Today was a very slow day for myself. I only did one of the three excursions offered but Forrest did them all. We crossed over the equator northward and are now situated on the western edge of the archipeligo. Early in the morning there was an announcement to the whole boat (5:30) that the ship was sailing past the western most edge of Fernandina Island. This is the newest of all the islands (300,000 years old) and is the most volcanically active (last major volcanic activity three weeks ago). It looked like an island in turmoil and the edges of the shore were in this lateset area were covered in lava flow. There was some life in amidst this but most of the life on this island was on the edges (marine).
We were sailing along the coast because of the unique situation of this island. It was literally balancing on the edge . West only a little ways off was the edge of the continental shelf where the cold under current pushes up and meets the warm equatorial current (or counter current) sometimes creating marine fog and unusual cooler waters for this area. These conditions create a literal soup of rich organisms that the animals take advantage of here in the Galapagos. This side of the island is known for seeing a rich diversity of marine life (like whales, fish, etc) who can take advantage of these conditions.
Later, after breakfast we headed back to Isabela to Punto Vicente Roca to take a Zodiak ride around the edges of this unique area of Isabela. The largest of all the islands and the one that is shaped a little like a Seahorse, we were exploring around the head (northernmost). We were not getting on the shore but the zodiak was taking us along it. This is where we saw our first penquins (only one the rest were swimming we later found out) and the flightless Cormorant.
We were then taken back to the ship to put on our snorkel gear and zodiaked back to those waters. This was cool as the Penguins were swimming and fishing and were not afraid of us so we were in and amongst them. A few of the Cormorants were in the water too.
The afternoon we were taken back to Fernandina on the northeastern tip. It was here that we landed at Punta Espinosa. This was a great outing as there was just so much to see. Tons of flightless cormorants, snakes, marine iquanas by the hundreds (some swimming between little rocky out croppings, there were tidal pools (one even had a sea turtle in it). The ground at the shore was ropy, pumicy hardened lava and so was super slick. Three photographers fell (backwards and always protecting their equipment). They had some skinned and bruised knees though. We saw a juvenile sea turtle, two Great Herons, tons of Sea Lions, Crabs and even a Hawk. These shores were rich in wildlife. This island had a good sized (if not young) mangrove just off of the lava field but it was starting to claim the lava too. There was an endemic (which is incredible considering the youth of this island) Cactus that grows off of the lava. It is the primary colonizer, and breaks the lava down into gritty sand readying it for the Secondary plants that come in and continue the process of creating soil.
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