Day 7 - Thursday, March 16

Fernandina and Isabela Islands

After a long overnight cruise, we crossed the equator at 6:30 a.m., with fellow travelers gathered on the bridge to plot our course, take a turn at the wheel and watch the GPS count down to 0.0.0. Major league excitement!

After breakfast, we were off in the pangas to visit Fernandina Island. At just over 100,000 years old, Fernandina is the youngest of the Galapagos Islands; it is also the most active volcanically, with eruptions taking place every few years.

Our morning landing was at Punta Espinosa, on the northeast side of Fernandina, across the channel from Tagus Cove on Isabela Island. This was a narrow point of lava extending out from the base of the Fernandina volcano.

It is a somewhat stark and barren landscape, but there is plenty of wildlife - flightless cormorants fishing on the point, sea lions sprawling on the beach and playing in the tide pools, and large numbers of marine iguanas dotting the landscape. This was officially a dry landing, but wet lava and green algae made it a slippery proposition.

Sally Lightfoot crabs and large marine iguanas were all around us.

Our guide said iguanas are bigger here than any other island because of the ideal conditions – lots of the green algae that they love to eat. We saw many iguanas heading in or out of the ocean.

We walked across a sandy area with hundreds of circular depressions in the sand, where the marine iguanas had recently laid their eggs. We saw a whale skeleton on the beach and sea lions along the rocky shoreline.

We walked along the open rocks, just above the high tide line - through nesting grounds of the flightless cormorant. We caught a glimpse of a male coming out of the water bringing a piece of seaweed for the nest. In one nest, we spotted a baby chick.

The flightless cormorant is the only cormorant found in the Galapagos, and of the nearly 30 species worldwide, it is the only one that has lost its ability to fly. Its legs are heavier and more powerful than other cormorants and it propels itself through the water by kicking. The birds feed no more than 100 yards off shore, feeding near the bottom on squid, octupus, eel and fish.

The loss of flight may be related to both an absence of natural predators and to a restricted feeding area. Although all cormorants feed underwater, their feathers are not competely waterproof. Thus, upon emerging from the water, they typically stand for some time with their winds outstretched to dry. Flightless cormorants preserve this behavior, and it is common to see them standing with their stunted, scruffy-looking wings held out to either side.

Beyond the cormorant nests were more marine iguanas – literally, piles of marine iguanas (and a lava lizard mascot), soaking up the warm sunshine.

Just beyond the iguanas, we came upon a gathering of Sally Lightfoot crabs. We've seen these on most of the islands, but the ones on Fernandina seemed more willing to pose for pictures.

We saw a Galapagos hawk perched in a tree and several big clumps of lava cactus breaking through the lava.

The recent lava flow has obliterated much of the vegetation on this island and remaining upright required real concentration.

After a panga ride back to the ship (and another lovely snack) ...

... Fran went snorkeling near rocky shoreline and saw marine turtles, sea lions and lots of colorful fish. This was very COLD water.

After lunch and siesta, we crossed the channel and anchored in Tagus Cove at Isabela Island. Isabela is the largest of the Galapagos Islands, containing more than half of the land surface area in the archipelago. This large island resulted from the ‘merger’ of the lava flows from six smaller volcanoes; five of these are still active today.

Tagus Cove is located on the west coast of Isabela, about two-thirds of the way up the island. As soon as the ship entered the protected cove, we could see the writing on the wall – the towering cliffs are covered with graffiti. Some of it dates back to the 1800s, but most of it is more recent – and not very attractive. Our guides pointed out the break in the cliff where Charles Darwin himself walked on his way to making history.

Most of our shipmates went ashore with Whitman and hiked inland to see Darwin Lake and views of Darwin and Wolf volcanoes. A half-dozen of us went with Andres on a lovely panga ride around the cove.

We got our first look at Galapagos penguins, the only other flightless bird in the Islands.

Most penguins are associated with colder regions of the southern hemisphere, but the water here is cold enough to suit them. These guys seem a bit clumsy on land, but they are speedy and agile underwater.

Offshore, we spotted some blue-footed boobies fishing among the penguins. Boobies diving (like a rock) from high above is a sight and sound not to be forgotten.

We saw some pelicans on the rocky shoreline, brown noddies clinging to rock cliffs, and (of course) sea lions snoozing on any available surface.

To our surprise – a helicopter flew overhead – our guide said this was a park service helicopter, shooting goats brought by early explorers and would-be settlers; with no natural predators, the goats now threaten the ecology of the island.