Isabela Island
Today we started our day by exploring the huge shield volcanoes of the western area of the Galápagos archipelago. Our first outing of the day was at Urbina Bay. After landing, we started a challenging hike along the rocky coast of this visitors’ site. During the hike our guests learned that an unusual tectonic event happened very recently in Urbina. A massive uplifting of the seabed occurred in 1954. About one square kilometer was lifted out of the water quite quickly leaving many marine organisms like tubeworms out of the water. Some huge coral heads were exposed as well. It was an unbelievable experience to observe how nowadays the coral heads are surrounded by very dense vegetation that includes Yellow cordia trees, Poison apple trees, and one of my favorite flowers of the archipelago, the Galápagos cotton flowers. On our way along the trail we spotted several bright yellow Galápagos land iguanas and five Galápagos giant tortoises from the nearby Alcedo volcano. There were many land birds as Darwin ground finches, flycatchers and mockingbirds singing and flying all over the trail. With a very warm morning, clear skies and the great company of our friendly guests we ended the visit with a refreshing plunge at the same landing black beach where we disembarked earlier in the morning.
In the afternoon we continued with our activities, which were kayaking and snorkeling. The conditions were challenging, we had strong winds but the enthusiasm of our guest was much stronger. There were Galápagos penguins on the rocks, sea turtles in the water and flightless cormorants diving in the bay. Snorkelers discovered that the sea turtles were feeding on the algae, penguins were chasing very rapidly some small fish in the water — it was a great experience.
Later on we did a long, fast-pace hike to the highest viewpoint of Tagus Cove. On our way to the summit we had chances to take great pictures of the landscapes that included Darwin’s Lake and Tagus Cove. At the top the scenery was overwhelming. The sun was setting behind Fernandina Island, painting the sky with colors that our guests will never forget. As we walked back to the ship we realized how lucky we were to experience this magical place with all its inhabitants.
