To the west are the youngest, and so the most volcanic, islands of the archipelago. This one is the largest, and it’s here where we spent the day for our activities. The first one was at a location called Urbina Bay, where our guests could chose between a short and long hike. Both offer good opportunities of wildlife viewing, such as large land iguanas and also giant tortoises occasionally.
Land birds are also everywhere here, from Darwin’s finches, Galapagos hawks, warblers and Galapagos mockingbirds, to some waders and sea birds like the unique flightless cormorants and pelicans.
Another interesting feature of the area is the 1954 uplift that caused the elevation of the marine bottom by 12 feet over an area of about five miles. During the action a great number of marine creatures like sea turtles, sea urchins, lobster, sharks, and many other creatures were left high and dry and all of that can be seen as you walk through the inland trail recently colonized by vegetation of different sorts. A great area has large coral heads quite a distance from the water, where vegetation now grows.
After a delicious Ecuadorian lunch and a mandatory siesta we prepared for the afternoon activities at another location on Isabela called Tagus Cove. Formerly visited by naturalist Charles Darwin, some started early here, doing some kayaking along the shore of tuff formations regularly visited by sea birds like penguins and cormorants, resting or nesting.
This was followed by some people going snorkeling off the Zodiacs along the coastline. Here green sea turtles are abundant and incredibly friendly. Penguins also come very close as they follow small fish. Cormorants do the same and sometimes are attracted to snorkels and other items people have on—they usually play or try to take them to include as part of their nest. This session in the water was just amazing.
The adventure continues for some who are going on a power hike to a small elevation from where you can see a salt water lake into an old crater mostly made of ash. It’s surrounded by local vegetation and its water is twice as salty as the ocean’s. Some others decided to just take it easy and went on a Zodiac ride to look for the amazing animals that usually hang on the rocks and swim close the shore where is possible to see and take pictures of them easily.
Another incredible day in the Galapagos!
