Penguins, Marine Iguanas, and Lava Cacti on Fernandina and Isabela Islands

April 4: Day 12. We arose with really sore bodies from the bouncing and craning we experienced on yesterday’s zodiac tours. Jane is really moving poorly.

Sunrise over Fernandina

After breakfast with David and Linda, we did some walking and stretching exercises to work out the kinks. Our ship is anchored off Fernandina Island, the westernmost, third-largest, and youngest of the islands being less than 1 million years old.

Pelicans nest in mangroves

Known for its continuing series of volcanic eruptions, the island is the most volcanically active and sits at the center of the hotspot that created the Galapagos Islands. This uninhabited island is the archipelago’s most pristine of the volcanoes and is home to its youngest ecosystem.

Although our bodies are screaming “NO!,” we ready ourselves for the morning’s zodiac exploration of the island’s coastline of Punta Mangle. Unlike some of the other islands, this coastline is filled with tiny bays and coves of tall mangroves. As our panga approaches the coastline we spot two manta rays swimming around each other on the water’s surface.

Our Ninja panga pilot!

Our naturalists guide, Bernardo, tells us that the rays are mating and he describes how the ritual is carried out (see video at end of post). We enter a mangrove cove and see brown pelicans nesting in the mangroves.

Panga Jane

Bernardo points out the features and how the ecosystem on Fernandina differs from that on the other islands. Moving on, we spot a green-eyed flightless cormorant, also known as the Galapagos cormorant, which is the only known cormorant that has lost its ability to fly. As lunchtime approaches, we head back to the ship wondering what kind of ceviche is going to be served up today.

While we are having lunch, the ship was repositioned to the coastline of Punta Moreno on Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos Islands.
With an area of 1,771 mi.², the island is larger than all the other islands in the chain combined. One of the youngest islands at approximately 1 million years old, Isabela is located near the Galapagos hotspot and was formed by the merger of 6 shield volcanoes.

Lava cacti

The island straddles the equator and has around 2000 permanent inhabitants.

Our group assembled at the Basecamp at our appointed time for a zodiac tour of the coastline. We find the coastline to have unique lava formations, but the lava fields are relatively new and have not developed sufficient soil nutrients required to support the vegetation zones found on other islands.

Galapagos penguin

One plant that we do see inhabiting the lava fields is the lava cactus. The plant is a colonizer of lava fields and is endemic to the Galapagos Islands. We are excited to finally spot some Galapagos penguins. Endemic to the Galapagos Islands, it is the only penguin found north of the equator. The cool waters of the Humboldt and Cromwell currents allow it to survive despite the tropical latitude.

Penguin pair

It is the second smallest and rarest penguin species, and is confined specifically to the Galapagos Islands. Ninety percent of the approximately 1200 mature penguins are found on Fernandina Island and the west coast of Isabela Island. They are considered endangered primarily due the large die offs that occur during the warmer conditions of El Niño seasons. It is our 8^th species of penguin that we have seen in the wild.

Marine iguanas

As we approach a rocky outcrop our guide points out another unique Galapagos species—the marine iguana. Found only in the Galapagos Islands, this herbivorous marine reptile is the only lizard that spends its time in a marine environment foraging for algae. It is theorized that marine and land iguanas share a common ancestor. It is distributed throughout the entire archipelago, with varying appearances between the different islands and several sub species being recognized.

Iguana colony

Although it is locally abundant with an estimated 250,000 animals, this protected species is considered threatened primarily from El Niño cycles and introduced predators brought to the islands by humans. We finished our tour observing another colony of blue-footed boobies, some herons, and Sally Lightfoot crabs climbing over the rocks.

Sally Lightfoot crabs

Back aboard our ship, we gathered on the observation deck to relax and were Linda and Jane decided to refresh themselves in the spa. A little later on, we had to make a tough decision as to whether to attend a ceviche cooking class put on by the executive chef, or go to happy hour. The drinks were really good!

 

No iguanas in here!