Isabela Island
Amongst the vessels authorized to operate in the Galápagos waters, only a few are allowed to spend two whole days in the most remote areas of this archipelago, and the National Geographic Islander is one of them. Today we are spending the whole day at Isabela Island, having travelled further south during the early morning hours.
It’s a bright and sunny morning, and our first landing is at Urbina Bay. In recent times, as recent as 1954, this entire coastline was uplifted in a very short time due to displacement of magmas underneath the surface. So suddenly, that it took sea turtles, lobsters and other marine organisms by surprise, and they were unable to return to the sea. Traces of this extraordinary event are found along the internal trail of Urbina, like bleached sea shells and boulders, a sign of wave action. Nowadays, vegetation and many land species have colonized this area, which has become an important land iguana territory. We easily found several of them, mostly males, patrolling their land or already looking for food.
A very happy event for us today was to find two wild Galápagos or giant tortoises along the path, wandering in the dry zone looking for vegetation to eat. The walk was humid and warm, and full of Darwin finches feeding at ground level or on bushes. This is the wet season after all and there’s an abundance of food on land! Bright yellow flowers were found all around us, many of them being pollinated by endemic insects like the carpenter bee.
After a refreshing dip in the ocean we returned on board. A new navigation awaited us towards midday, in order to reach Punta Moreno, found on the coast of what is part of the skirts of Cerro Azul volcano. Walking along the lava trail of this place we can witness the youth of this place, Cerro Azul being one of the most active volcanos of the Galápagos. The trail at Punta Moreno took us over a vast lava field, where one can observe many patterns and textures printed in the lava. It’s a hostile place, except for a few ‘oases’ of life that can be found inland. Here, rain water mixes with sea water filtered through cracks in the lava, so amidst the darkness of these lava fields these green patches become an explosion of color! These brackish ponds are home to some lagoon species like the common moorhen and occasionally flamingos stop by in this place.
After we took our walk over the lava trail, the Zodiacs picked us up to explore Punta Moreno from the sea. The hidden coves found here are the perfect hide out place for Pacific green sea turtles and spotted eagle rays. A striated heron was resting on the red mangrove branches, but it was time to leave, as we had to set off towards the southeastern area of the archipelago for the last part of our expedition: the islands of Floreana and Española.
