 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Mon 11 March - Isabella Island .
We went for a zodiac ride along the coast at the top of Isabella Island, this area being the head of the seahorse shaped island. Another early hour of the morning 7.30.
The wreck of the Estrella del Mar is prominent on the beach. It was a tourist boat which found itself grounded near Punta Vicente Roca . The incident saw the vessel perilously close to rocky shores. Responding promptly, nearby boats rushed to the scene. The stranded vessel remained intact with no reported injuries among the passengers. Nine passengers were safely transported to continue their tour activities. With water not breaching the boat, authorities planned to await the rising tide for possible refloating. However the ship was stuck too fast on the rocky beach, and the Galapagos have no equipment to pull it off. So there it continues to sit
We had a terrible guide, maybe called Javi, who directed all his talk to one woman, and kept the boat in the same direction all the time, so that we had to look over our shoulders to see the coastline, resulting in neck cramps. Apparently there were sea lions, flightless cormorants, the odd turtle, and some funny fish called sunfish which we never saw. This torture lasted for about an hour and then there was nothing to do until lunch at noon.
A pod of small whales appears off our cabin. All that we photographed was the dorsal fins
David went to a camera talk after lunch, but soon came back as the photographer was only talking about iPhones and nothing else.
Click on any of the thumbnail photos for a larger version
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At 3:40 we went on a two hour walk across on Isabella, across the lava of Fernandina. This was quite challenging as there were large cracks to jump across. The main attraction here was the charcoal grey marine iguanas , barely detectable on the charcoal grey lava. We also saw red crabs. The guide Diego was marginally better than the terrible Javi of the morning trip.
The Marine Iguana is a species of iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands. Unique among modern lizards, it is a marine reptile that has the ability to forage in the sea for algae, which makes up almost all of its diet.Marine iguanas are the only extant lizard that spends time in a marine environment.Large males are able to dive to find this food source, while females and smaller males feed during low tide in the intertidal zone. They mainly live in colonies on rocky shores where they bask after visiting the relatively cold water or intertidal zone, but can also be seen in marshes, mangrove swamps and beaches. Large males defend territories. After mating, the female digs a nest hole in the soil where she lays her eggs, leaving them to hatch on their own a few months later
Marine iguanas vary in appearance between the different islands and several subspecies are recognized.Although relatively large numbers remain and it is locally abundant, this protected species is considered threatened, primarily from El Niño cycles, introduced predators and chance events like oil spills.
And now Bird Flu threatens. We were the last group to visit this site today, before the Park authorities closed it this evening. The affected areas are Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island and Bahía Urbina on Isabela Island. The decision to close these sites came after park rangers discovered a dozen dead seabirds, specifically Galapagos shearwaters (Puffinus subalaris). The cause of their deaths is suspected to be avian influenza, although laboratory test results are still pending. Since September 2023, nearly 200 birds have been affected across the entire archipelago, with San Cristóbal Island also experiencing closures in two areas for the past six months.
Once back. We showered and enjoyed Tapas in our room before the 18.45 lecture on ocean currents. This was followed by Paulina's talk on the day to come. We went straight into dinner so that we were free by 9 pm to look at the exploding volcano further down Isabella, Chris found this quite difficult to detect and the binoculars did not help. We then went up to deck eight and Diego gave a talk on the brilliant night sky, Which hardly did justice to the beautiful stars.
Click on any of the thumbnail photos for a larger version
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Later that evening the Captain diverted the ship along the coast of Fernandina for us to see the red glow of the molten lava from Mount Cumbre. The glow was so faint that my camera did not pick it up, but this is from the web taken a few days earlier when it was more obvious.
On to Tuesday 12 March - Tagus Cove (Isabela) & Elizabeth Bay (Isabela)