I'll do another post about the fascinating geological history and present of the Galapagos Islands. Understanding this drama is a big part of understanding the Galapagos uniqueness today.
In brief, the islands are a chain of 15 or so major islands, and many minor ones, stretching along the Equator from northwest to southeast. The north-westernmost islands are directly over a geological hot spot that regularly (over millions of years) gives birth to new islands as volcanoes erupt. Once an island is born in the northwest, it slowly migrates to the southeast at a rate of an inch or so a year. After millions of years it will erode into the sea and be "subducted" into the geological furnace that melts rock and circulates to form new islands in the west. So the islands in the southeast, like Baltra where our plan landed and North Seymour (yesterday's post), are old and dying, but still loaded with interesting flora and fauna.
Overnight the La Pinta cruised from this old area in the east to the newest islands in the west, crossing the Equator twice in the process. We awoke off the coast of Isabela Island, a seahorse- shaped island that is the largest in the Galapagos. Our ship was just off Punta Vicente Roce, a few miles south of the Equator.
After breakfast we boarded pangas and explored the nearby Isabela coastline. Wildlife was everywhere.
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| Isabela coastline looking toward Punta Vicente -- note the mouth of the cave in the far distance |
Just below the center of the photograph above is a light colored rock formation, shown below. It's the home of countless seabirds -- blue footed boobies and pelicans to name a few.
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| Guano everywhere -- can you spot the pelican, the marine iguanas and the boobie? |
Then we were surrounded by a big school of golden rays in formation (no picture), and a number of green sea turtles that were checking us out.
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| These turtles were everywhere |
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| Hard to get a good picture with a little camera and a moving panga |
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| Look closely to see a few flightless cormorants on the rocks |
We same something almost unique to the Galapagos -- the Galapagos penguin. These guys came up with the cold current from Antarctica, and survive here because of it still. They are very fast in the water and can turn on a dime.
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| Penguin on the left with his marine iguanas buddies |
We explored the sea cave for a few minutes -- loaded with birds and fish.
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| Sea cave from outside |
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Wall of bird nests inside entrance to sea cave
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Sea lions were with us all morning - this guy was curious and playful.
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| Throw me a fish! |
We headed back to the ship for a break, and happened upon a pod of balleen whales that we tried to chase. Got some videos but no photos. When we got back to the cabin we found some creative work by the housekeeping staff -- they did this every time they cleaned the room for the rest of the trip.
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| Terrycloth sea turtle |
After lunch we embarked again in pangas to the far side of the sea cave, and went up to the edge of an ancient volcano caldera that had collapsed halfway into the sea eons ago.
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| Side view of collapsed caldera -- underwater half is off to the left |
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Looking into caldera from ocean -- far wall is wall of ancient volcanic crater. Equator is right about here.
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Looking south from here, we could see the volcanic island of Fernandina, swathed in clouds. Fernandina, the youngest and most active of the islands, is our destination this afternoon and the subject of my next post.
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| Fernandina Island |
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| Mary is ready for action! |
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