Isabela Island
There are days when I wake up feeling that there will be a special halo of enchantment above all things. And today was such a day! I went up to the bridge to do the usual wake up call, but as soon as I stepped outside a cool wind whipped my face, made me turn south, and there it was, spectacular Isabela with its several shield volcanoes towering above very calm seas. The window of magic had opened, and anything was possible.
We saw several of the giant reptiles of this archipelago, and not only adults, but pretty young ones, living proof that tortoises are successfully breeding and making it to a safe age because of the lack of introduced predators. Swimming in the pristine waters of Urbina Bay refreshed us after our various hikes. Longer and shorter trails took us over lava and sand that, no more than seventy years ago, were below sea level. We marveled at the evidence of an ever changing planet.
At Tagus cove we snorkeled, kayaked and went for a long hike, uphill, to the flanks of Darwin volcano. It was an afternoon with penguins, flightless cormorants, tuff formations, a lake in a crater, an almost full moon during sunset; if this is not pure magic what else can be?
