Isabela Island
We started our day surrounded by huge shield volcanoes located in the western area of the Galápagos. 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 at Urbina. A massive uplift of the seabed occurred in 1954, and about one square kilometer ended up out of the water, leaving many marine organisms, such as huge coral 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 Galápagos, the Galápagos cotton flowers.
On our way along the trail we spotted several bright yellow land iguanas and nine giant tortoises from Alcedo Volcano. There were many land birds, such as ground finches, flycatchers and mockingbirds singing and flying over the trail. With a warm morning, clear sky and the great company of our friendly guests, we ended the visit with a refreshing swim at the same beach where we had disembarked earlier.
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 guests was much stronger. There were 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, and penguins were going really fast after some small fishes in the water—it was a great experience.
Later we took a Zodiac ride where we spotted a large group of penguins feeding in the water, flightless cormorants on the rocks, sea turtles swimming by, playful sea lions following the Zodiac and several blue-footed boobies perching on the cliff along the dramatic coastal landscape of Isabela Island. What a great end of another day in paradise!
