Southern Isabela Island
Ernesto is wrapping up his interesting presentation on Charles Darwin; I am listening in while I begin to write up the day’s experiences thus far. And, we are not hurrying out for our afternoon visit to Punta Moreno yet, because the heavens have opened up and it is raining, not cats and dogs – but at least iguanas and sea lions!! It is pouring, but no one in Galápagos is complaining. We have had five years of intense drought and it is a delight to hear the pounding of the rain on the decks and windows of the National Geographic Islander.
This morning we disembarked following breakfast, on a steep black sand beach at Urbina Bay. Our panguero “cowboys” rode the breakers in and we jumped to shore between waves. We sat below the beach crest to dry our feet and put on shoes because beyond the tide line there were dozens of deep depressions left by nesting sea turtles. We had been warned that to walk upon these nests is to pack the sand and rob the incubating turtle eggs of their oxygen supply.
We offered both long and short walks and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the morning. It was sunny and hot, but we had some cloud cover and a breeze that provided welcome relief. We found evidence of the 1954 uplift of this shoreline: tube worms encrusted on the rocks, coral heads high and dry and the old black sand beach now about a half mile inland. We photographed handsome yellow land iguanas and located one large tortoise. The vegetation is lush, the palo santo trees fully leafed out and the iguanas are fat. This is a lovely change from when I was here in January and everything was dry and gray!
We especially enjoyed the coast and swimming and riding the pounding waves; what a pleasure it was for the beach bums among us to relax on this wild and pristine beach and swim among feeding pelicans and two curious juvenile penguins.
When the rains ended in the afternoon we took a group of our guests hiking on the extensive lava fields between Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanos. They were tickled to discover four bright pink flamingos and six endemic Galápagos martins at the brackish water lagoons that Ernesto took them to find. We all braved the really big surf to observe sea turtles, cormorants and dozens of penguins from the Zodiacs. And once again we were not just impressed, but also thankful for the skill with which our panguero “cowboys” drive our fleet of floating black limos. We stayed safe and dry among foaming breakers and got fabulous close looks at the world’s third smallest penguins!
Ernesto is wrapping up his interesting presentation on Charles Darwin; I am listening in while I begin to write up the day’s experiences thus far. And, we are not hurrying out for our afternoon visit to Punta Moreno yet, because the heavens have opened up and it is raining, not cats and dogs – but at least iguanas and sea lions!! It is pouring, but no one in Galápagos is complaining. We have had five years of intense drought and it is a delight to hear the pounding of the rain on the decks and windows of the National Geographic Islander.
This morning we disembarked following breakfast, on a steep black sand beach at Urbina Bay. Our panguero “cowboys” rode the breakers in and we jumped to shore between waves. We sat below the beach crest to dry our feet and put on shoes because beyond the tide line there were dozens of deep depressions left by nesting sea turtles. We had been warned that to walk upon these nests is to pack the sand and rob the incubating turtle eggs of their oxygen supply.
We offered both long and short walks and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the morning. It was sunny and hot, but we had some cloud cover and a breeze that provided welcome relief. We found evidence of the 1954 uplift of this shoreline: tube worms encrusted on the rocks, coral heads high and dry and the old black sand beach now about a half mile inland. We photographed handsome yellow land iguanas and located one large tortoise. The vegetation is lush, the palo santo trees fully leafed out and the iguanas are fat. This is a lovely change from when I was here in January and everything was dry and gray!
We especially enjoyed the coast and swimming and riding the pounding waves; what a pleasure it was for the beach bums among us to relax on this wild and pristine beach and swim among feeding pelicans and two curious juvenile penguins.
When the rains ended in the afternoon we took a group of our guests hiking on the extensive lava fields between Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanos. They were tickled to discover four bright pink flamingos and six endemic Galápagos martins at the brackish water lagoons that Ernesto took them to find. We all braved the really big surf to observe sea turtles, cormorants and dozens of penguins from the Zodiacs. And once again we were not just impressed, but also thankful for the skill with which our panguero “cowboys” drive our fleet of floating black limos. We stayed safe and dry among foaming breakers and got fabulous close looks at the world’s third smallest penguins!
