As day four arrived, we were starting to get into the swing of things up until Harry indicated we had to be ready to disembark at 5:45 instead of our now normal routine of six. It’s funny how wake up times are more amplified than during the day as that extra fifteen minutes of sleep feels like the equivalent of 2 hours.

On this early morning, we found ourselves on the furthest north side of Isabela island at Punta Abermarle. Isabela is the largest of all of the islands in the archipelago and is actually one of the youngest. Just west of where Isabela lies, is a volcanic hotspot that is the inception point of every island in the Galapagos. As islands are formed from this hotspot, they drift east making all of the western islands younger than those to the east and thus more volcanic in appearance with less vegetation.

Punta Abermarle

We left the Samba and hopped into kayaks and headed along the coastline in search of the flightless cormorant. We spent close to an hour paddling through the open ocean before we came upon a group of them gathered together in a quiet bay.

The flightless cormorants were one of the few animal species that we were not able to see during our first trip to the islands as they live exclusively on Isabela and Fernandina. These peculiar creatures are endemic to the archipelago and are the only known cormorant to actually lose its ability to fly but retain their wings as vestigial appendages. Outside of its inability to fly, it resembles other species of cormorants and rely on strong webbed feet to hunt various species of fish and octopus and uses is “S” shaped neck to navigate above the surface.

After breakfast, we took the zodiacs back to the shore where we got our first experience traipsing across the (almost) barren lava fields of Isabela. Punta Abermarle was home to a US Army Ranger station during World War II with many of the foundations and infrastructure still standing lightfoot crabs, cormorants, the odd brown pelican and candelabra cactus call this section of the island home.

Punta Vicente Roca

We spent the lunch hour navigating to Punta Vicente Roca and after a brief equatorial crossing celebration with pisco sours and an impromptu performance from our group with the crew judging as pirates (sorry no pictures of this one. I was cosplaying as a blue footed booby using my snorkeling fins and a towel and got high marks for my sky pointing!) we reached our destination.

As the clouds started rolling in, we had a feeling that our pleasant weather was coming to an end. Luckily, as we took the zodiacs along the side of the cliffs the rain held off as we were able to see blue footed boobies nesting in ridges and seemingly endless piles of marine iguanas precariously laying along the sides.

The highlight of the day (and the entire trip) occurred once we got back to the Samba dawned our snorkeling gear and jumped into the bay just as the rain began to start. During the briefing for today’s itinerary the night before, Harry indicated that this snorkeling spot but often called sea turtle paradise as hordes of sea turtles would come to this spot to eat and to get their shells cleaned of algae curiosity of the local fish. We were not only luckily enough to spot dozens of sea turtles but also came across another group of cormorants, sea lions and a large colony of Galapagos penguins, all of which were in the same area where Lauren and I spent most of the snorkeling time playing with each!

This was the first time I’ve snorkeled while its been down pouring, but the effect of the rain on the surface of the ocean added to the surrealness of the experience. Never before, in all of my travels or snorkeling excursions have I been able to interact with that much unique marine life all at once leading me to unequivocally say that this was the best underwater experience I have ever had and possibly the best moment in all of my travels.

The day ended like most others with the exception of the crew being equally as soaked as we were, thanks to the four hour long downpour. Once back onboard the Samba, we ate dinner, reveled over the almost dreamlike happenings of the day and capped off the evening with Harry’s briefing. Tomorrow we were headed south to see Fernandina and continue our exploration of Isabela island.

Featured Image: the rain rolling in behind Isabela as we take the zodiacs along the cliffs