This morning we had the option of waking up at 6am and checking out Pinta Island during sunrise.  There are thousands of birds that live there.  My husband is the bird guy and he was not interested (pictures would not be ideal from the ship), so we slept in.  

When we had breakfast, I got this picture of the island in the distance.  I am also pretty sure that I saw a leatherback sea turtle surface in the water.  It had a turtle head, but the back was bumpy and it was enormous.  I have always wanted to see one.  Then we sailed through a cloud and I didn’t see it again. I guess I will never know.  I would like to think it was one. 

After breakfast, we met up on the top deck because we were going to cross the equator. Socrates was making me laugh saying things like, you will see the line of the equator when we cross!  You will lose a pound of weight when we go over it (and then gain it back immediately).  When we cross, we will be going very fast, so the ship needs to slow down a lot.  It was pretty funny. My husband took a video of his countdown to the equator and when he got to one, the lady next to us said, I don’t see the line!  Too funny. 

The naturalists put up a banner with the colors of the Ecuadorian flag and told us it was the equator line.  We had to limbo under it and then we got a pin saying we crossed the equator as well as a shot. We all toasted going over the equator.  It was a nice little celebration. 

Then we had a chance to board the Zodiacs and explore the coastline of Isla Isabela.  Our guide, Tanya, told us about a 4.2 earthquake she witnessed there last month. She said they could hear the cracking of the island and stones fell down the sides. The ship had to quickly retreat so as not to be damaged!  This is a sign that perhaps one of the other active volcanoes will erupt in the near future.  

We had been cruising through the caldera (volcano floor) since the volcano itself slipped into the ocean.  The coastline was very rocky and there are tortoises that live on this island.  We encountered quite a few marine iguanas sunning themselves. 

We watched a mother fur seal sea lion call to her pup from the top of the rock while the pup played in the surf with other sea lions. 

There was one fur seal sea lion hiding in the cave area. 

We watched quite a few marine iguanas swimming. 

We saw the iguanas sharing rock with other birds. 

The birds shared space with the crabs.

We saw so many blue footed boobies.  A group of them together is called a party. So here is a picture of a party of blue footed boobies. 

We saw quite a few sea turtles. 

There were flightless cormorants sharing space with the iguanas. (This one bit the iguana because it came into its space.)

These two boobies were working on a mating dance. 

This one was sleeping and didn’t care that we were so close. 

This is the inside of the cave that we entered. We also later snorkeled in this area. 

I love this rock face full of iguanas. 

The fur seal sea lions have to cool off even more so because their fur is so warm.  It was at least 80 degrees today and the water was 70 degrees.  It was not cold enough so they raise their flipper to cool off even more (like when we fan our armpits). 

The iguanas here are the biggest marine iguanas in the world. These guys are some good examples. 

We saw this amazing sea turtle with these red markings.  

We finally saw the Galapagos penguins!  They were swimming and fishing so it was difficult to get a picture, but these two were adorable. 

After we returned, we had a little bit of free time before we were going to head out and deep water snorkel.  I was a little nervous because the area we were going to had some current.  I spoke to Socrates who thought I would be fine and I bought a buff at the store to protect my head from the sun. The store manager, JP, told me that I would be fine and if I was tired, I could always get back into the Zodiac.  That made me feel a lot better. 

We went out in the Zodiac and jumped off the side.  I hung on a bit so I would not go completely underwater when I went in.  It worked out perfectly.  This time I used the flippers.  I think it really helped me maneuver better and move quicker without a ton of effort.  I was very cognizant of where I was in relation to the rock wall.  Our guide wanted us to snorkel right next to it, but I stayed a bit away. The water was a bit cloudy and churned up today. Later I found out that two people cut themselves on the rock wall, so I was smart to steer clear. 

When we went around the corner from the cave, we saw a bunch of sea turtles. They swam under me, next to me, and some were just relaxing on the bottom. There were a couple of flightless cormorants that had a scuffle right in the middle of everyone snorkeling.  Our guide said it was a parent and baby feeding.  I was happy to be away from it. 

There was a big swell that came in about the time I saw a lot of sea turtles.  It really helped me stay focused on snorkeling.  I was a little frustrated because the water was full of debris.  After I saw all the turtles, I got back into the Zodiac.  We only had about five minutes left anyway. After I got in, the penguins were swimming around one was right next to my husband!  We also saw them on the rocks.  It was really cool. 

We returned to the ship, got cleaned up, and had lunch. There were a couple of presentations in the afternoon, but we relaxed and took a nap. At around 3:45 there was a hike on the lava fields on Fernandina Island. We opted to take the Zodiac again.  I was much more interested in seeing more sea turtles and possibly more penguins. 

We found a penguin right away!  However, this flightless cormorant almost chased him away! 

The penguin was a juvenile.  You can tell because his whole chest is white and he does not have the markings around his face. 

We think his mother was on this rock. You can see the markings on her face. 

There were also a ton of marine iguanas on the rocks as well as crabs. 

As you can see from the pictures, the lighting was not the best, but I had to take a million pictures because we were RIGHT next to the penguin and he didn’t even care!

We then saw these four boobies on a rock.  I love the island in the background. 

They lined up for us like they were waiting for us to take their picture. 

This time I remembered to take some pictures of the landscape in general instead of just the animals.  These were lava rocks spread out in the ocean from a more recent eruption.  

There was a small section of mangroves in the middle of it. We went looking in this area because our driver, Miguel, thought there might be sharks there. Some people some them, but I didn’t. 

The water was very clear so we could see these turtles and fish really well under the surface. We also spotted another penguin!

We rode around this area for a bit and looked for wildlife on the rocks and in the water. We saw a lot of turtles surfacing, which made me very happy. 

Around the corner, there were some flightless cormorants nesting and we saw yet another penguin!  S/he was hanging out with the cormorants.  

Most of the cormorants were sleeping.  There also a ton of iguanas. 

This penguin turned right toward us so I got to see all its markings.  

Then s/he jumped in the water and swam right by us!  It was amazing. 

We were so happy we went on the Zodiac instead of the hike.  They saw cool things as well, but we saw the penguins.  

They had a wine tasting on the Observation deck tonight with cheese appetizers.  The wine was very good and several types were local. 

The naturalists put a video together from snorkeling. It was cool to see all the fish we saw, even if I missed some of them. They also had another speaker from Charles Darwin Foundation who specializes in saving the mangrove finches.  It was very interesting to  hear about her work. They leave the finches special fibers to help build their nests which will also kill any of the ticks that have been killing the birds. How smart is that? 

We had a briefing about our plans for tomorrow and then a BBQ dinner.  Earlier today people submitting their best photos to be critiqued by National Geographic trained photographers.  After dinner, they talked about each photo.  I did not go, but my husband said that his photo had no notes.  He was quite excited.  

We have one full day left to explore tomorrow.