Isabela and Fernandina - Celebrity Xpedition Land/Cruise Tour - November 13, 2023

Having signed up for four excursions today, I thought it would be a good morning to enjoy breakfast in the room.  So the night before we stopped by Guest Services on our way up to the room and put our order in with a scheduled delivery time of 7:00 a.m.  It arrived right on time, delivered by our nightly server, Yuri.  The smoked salmon platter was really good.

Our first excursion was an extended wildlife zodiac ride with no landing at Tagus Cove, Isabela Island.  We weren't interested in a fitness walk with limited photo opportunities and the short walk didn't seem like it would have as much wildlife as the zodiac ride.  I think we made the right choice.  We had a very small group and were lead by our excursion director, Cristina.  It was our first chance to see the Galapagos Penguins and the Flightless Cormorants and it was an amazing excursion.

Marina Deck - The staging area for excursions.  Whenever getting on and off the ship, we would always step on this mat of disinfectant to try and avoid carrying anything between islands.

Striated Heron

Lava Heron with a Brown Pelican in the background

Blue-footed Booby

Brown Noddy

Brown Pelican

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Blue-footed Booby

Galapagos Penguin

Blue-footed Booby

Blue-footed Boobies with a Flightless Cormorant

Blue-footed Booby

Flightless Cormorant

Galapagos Penguin

Paul's biggest goal for the trip was to see these penguins!

Flightless Cormorant in the water

Marine Iguanas fighting

Flightless Cormorant

Marine Iguanas with a Flightless Cormorant

Flightless Cormorant with a Marine Iguana

One of my favorite photos of the week!

We were excited to get a good look at their tiny wings which is what makes them so different from all other species of cormorants.

Galapagos Penguin

Wandering Tattler

Galapagos Penguin

Brown Penguin

A Galapagos Sea Lion who really wanted to kayak

Our first chance to deep water snorkel was this morning near Tagus Cove, Isabela Island.  We only had a short time to change before we were headed back out.  They had shorty wetsuits for us to use and we had brought long sleeve swim shirts and swim leggings for extra warmth which I'm glad we had.

We rode a zodiac out to the snorkel site.

A Galapagos Penguin swam with us - they go so fast!

We also swam with several Flightless Cormorants - here is one poking his head up after a swim.

Here is a YouTube video I put together with some footage from all five of our snorkel excursions throughout the week.

After snorkeling, it was time to head back to the ship to change and have lunch.  By mid-afternoon, we would reach our next stop, Punta Espinoza Fernandina Island where I would snorkel once more (Paul decided to skip this one).  I saw a lot of turtles on this snorkel.

After returning to the ship from snorkeling, there was one more excursion.  We had the option of a short or long walk at Punta Espinoza, Fernandina Island which would be a dry landing this time.  With four excursions on this day, we had chosen the short walk.

Marine Iguana

This is a sensor in the ground to monitor volcanic activity

There were so many Marine Iguanas on this walk!

Lava Lizard

Marine Iguanas

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Galapagos Sea Lion playing

Mom and pup Galapagos Sea Lions

Back on board, we had our normal nightly briefing and then dinner was served under the stars at the Beagle Grill.  They had brought out the table cloths and served a three course dinner outside.  It was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed the meal with three other couples traveling together.