Galapagos Islands - Installment #3 - Jan 11, 2006

Dolphins at sunrise

This morning, we sailed to Isabela Island, the largest island in the Galapagos archipelago. I got up at 6:15 am with others to search for dolphins and whales while we were sailing. First thing, we saw a school of dolphins - probably at least 100 of them jumping and swimming along. We followed them for a while and then spotted a sperm whale off in the distance. With my binoculars, I was lucky to see it as it made its dive down deep.

We crossed the equator twice today - first in the middle of the night and second in the morning, so those of us who had never crossed the equator before by ship crowded onto the bridge to watch the navigation equipment display 0 degrees. We each got a certificate to evidence this milestone achievement.

Galapagos Penguins

Once we anchored, we went out in the zodiacs to explore the coastline where we found a few penguins along with the sea lions, iguanas, blue footed boobies, and our first sightings of the flightless cormorant. Out in the open sea, we came upon some sea turtles mating, an intense and exhausting process for the female. And we saw the fin of a mola mola popping out of the water - a shark-like fin connected to a large ray/mollusk-shaped body below the water. Franklin, one of four naturalists on the trip, jumped in the water to try to capture it on camera since the water was so murky that we could barely see anything on the surface. Unfortunately, it was the same underwater.

Marine Iguanas on Fernandina Island

Flightless Cormorant

Sally Lightfoot Crab

In the afternoon, we disembarked on Fernandina Island, a volcanic island that is one of the most active in the world. Our hike took us over black aa and pahoehoe lava with the beginnings of young vegetation starting to take hold - a very hot hike as the lava absorbs the sun with no cover until the clouds appear overhead.

For the first time, I could feel the impact of being on the ship as the ground on the island felt like it was rocking. I've had no problem with the motion of the ship on this trip - in fact, it's been lulling many of us to sleep more than desired!

We saw numerous marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, herons, lava lizards, turtles, sea lions and penguins. An abundance of wildlife right on the coastline of this everchanging island. Tomorrow, we're hiking up to the volcano that just erupted back in October on Isabela Island - what a treat!