We arrived at Punta Vicente Isabela at 06:00 after an overnight crossing of this part of the Pacific and at midnight the Equator taking us into the Southern Hemisphere.
We took a panga (dinghy) cruise along the coastline where we saw the remains, following a destructive collapse of the Volcan Ecuador.
We took a panga (dinghy) cruise along the coastline where we saw the remains, following a destructive collapse of the Volcan Ecuador.
There were many sea birds such as Noddy terns, Blue-footed Booby and Flightless Cormorant, Brown Pelican as well as sea lions, marine iguanas and sea turtles. As we returned to the ship our guide conducted a measurement of visibility at depth. This showed that below 5m visibility was zero because of the plankton growth at the junction of the Humbolt and Equatorial currents. This may be good for fish and sea animals but not for our next activity conducted upon a glass bottomed boat. A highlight however, was that we saw more birds including a pair of Noddy terns building a nest.
During lunch the ship moved to the north coast of nearby Fernandida Island. It has a very big population of marine iguanas but we were hopeful of seeing more. Upon landing in the mangroves at the edge of a shallow lagoon we walked across the pahoe-hoe (rope-like) lava field. The lava had spewed down the most active volcano on the island and slowly cooled to produce curving rope-like shapes. The lava that reached the ocean was quickly cooled so it is sharper, weaker and a fragmented mass.
The sections of the lava field nearest the sea is now a wave-cut platform, covered by the sea at high tide and also with fragments of shells and tiny pebbles. Some of the highlights were a green sea turtle slowly getting out of the water and up the shelly beach. Lava lizards suddenly shoot in front of you. Many marine iguanas gathered in colonies resting. Sally Lightfoot crabs, red and black crabs. Galapagos sea lions and young. Whimbrel, Galapagos flycatcher, Galapagos heron