Urbina Bay & Punta Moreno, Southern Isabela Island
A difficult anchor had the crew up, hammering and soldering and struggling with chains at 5:00 a.m. while most of us slept soundly. We had a delightfully tranquil night anchored off Punta Espinosa and had gone to bed contentedly after viewing the southern cross, Jupiter, scorpio and the sparkling milky way in all its glory with the ship’s lights turned off. We breakfasted as the Captain anchored at the base of Volcan Alcedo in Urbina Bay.
This area was uplifted in 1954 by as much as four meters. One and a half square kilometers of the coast were affected and even today, more than 50 years later, we still find coral heads, empty tube worm shells imbedded in the old undersea lava rocks, and a beach which is now high and dry and a couple hundred meters inland. We offered long and short hike options this morning. Over thirty long hikers set out with three of the Naturalists and they enjoyed stretching their legs on this three mile hike. I led the short hikers and we found half a dozen large and colorful land iguanas, a hawk’s nest, and to our unexpected surprise and delight, a lovely small tortoise who sat in the shade of a yellow Cordia tree while everyone trampled past him!
Back on the beach many of us plunged into the refreshingly cool water because by the end of the hike the sun was hot on our heads. From the beach we spotted a huge manta ray at least 12 feet across from wing tip to wing tip! The beach babes and bums among us stayed out enjoying the sun and water and at noon caught last panga back to the ship.
In the afternoon Naturalists Carmen and Alexandra lead the lava hikers across two miles of aa and pahoehoe lava to the edge of several brackish lagoons where they were pleased to find flamingoes, common stilts, moorhens and white cheeked pin-tailed ducks. Meanwhile Daniel took the panga riders into the mangrove bays where pelicans were nesting and rays and turtles were plentiful. Everyone ended this peaceful afternoon at a white washed lava shelf where huge marine iguanas were resting alongside several of the tiny Galápagos penguins.
A difficult anchor had the crew up, hammering and soldering and struggling with chains at 5:00 a.m. while most of us slept soundly. We had a delightfully tranquil night anchored off Punta Espinosa and had gone to bed contentedly after viewing the southern cross, Jupiter, scorpio and the sparkling milky way in all its glory with the ship’s lights turned off. We breakfasted as the Captain anchored at the base of Volcan Alcedo in Urbina Bay.
This area was uplifted in 1954 by as much as four meters. One and a half square kilometers of the coast were affected and even today, more than 50 years later, we still find coral heads, empty tube worm shells imbedded in the old undersea lava rocks, and a beach which is now high and dry and a couple hundred meters inland. We offered long and short hike options this morning. Over thirty long hikers set out with three of the Naturalists and they enjoyed stretching their legs on this three mile hike. I led the short hikers and we found half a dozen large and colorful land iguanas, a hawk’s nest, and to our unexpected surprise and delight, a lovely small tortoise who sat in the shade of a yellow Cordia tree while everyone trampled past him!
Back on the beach many of us plunged into the refreshingly cool water because by the end of the hike the sun was hot on our heads. From the beach we spotted a huge manta ray at least 12 feet across from wing tip to wing tip! The beach babes and bums among us stayed out enjoying the sun and water and at noon caught last panga back to the ship.
In the afternoon Naturalists Carmen and Alexandra lead the lava hikers across two miles of aa and pahoehoe lava to the edge of several brackish lagoons where they were pleased to find flamingoes, common stilts, moorhens and white cheeked pin-tailed ducks. Meanwhile Daniel took the panga riders into the mangrove bays where pelicans were nesting and rays and turtles were plentiful. Everyone ended this peaceful afternoon at a white washed lava shelf where huge marine iguanas were resting alongside several of the tiny Galápagos penguins.
