Urbina Bay & Punta Moreno, Southern Isabela Island
Our expedition around this enchanted group of islands led us today to explore an infrequently visited part of the coastline of Isabela. This island is the largest one in the Galápagos Archipelago. In the morning, we landed at Urbina Bay, on the western coast of Isabela, on a black beach at the base of Alcedo Volcano. The trail took us inland to explore this arid ecosystem, typical of the dry lowlands. We could not avoid being bewildered after learning that a dramatic uplift of the coastline occurred there as recently as in 1954. This famous volcanic event raised a very long stretch of approximately 5 Km. The whole ocean bottom including big pieces of coral reef were rapidly uplifted an average of 4 meters above sea level. We were fortunate for we encountered several beautifully colored yellow and orange Galápagos land iguanas and a Galápagos giant tortoise in the middle of the trail! Returning to the landing beach we cooled down in the refreshing waters of the Pacific Ocean.
In the afternoon, we landed on the immense black lava field found in Punta Moreno. Some of us had a challenging hike across this barren terrain. As a second option, other guests joined a fantastic Zodiac cruise along the coastline. Frigate birds were nesting high in the mangrove trees and Brown pelicans observed us from their roosting sites. Many Galápagos sea lions, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and Galápagos penguins were admired resting on huge black lava rocks. Our exploration of the most pristine and remote locations of southern Isabela Island had a golden finale, a gorgeous sunset that made us realize how fortunate we were to spent a full day around these realms.
Our expedition around this enchanted group of islands led us today to explore an infrequently visited part of the coastline of Isabela. This island is the largest one in the Galápagos Archipelago. In the morning, we landed at Urbina Bay, on the western coast of Isabela, on a black beach at the base of Alcedo Volcano. The trail took us inland to explore this arid ecosystem, typical of the dry lowlands. We could not avoid being bewildered after learning that a dramatic uplift of the coastline occurred there as recently as in 1954. This famous volcanic event raised a very long stretch of approximately 5 Km. The whole ocean bottom including big pieces of coral reef were rapidly uplifted an average of 4 meters above sea level. We were fortunate for we encountered several beautifully colored yellow and orange Galápagos land iguanas and a Galápagos giant tortoise in the middle of the trail! Returning to the landing beach we cooled down in the refreshing waters of the Pacific Ocean.
In the afternoon, we landed on the immense black lava field found in Punta Moreno. Some of us had a challenging hike across this barren terrain. As a second option, other guests joined a fantastic Zodiac cruise along the coastline. Frigate birds were nesting high in the mangrove trees and Brown pelicans observed us from their roosting sites. Many Galápagos sea lions, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and Galápagos penguins were admired resting on huge black lava rocks. Our exploration of the most pristine and remote locations of southern Isabela Island had a golden finale, a gorgeous sunset that made us realize how fortunate we were to spent a full day around these realms.
