Galapagos Day 2 Afternoon: Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island
King of the mountain. These marine iguana must be modern day dinosaurs. This afternoon we visited the youngest of the Galapagos Islands, called Fernandina. It is located in the west of the archipelago, closest to the hot spot which creates all of the islands. The islands form over the stable hot spot, which is bringing magma up from the Earth's mantle, but then the islands move off to the East with the rest of the tectonic plate. The volcano on Fernandina, known locally as Vulcan La Cumbre, erupted as recently as last march. It was no surprise then when we were greeted at the shoreline with jet black lava rock. The lava had flowed out into the shallows, creating a network of tidepools, all filled with colorful damselfish, and even some sea lion babies. David, our guide, said that the mama sea lions will leave their pups here in the tidepools, knowing that they will be safe from predators (big sharks), until the mother gets back. The pups are totally reliant on their mom for the f...