Today was a most remarkable day. We started at one of the crown jewels of the Galápagos Islands, Punta Espinosa on Fernandina. Our group was the first to disembark to the island and we saw hundreds of endemic marine Iguanas defending territories and mating. The males were head-shaking, pushing and locking mouths and heads, while other males pursued and mated with the smaller females. We also saw flightless cormorants and countless species of fish and invertebrates in the tidepools. The Galápagos hawks were watching overhead for any unsuspecting prey. The baby sea lions were quite curious this morning and actually approached and sniffed the legs of some of the students.
The afternoon was better yet. The students took the zodiacs to an area off of Isabella for deep water snorkeling. There they saw masses of sea turtles, flightless cormorants swimming after fish, and were eventually surrounded by penguins. We even saw a sea lion catch and eat a fish on cue!
We have a great group of students, and everyone is healthy and happy. We've done great so far. Tomorrow morning we travel to the highlands of Santa Cruz island for a visit to the Darwin station, and eventually our flight back to the mainland.
- Eric Fortune
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