On the last day of our journey, we encountered a “land before time” where avian wildlife has flourished. We arrived early and navigated into Darwin Bay, one of the few calderas on Earth where you can enter from the open ocean. The skies were clouded with great frigatebirds, Nazca boobies, tropicbirds, and red-footed boobies. During our exploration inland, we observed short-eared owls preying upon Elliot’s and Galapagos storm petrels as well as active nests of Nazca boobies and red-footed boobies with chicks. As the sun dipped below the horizon, swallow-tailed gulls cared for eggs and recently hatched young ones, and the ocean calmed down as we returned to our floating home, National Geographic Endeavour II.
5/6/2025
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National Geographic Endeavour II
Isabela Island
Navigation brought us to the largest island in the Galapagos Archipelago, Isabela. Holding half of all land mass in the Galapagos, it has a diverse selection of ecosystems that we were able to visit. Urvina Bay was geologically uplifted in the 1950’s, taking two square kilometers of seafloor that was thrust upward, in certain areas up to four meters out of the water. Intertidal species were stranded inland, and we walked upon this area. Galapagos giant tortoises and land iguanas were found on our trail, and we were surrounded by Darwin finches and Galapagos mockingbirds. The afternoon brought us to Tagus Cove where we explored the surrounding waters, encountering Galapagos penguins and Pacific green sea turtles swimming among the kayakers and snorkelers. As the sun dipped below the horizon, adventurous hikers took a fast-paced hike to enjoy an incredible view of Darwin Lake and the immense island of Isabela.