Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove, Isabela
Today was a full, varied and wonderful day here in the Islas Encantadas! In the morning following a hearty buffet breakfast we chose between two options: a long walk – 2 miles – or a short walk – ¾ mile. We disembarked on a black sand beach that was covered in shallow craters and looked as if a sand moving machine had worked the entire area. Our naturalists explained that sea turtles have been nesting here for the past few months and hence thousands of their eggs are buried and incubating below about two feet of sand! The female turtles come on shore during the night and spend a couple of hours digging first a body pit, then an egg chamber, dropping next between 60-80 soft leathery eggs, then covering them with their hind flippers and finally throwing sand with their fore flippers. Incubation takes about 60 days and there is no parental care which means of course that the hatchlings emerge from their nest and race down to the sea and are completely on their own.
Here on the National Geographic Islander we are helping the National Park and Charles Darwin Station collect data on sea turtle activity. We count the fresh tracks on each of the nesting beaches that we visit. The Galapagos Islands have a large and healthy population of Pacific green turtles and everyone who visits the islands has a chance to see them from the Zodiacs and while snorkeling.
We hiked inland from the beach and were delighted to see two other species of endemic reptiles, notably the large yellow and grey land iguanas and to our surprise, a few giant tortoises. The iguanas, looking a little thin and hungry since it has not yet begun to rain, were plentiful along both the long and short trails. Tortoises were harder to find; they were tucked under shady shrubs and a couple were hidden deep in the vegetation. In all we found six, though everyone did not see each of these, and they varied in size/age from a young one of maybe 15-20 years old to a big ole grandpa, possibly going on one hundred!
While we hiked we had some welcome cloud cover; even so it was still humid and hot this morning so a refreshing swim in the ocean was enjoyed by some of us once we returned to the beach. Others simply hurried back to the ship for a cold beer and a shower.
In the afternoon we had several options to choose from and most of us did two activities: snorkeling, kayaking, hiking and/or Zodiac ride. The National Geographic Islander was anchored in the cove at Tagus, and here we found mating sea turtles, many nesting cormorants, penguins, sea lions, pelicans and blue footed boobies. The snorkelers enjoyed swimming among these fearless creatures and the kayakers paddled among them, too. The hikers all made it to the end of the trail where they had a lovely view back across Darwin’s crater lake and to the ship at anchor in the cove. To the north they admired the slopes of Darwin volcano (yes, many things in Galapagos are named after Charles Darwin!) Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon was a mother and calf pair of Bryde’s whales that I spotted about ¾ mile off shore while Albert (as translator/guide in one Zodiac) and I were leading the Zodiac cruises. We motored out to where they were diving, surfacing and blowing and had great looks at these magnificent marine mammals.
Galapagos is both rich in wildlife and unpredictable; truly one never knows what we will find on an outing or a hike. These are amazing and magical islands!
