National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Isabela and Fernandina Islands

Check out the photos here.

During the night we went around the north side of Isabela Island and crossed the equator. It happened around 3am so I wasn't up to take notice. However, we rounded the top and headed south so we got to cross it again - all in one day. Surprise, surprise there was not actual line or sign there in the middle of the ocean. However we did spot blue whales (the largest mammal on Earth) and dolphins while doing this motoring around.

After breakfast went went on a panga ride along the cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca. It was quite beautiful. On the way back we saw a huge manta ray swimming along the surface.

Once we arrived back at the boat we quickly changed into our snorkeling gear for a snorkel. We hoped to see sea turtles in the water. The visibility was terrible. However, it was still a good snorkel. First of all a cormorant zoomed right by me in the water. We also saw two large turtles feeding on the rocks. I was watching one for quite a long time. It was right below me. I think that it wanted to come up for air and I had to move quickly to get out of its way. The photos are not as good as I would like due to the visibility but you can definitely see its a turtle.

Later int eh day we sailed towards Fernandina Island. Fernandina is the newest of all the islands and is still volcanically active. The island terrain is marked by ropy or pahoehoe lava flows. Here we saw many more marine iguanas. We had to be careful were we walked to ensure that we wouldn't destroy any of their nesting areas.

On this island there are many flightless cormorants. They lost their ability to fly because there was no need to expend the energy to fly due to the absence of predators on the island. They have these really cute tiny wings. They hold them up to dry just like the regular cormorants even though they don't need to dry them to fly. We were lucky enough to see rays in the water here too.

Walking back we saw the skeleton of a sperm whale. I got an awesome photo of Huichi pretending to chew on one of the ribs. On the way back to the boat we saw a really tiny little sea lion.

Poor little Austin feel asleep before dinner.