We navigated all night long travelling north, and crossed the equator into the northern hemisphere in the wee hours. The sun rose in a flush of pink, a big orange fiery ball while we cruised with the impressive silhouette of Volcan Wolf to our south. I gave an early wakeup call at 0615 and within a half hour those who decided to get up early were well rewarded: nearly a thousand common dolphins were feeding among big tuna! The sun flashed off their two-tone colored flanks as they leapt and dove all around the ship. There were dozens of big mobula rays jumping and splashing down. We saw several swimming near the ship and we also watched flying fish glide ahead of us.
We crossed the equator back into the southern hemisphere with fanfare and more leaping rays and soon anchored below the dramatic cliffs at Punta Vicente Roca. Here we boarded the Zodiacs and cruised slowly along the shore admiring the dozens of sea turtles, huge marine iguanas, a half dozen penguins crowded together on a rock, flightless cormorants and the imposing landscape and geological features. We located several mola sunfish and our video chronicler Jeff was able to snorkel along with a really big and fearless fish. This was thrilling and amazing even just watching from the Zodiacs. I’ve never seen such a friendly mola before!
Back on board we wiggled into wetsuits and grabbed snorkeling gear and returned to the bay to explore the underwater world. Wow! There were nearly a hundred sea turtles in the bay where we snorkeled—swimming, feeding, resting on the sandy bottom or being cleaned by small fish. A cormorant stroked past me and dove, with strong kicks of his big webbed feet in unison. Three foot long sierra mackerel darted in as they fed on tiny fingerlings. And as we were about to climb out into the Zodiacs I noticed eight penguins feeding by diving deep among the bait fish and chasing them along the bottom. The penguins popped up next to us, took a few breaths and dove again!
Following lunch and siesta I gave a presentation on Charles Darwin. He spent five weeks sailing in these islands and his theory of evolution by natural selection changed the course of history. Our afternoon walk on Punta Espinoza, Fernandina Island began at 1600 after the day had cooled off. Fernandina is the westernmost and youngest island in the archipelago and is several hundred thousand years old, rather than millions of years old, like the easternmost islands. This is a huge pristine shield volcano that last erupted in 2009. Along the coast one is amazed to find an incredible diversity of wildlife. This afternoon the waves were bashing the shoreline and the island was spectacular!
We disembarked on the lava rocks and were immediately treading our way carefully among dozens of marine iguanas, lava lizards, and resting sea lions. A bull sea lion barked and paraded as he defended his territory. We saw cormorants mating and hawks feeding on marine iguanas. We sat quietly and watched the birds and animals and then, as the sun began to set we returned contentedly to the ship. It will be difficult to surpass the sights and experiences we have shared on this day in these magical Islas Encantadas!
