August 3, 2018 - Galapagos Cruise: Isabela Island & Fernandina

Our ship sailed overnight to Punta Vicente Roca of Isabela Island.  Today's activities included zodiac ride and snorkeling. We all chose the zodiac ride to view Galapagos animals.  The zodiac took us close to the cliff with chances of seeing marine iguanas, Galapagos fur seals, green sea turtles, blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans, brown nodes, Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, lava gulls and Sally lightfoot crabs.  It was our first experience of seeing so many different animals in close distance.  We were all very excited and took many photos of these wonderful animals.

Then we got onto the glass bottom boat to see underwater animals.  We saw some tortoises and yellow-tail fishes.  Since the glass bottom on the boat did not provide a clear view of underwater animals, we ended up looking for animals on the shore.  We got a chance to see a couple of frigatebirds.

In the afternoon, our ship sailed to Punta Espinoza of Fernandina Island. We got the chance of seeing a lot more marine iguanas, Galapagos fur seals, Sally light-foot crabs, green sea turtles, flightless cormorants and lava lizards.  Many of the marine iguanas can be seen swimming and looking for food under the water, and swimming up to shore. The iguanas can stay under the water for up to an hour as they are always in search of algae. Their body temperature can drop down some 20°F while they swim and look for food, which causes them to lay out on the lava rock as they digest their food, and for a quick warm-up.  This is the place where people mentioning about "iguanas everywhere in Galapagos".  

A mother Galapagos fur seal and her baby were nearby playfully swimming, and did a show for us.  We also saw a lot of other animals in action. 

Many people visit Punta Espinoza in Fernandina Island for the abundance of lava rocks that are available due to the presence of one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The volcano is considered to be the youngest in the Galapagos, with its last eruption taking place in April 2009.

After we got back to ship, we all attended the photograph session offered by the ship photographer and we were able to pick up a few tips of take interesting photos.