Isabela Island
Our second day along the westernmost face of the archipelago began with a spectacular view of Alcedo and Darwin volcanoes. A Zodiac cruise took us to Urbina Bay, an incredible place that a few years ago was undersea but was suddenly uplifted in few minutes. It was along the new sea shore where we started to walk to see the remains of fossilized creatures such as sea worms, sea urchins and huge coral reefs. We could imagine how they were literally boiled by the high temperatures and poisonous gases released during that geological event. Walking inland we observed how new vegetation invaded the new coast; it’s almost impossible to observe the old terrain that lay underwater before.
The dense vegetation was not an impediment to observing many unperturbed land iguanas along the trail, warming their yellowish bodies. We observed many muyuyu (cordia lutia) and Galápagos cotton trees, whose yellow flowers attracted many different species of insects, mainly wasps and bees. Far from the coast, we observed the old seashore and the old black beach; it looked steep, with round rocks eroded by the ocean during thousands of years. It was close to this place where we observed many giant tortoises. There were five juveniles, and more than six adults roaming freely in the shade of the trees; our guests enjoyed these spectacular moments, taking pictures and observing the tameness of these incredible creatures.
In the afternoon, we repositioned the National Geographic Endeavour to Tagus Cove, a hidden bay located at the foot of Darwin Volcano. Our outings began with kayaking along the coast, where our guests could observe enigmatic creatures such us flightless cormorants, penguins, sea turtles and sea lions; the weather conditions were excellent with calm seas and clear water. After kayaking, we headed outside the bay to snorkel, where we observed colorful fish, rays, Galápagos sharks, green sea turtles and penguins in a feeding frenzy, swimming like torpedoes beside us.
Our last activity began with disembarking on volcanic rocks to get to Darwin Lake. The hike took place with a perfect weather and we observed a unique landscape with the lake and the ocean as background. In the trees, finches, mockingbirds and yellow warblers were the delight of our guests, who took many pictures of them. It was late when we arrived at the end of the trail, where a gigantic lava field was a mute witness to the volcanism of the archipelago. All landscapes were turning orange with the last beams of sun.
