Day 15: Isabella (Punto Moreno and Elizabeth Bay) - Monday February 5th 2018
In the morning we visited Punto Moreno. Here we strolled over a pahoehoe lava field in which the lava has collapsed in several places, which have then filled with water and vegetation that now provide oases for wildlife. A gallery of scenes from this visit is shown below; click on an image to enlarge and scroll through.
After this landing, we enjoyed a panga ride with good views of Galapagos Penguins and our first Flightless Cormorants. Later we cruised north to Elizabeth Bay - seeing 2 Bryde's Whales along the way. Some of us had a good snorkelling session and then we all enjoyed a panga ride into the mangroves where we found more Penguins.
With an average length of 90-100cm, Flightless Cormorant is the world's largest cormorant (about twice as long as the Galapagos Penguin), and it is the world's only flightless cormorant. It has a similar distribution to the penguin around Fernandina and on the western shores of Isabella but it is also found on the north-east of Isabella.
Below is a sample of GoPro stills from today's snorkelling session