Tuesday April 8. After the crosiing the Equator ceremony, we arrived at Isabela Island, at Punta Vicente Roca, right on the north East tip of the island. We took a fun Zodiac cruise to check out the wird life.
The first thing we saw were penguins! Yes, this is not the antarctic These ones are small and very playful and, I believe, the only penguins that live outside Antartica. A whole group of the swam along with the zodiac.
Next came our fiirst sighting of one of the other most famous of Galapagos creatures - the marine Iguana.
It’s little disconcerting to see these reptiles for the first time since they are soooo ugly. There will be more!
We also came across a number of baby fur sealions who seemed most curios about us.
Following the Zodiac cruise, we dashed back to the ship ans changed into our diving gear for some snorkeling, in the same cove. The waters looks clear and I had Mastered my camera so I expected great things. I wasn’t disappointed.
Here’s the group getting ready for snorkeling. I’m already half way submerged.
It turns out this place is turtle-city.
Like everything else in the Gala[agos, they were friendly, almost oblivious to our presence, gracefully swimming along. Ocassionaly they would come up fpr air.
After all that, it was time for lunch!