
ReplyDeleteAren't zodiacs fun?
Andrea