Isabela is the largest island of the Galapagos made up of five and a half volcanos with most of them still active.
In the morning we set out for a hike in a place called Urbina Bay. Black sand where sea turtles nest was our landing place. We put our shoes on and we were ready to follow a loop trail heading inland and along the shore. Right at the beginning we encountered some small tortoises from the nearby Alcedo Volcano population. They spend their first years of life here before they find their way to the summit just to later return to nest here if they are females.
Other reptiles of the area are the beautiful yellow land iguanas and the lava lizards. Now they walk on the place where water used to flow. This was a consequence of magma shifting from underneath and so now it lies higher by about 12 feet. Testimony of the event are millions of broken shells and the best evidence is large pieces of bleached coral now with vegetation growing on or around it.
After a short hike for some groups and long for others we finished the morning at the beach for a cooling dip in these now temperate waters.
Unexpectedly a mother humpback whale and calf showed up in the shallow water of the bay to make this morning a phenomenal one.
The ship moved to our next destination, Tagus Cove. This is a place where pirates, whalers and other early visitors used to drop anchor, some for giant tortoises, others just for the tranquility of its waters.
Evidence of these visitors is some graffiti carved deep in the volcanic ash.
This was a great place to enjoy water activities like kayaking and snorkeling, for the area offers a wide variety of wildlife like penguins, cormorants, sea lions, iguanas, turtles and more. This can all be seen and enjoyed from in the water, by kayak, or from the Zodiacs, as several options are offered to our guest to maximize their experience.
To conclude the afternoon some people headed on land for an invigorating hike up and along a crater lake with hypersaline waters and surrounded by interesting local flora where some land birds can be seen.
A fantastic view of the island’s volcanoes speaks for the magic of this place.
