Today we woke up in the western realm of the Galapagos, looking for cetaceans in the Bolivar Channel, one of the richest waters around. After we had a beautiful and exciting ship's crossing of the equator line, we took a breathtaking Zodiac ride along Punta Vicente Roca, a visitors site inside Ecuador’s volcano, a half volcano that collapsed into the ocean. We saw fur seals, mantas, and flightless cormorants, and many other birds.
Our adventure continued in the ocean with a beautiful snorkel full of sea turtle sightings and even a manta ray swimming right next to us! It was truly an exciting morning and the day was not over yet.
In the afternoon, we visited Fernandina Island, the youngest island of archipelago. This island is home to thousands of marine iguanas that feed along the shore of the island and come to the young black lava flows to warm up their ectothermic bodies. There is always something exciting in the Galapagos Islands and today was no exception. As we finished the hike we saw a Galapagos hawk hunting a young marine iguana. We witnessed natural selection right in front of our eyes in Darwin's Laboratory!
