November 2006 - The Galapagos: Day 6 Fernandina and Isabella

After a long and slightly rougher trip overnight, we arrived at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina one of the western islands. Eric actually had a much rougher ride than the rest of us, as the inevitable happened. His South American experience was complete with the proverbial Montezuma’s revenge. However, it didn’t stop him from going ashore this morning - what a trooper.

The two highlights of the morning were the marine iguanas and flightless cormorants. Dozens of marine iguanas were sunning themselves on the lava flows. The males are very territorial and have a unique way of showing their dominance. They bob their heads, which makes it look like they are constantly agreeing with you. They also spit frequently to clear their noses/throats of salt from the ocean water. You don’t want to be in the way when they do this.

The flightless cormorants have small underdeveloped wings. When they hold them open to dry you can really see how short they are. The theory is that they lived on the islands without predators (and with enough food) for such a long time without a reason to fly, they lost the ability. Here's one with it's chick:

There were quite a few other interesting animals on the island: sea cucumbers, chitons, barnacles (which are actually pretty interesting when they are not attached to your boat), blue herons, American oystercatchers, penguins, and even a sea turtle that was stuck in a tide pool until the next high tide.

Lave Lizard

Blue Heron

Peguins (note that I mis-labled a picture of a penguin a few days ago, but have removed it. This one really is a peguin!)

Lava flow

In the afternoon, we kayaked and snorkeled at Isabella island. Isabella is the largest island and it made up of at least 5 large volcanos. While I typically don’t have much interested in geology, it’s much more engaging when you can actually see what a tuff cone looks like. By the end of the week we were getting good at identifying lava plugs, lava dikes, and craters.

Peguin swimming - they are really fast (trust me, it took a few tries to get a picutre of one)

Sea turtle

Parrotfish

Tuff (yellow - formed from ash) and lava (black)

Integrity at Isabella

The chef made some chicken soup for Eric and by the end of the day he was feeling better. Good enough in fact for a champagne toast as we “crossed the line.” The crew counted down the seconds until our boat sailed over the equator and we were again in the northern hemisphere. (And no, there is not a big line in the water.)