We continued our exploration around the largest of the enchanted islands, Isabela island, known for its six volcanoes, those titans standing up thousands of feet from sea level. In the morning, we started our day by having a wet landing at Urbina Bay, a visitor site named after one of the Ecuadorian presidents. It was a sunny day, warm and very bright, but that did not stop us from exploring further into the island. We spotted a few endemic Darwin finches, as well as mocking birds, singing near the path. We hiked on an area that was uplifted in 1952, basically the rise of the ocean floor where nowadays large golden dragons of the Galapagos inhabit (land iguanas).
Bright golden colors stand out from the green vegetation, the brighter the colors the older and more sexually matured these land iguanas are. For a while, their numbers decreased by the effect of introduced feral pigs and goats, but nowadays they seem to have recovered and plenty were found on our path. Along the hiking area, one could see the large grottos made by the iguanas, holes in the ground where they have deposited their few eggs to be incubated. There is no parental care among these reptiles; life on their own starts the moment the eggs are laid and gets more serious when they hatch out of their grottos onto the surface. After the hiked, we had an amazing time swimming back at the beach we first landed on. It was hot so the ocean water felt just unbelievable! While some swam, others like our younger explorers decided to learn how to drive a Zodiac. They all di great and passed their Zodiac driving tests, and are now ready to explore the world on a Zodiac.
After lunch, we went snorkeling along Tagus Cove. We jumped from the Zodiac into an incredible world inhabited by green Pacific sea turtles, rays, sharks, a large variety of fish, and plenty of other marine organisms. After snorkeling, some others went kayaking along the titanic cliffs covered with old graffiti left by early navigators who anchored here in search of calm waters and giant tortoises as food source. We ended our day with a hike along Darwin Lake up on the tuff cones of this visitor site. Our walk took us around the crater of a small volcano and ended up at a spectacular sightseeing place where one can see a huge lava flow where primary succession is first occurring.
