Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Day 5: Isabella - Lava Walk, Snorkel with Sea Turtles, Penguins & Golden Rays

Today’s adventure started with a dry landing and a hike across a what seemed like the surface of the moon but was actually a lava field with fantastic formations from swirling circles to rippled waves. 
Interspersed through the landscape were deep fissures and clefts that often dropped down 20-30 feet or more.  Richard told us about the geology of the islands and that this was the second most active volcanic chain in the world behind Hawaii.  
The islands here are less than 3 million years old so relatively new to the planet.  
Our amazing guide, Richard Polatty
Later, Richard gave a superb lecture about climate change, oceanography and the causes and effects of El Nino.  It’s amazing to think that during an El Nino event up to 70 percent of certain species died off.  We gained a new appreciation for the effects of ocean temperatures and how the affect things like the trade winds, marine food supplies, and more
Click here to watch the video of snorkeling with the turtles


Probably our favorite activity of the day was a highly interactive snorkeling session where we were able to swim with numerous sea turtles and observe them feeding on the algea and seaweed near shore.  The kids were loving it!  

Later in the day we set off in the pangas to explore the tidal rocks where we encountered our first Galapagos penguins.  How cool!  We were able to glide up to within a few feet of the penguins and watched as they dove into the clear water and zoomed about under our panga.  Many people do not expect to find penguins in warm waters so it is a great surprise to them to find endemic penguins on the equator. 


We then entered into a large red mangrove tidal forest where we were treated to lots of sea turtles, spotted rays, and even a whole formation of beautiful golden rays gliding along in perfect symmetry. 




No comments:

Post a Comment