Today we started our day surrounded by enormous shield volcanoes located on the western area of the Galapagos. Our first outing of the day was at Urbina Bay. After landing, we started a challenging hike along the rocky coast of this site. During our walk we learned that an unusual event happened in Urbina. A massive uplift of the seabed occurred in 1954, leaving many marine organisms as huge as coral’s heads and tubeworms on land. It was an unbelievable experience to observe how nowadays the coral was surrounded by very dense vegetation that includes yellow cordia trees, poison apple trees, and one of my favorite flowers of the Galapagos, the Galapagos cotton flowers. On our way through the trail we spotted several bright yellow land iguanas and 14 giant tortoises from Alcedo volcano. There were many land birds like ground finches, flycatchers and mocking birds singing and flying over the trail. With a hot morning, clear sky and great company of our friendly guests we ended the visit with a refreshing bath on the same beach that we disembarked earlier.
In the afternoon we continued with our activities, which were kayaking and snorkeling in a different location in Isabela Island, Tagus Cove. The conditions were very pleasant; we had calm and warm waters. There were penguins on the rocks and flightless cormorants diving in the bay. Snorkelers discovered that the sea turtles were feeding on the algae, penguins were going fast after some small fishes – it was a great experience.
Later we had a fast hike to the viewpoint in Tagus Cove. On our way to the summit we had chances to take great pictures of the landscape that includes 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 we will never forget. As we walked back to the ship we realized how lucky we were to experience this magical place with all of its inhabitants.
