fourth day cruise

Fernandina is the youngest volcanic island in the galapagos, only about 30.000 years old. Isabela is 500.000 years old and San Cristobal 2.300.000

All of tthem are volcanic islands. Ferenandina has quite a high volcano and the rest of the island is made up of solidified mostly black lava.

I find these structures fascinating

It is amazing how trees grow out of the cracks in the lava

It is my favorite island, next to Isabela. We had a beautiful 2 hour walk and saw lots of marine iguanas,

I love the way these ones are posing for a picture

some flightless cormorans nesting, they are fascinating birds. And, like almost all animals here, they doon't mind at all when you come close!

annd here some more flightless cormorans

aand here, one opening his wings to jump ito the water. I think he is dying to fly!

and another pair nesting

iin the sea, a sea turtle swimming

aand lots of Sally lightfoot crabs on the shore

TThe scenery is otherworldly.

Carlos can imitate a sea lion perfectly. He calls them and they answer.

Here a young Sally lightfoot crab

Afterwards we went snorkeling but the sea was veery rough today. The current drew me towards the cliffs and the waves hit m on the cliffs so I gott out as soon as I could. All I could see was one big sea turtle and a few fish. 

In he afternoon we went snorkling again and the sea was so rough and the waves so high we had to give it up after 15 minutes. 

Later we went on a panga ride close to the cliffs and the mountain and saw lots of sea turtles and beautiful birds. Here a mail booby performing a booby dance to atract a female

When they call a female, they spread their wings like this . It looks so pretty. Here a booby sitting on a cliff

there were lots of them

and this is a Nazca booby. There are 3 kinds: the blue footed, the red footed which I did not get to see because it lives only on the iland Genovesa in the north of the Galapagos and on the north tip of San Cristobal, where I did not get. And this masked booby or Nazca booby.

The ciffs in the background are also gorgeous. 

and here 2 boobies, saying good night to each other, so good night to you too.

I will show you some scenery of Isabela's west coast in the next post. 

Now we are sailing onwards, the next island is 8 hours away! At night it was so beautiful to see tthe moon reflecting in the sea.