Isabela, 27 Sep 2017



Wednesday morning the 27th we woke up at Punta Vicente Roca on the north-west corner of Isabela Island. The scenery was stunning. While eating breakfast, we could see some sea-life outside the boat, including turtles and the fins of several Mola Mola:

Mola Mola fin
The first order of the day was a panga ride to observe the wildlife along the cliffs. We started out with a sea lion and Green Sea Turtles in the water:

Sea Lion

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle
Nearby on the rocks were a Noddy Tern and Boobys and Frigatebirds:

Noddy Tern

Blue-footed Booby and Frigatebird

Blue-footed Booby








Blue-footed Booby

There were also quite a few Marine Iguanas on the rocks:

Marine Iguanas

Marine Iguana

Marine Iguanas

Marine Iguana




But we were really excited when we found the Flightless Cormorants:

Flightless Cormorants

Flightless Cormorant

Flightless Cormorant and shadow

Flightless Cormorant





We cruised further, seeing a variety of Galápagos Fur Seals:

Galápagos Fur Seal

Galápagos Fur Seal





And then, the second high point of the morning occurred when we spotted Galápagos Penguins:
Galápagos Penguin

Galápagos Penguin

Galápagos Penguin

Galápagos Penguin



Galápagos Penguins

Galápagos Penguins



Galápagos Penguins

Galápagos Penguins



Galápagos Penguins

Galápagos Penguins





As you can tell, I had a hard time staying away from the shutter button!  We returned to the ship and our next order of business was snorkeling. We came across the Attack Cormorant:


Flightless Cormorant
Despite our best efforts, this Flightless Cormorant wanted to interact with us. I got pecked on the arm. The cormorants were very fun to watch in and under the water:

Flightless Cormorant
We also got a nice view of a group of Green Sea Turtles:

Green Sea Turtles
We got back in the panga and returned to the ship:
John, Francois, Cedric, Jill, Barb, Natasha

It was time to cruise to our next destination. As we cruised, we watched for whales and other wildlife. We did not see whales this day, but we saw other things. A large splash far toward the horizon turned out to be a Swordfish jumping:
Swordfish

Swordfish

Swordfish
Galápagos Petrels, Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, and the Moon kept us company:


Galápagos Petrel 

Frigatebird

Brown Pelicans
Moon

We arrived at Urbina Bay mid-afternoon. We boarded the Pangas and went on-shore, watching the Brown Pelicans dive as we went:

Brown Pelican
The highlight of our excursion was the giant Galápagos Tortoise. We found them hiding in the vegetation along the trail:
Galápagos Tortoise

Galápagos Tortoise
Galápagos Tortoise

We caught view of a couple of invaders - Smooth-billed Anis brought by the ranchers in hopes they would reduce parasites on the cattle:
Smooth-billed Anis
And, of course more finches:

Darwin Finch

There were also land iguanas. We found evidence of them again before spotting them:
Iguana by-product
But we found several of the large reptiles as well:

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana

Land Iguana eating

Land Iguana
The male was courting the female - he would lick her tail as part of it. Here is an animation:



Returning to shore to wait for the pangas, I watched the pelicans dive while others swam at the beach:
Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

We returned to the ship and had our briefing for the next day - a quick trip to Fernandina and then back to Isabela:


As we cruised toward Fernandina that night, we stayed up on top for a bit talking and watching the night sky:
Moon and Frigatebird

Jill, Mariangela, Pedro, Fabricio





And then we slept another night, ready for our next morning "in paradise" as our Concerige Roxane liked to remind us!

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