Day 3: Isabela and Fernandina Islands

Galápagos day 3: Isabela and Fernandina I SWAM WITH SEA TURTLES!!!!! If nothing else happens the rest of the trip, I'm good. I managed the courage today to do the deep water snorkel, and as a result, I swam with sea turtles. At one point, I had one on either side of me. These beautiful gentle giants were green sea turtles. And there must have been about a dozen in the cove we were in. So far, the naturalists have been saying that we're having amazing days for wildlife. They've expected some, but not as much as we've had. Lucky us! I also got stung by a sea jelly, which was irritating but is doing much better. And I got sneezed on by a marine iguana. They are truly interesting creatures. What else? We've seen so much. Here's a partial list: green sea turtles, marine iguanas, land iguanas, lava lizards, racer snakes, Galápagos sea lions and fur seals, Galápagos penguins and petrels and shearwaters, brown pelicans, flightless cormorants, blue-footed and Nazca boobies, herons, whimbrels, brown noddies, ground finches of several sizes, Sally lightfoot crabs, diamond stingrays, puffers, parrotfish, hogfish, salemas, angelfish, and more. Oh, and while on Fernandina yesterday, we spied a plume and a huge body offshore. The most senior naturalists seem to agree: a blue whale!!! I can hardly believe that there's still more wonder to come.