Isabela and Fernandina Islands
A spectacular early morning start with the presence of hundreds of common dolphins and a great male sperm whale: our morning watch was surprised by a big group of several hundreds of common dolphins that happily performed around the Islander for more than an hour. We were all enjoying this view and listening to the information our Expedition Leader was giving out about this species when…there she blows! A big slanted spout was sighted by one of our naturalists. We started to head towards the blow and observed it spouting out for five or six times until we got really close to it and confirmed that it was, in fact, a big male sperm whale.
A gentle solitary male with an approximate body length of fifty feet; he was nice enough to let us get very close so we could fully enjoy a view of its fluke as it finally dove to the depths of the ocean to feed on giant squid.
But these were not the only surprises that Punta Vicente Roca had for us. We started off with a great Zodiac cruise among swimming iguanas, penguins, turtles and flightless cormorants. On of the greatest highlights, however, were great views of a particularly bold oceanic sunfish (Mola mola), one of the strangest fishes in the seas, that our naturalists got great pictures and footage of. This was followed by an astonishing snorkeling outing along a spectacular wall covered in colourful invertebrates such as the endemic species of orange cup coral pictured here. We were also surrounded by thousands of colourful fish, dozens of sea turtles, the occasional penguin and an outrageously curious juvenile cormorant.
We were then just returning for lunch, when a message came over our radios: Orca to the port side! Some of us were already in the shower (but jumped out!) when we heard the announcement to go back to the Zodiacs for orca watching. It was a young, solitary male orca that was hunting, moving very fast and riding way up the shore trying to get to its prey – none of us had ever seen quite this behaviour before, so there were some very excited naturalists out there! Our naturalists and video chronicler did their best to get the most spectacular footage – in fact our naturalist Franklin braved all danger and leapt in with the underwater camera (almost landing on the orca in one attempt…), thus discovering that what the orca had been feeding on were sea turtles, as it had one still hanging out of its mouth! This definitely classed among the best of the morning adventures we have had at this magical spot right on the equator line.
The afternoon found us strolling gently at a spot called Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island, one of the few pristine areas in the world. Big marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, penguins and flightless cormorants were the highlights of the afternoon outing.
A spectacular early morning start with the presence of hundreds of common dolphins and a great male sperm whale: our morning watch was surprised by a big group of several hundreds of common dolphins that happily performed around the Islander for more than an hour. We were all enjoying this view and listening to the information our Expedition Leader was giving out about this species when…there she blows! A big slanted spout was sighted by one of our naturalists. We started to head towards the blow and observed it spouting out for five or six times until we got really close to it and confirmed that it was, in fact, a big male sperm whale.
A gentle solitary male with an approximate body length of fifty feet; he was nice enough to let us get very close so we could fully enjoy a view of its fluke as it finally dove to the depths of the ocean to feed on giant squid.
But these were not the only surprises that Punta Vicente Roca had for us. We started off with a great Zodiac cruise among swimming iguanas, penguins, turtles and flightless cormorants. On of the greatest highlights, however, were great views of a particularly bold oceanic sunfish (Mola mola), one of the strangest fishes in the seas, that our naturalists got great pictures and footage of. This was followed by an astonishing snorkeling outing along a spectacular wall covered in colourful invertebrates such as the endemic species of orange cup coral pictured here. We were also surrounded by thousands of colourful fish, dozens of sea turtles, the occasional penguin and an outrageously curious juvenile cormorant.
We were then just returning for lunch, when a message came over our radios: Orca to the port side! Some of us were already in the shower (but jumped out!) when we heard the announcement to go back to the Zodiacs for orca watching. It was a young, solitary male orca that was hunting, moving very fast and riding way up the shore trying to get to its prey – none of us had ever seen quite this behaviour before, so there were some very excited naturalists out there! Our naturalists and video chronicler did their best to get the most spectacular footage – in fact our naturalist Franklin braved all danger and leapt in with the underwater camera (almost landing on the orca in one attempt…), thus discovering that what the orca had been feeding on were sea turtles, as it had one still hanging out of its mouth! This definitely classed among the best of the morning adventures we have had at this magical spot right on the equator line.
The afternoon found us strolling gently at a spot called Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island, one of the few pristine areas in the world. Big marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, penguins and flightless cormorants were the highlights of the afternoon outing.
