Southern Isabela
The sunrise was breathtaking and at the same time it gave us an idea of how the day would turn out to be: simply spectacular! The landscape was adorned with volcanoes; this gave us all an impression of the beginning of time, when the planet was nothing but volcanoes giving birth to new land, the very foundation of life. This morning we encountered a challenging disembarkation, as the strong waves were violently bathing the coastline of Southern Isabela. It was tricky, but our highly experienced Zodiac drivers brought us all safely onto the shore so we could witness the magnificence of this region.
The lava flows that met the sea were adorned with shells of all kinds and carcasses of creatures that are only found in the ocean. Our morning outing was dedicated to understand the unpredictable volcanic forces of the Galápagos, and how land masses could abruptly uplift, taking everything that lays on them a few feet higher in matter of minutes. That is exactly what happened at this location, Urbina Bay, back in 1954.
After walking at least three miles into the forest and encountering many tortoises and land iguanas, we ended up back at the beach ready for swimming!
Our afternoon was very beautiful as well, as we landed on a large field covered only by lava flows from the nearest volcano, Cerro Azul. Punta Moreno is the perfect location to understand how lava flows would eventually transform into shelters for species to arrive. After walking a few hundred yards into the lava flows, we ended up in what appeared to be a “sanctuary” for birds. Big pieces of lava flows had collapsed and with the help of water filtration from the sea, plants had created their own micro-ecosystem. This has attracted lots of shore birds that have found an area to rest during their migration; one could expect to even find flamingoes scattered throughout the brackish lagoons.
As we returned to the ship we couldn’t help but notice the large amount of penguins sitting on the black lava rocks, simply sharing their space with sea lions and marine iguanas.
Just to complete our experience, the sunset turned out to be the icing on the cake for a day that has given it all: new experiences, fun times and lots of new knowledge.
The sunrise was breathtaking and at the same time it gave us an idea of how the day would turn out to be: simply spectacular! The landscape was adorned with volcanoes; this gave us all an impression of the beginning of time, when the planet was nothing but volcanoes giving birth to new land, the very foundation of life. This morning we encountered a challenging disembarkation, as the strong waves were violently bathing the coastline of Southern Isabela. It was tricky, but our highly experienced Zodiac drivers brought us all safely onto the shore so we could witness the magnificence of this region.
The lava flows that met the sea were adorned with shells of all kinds and carcasses of creatures that are only found in the ocean. Our morning outing was dedicated to understand the unpredictable volcanic forces of the Galápagos, and how land masses could abruptly uplift, taking everything that lays on them a few feet higher in matter of minutes. That is exactly what happened at this location, Urbina Bay, back in 1954.
After walking at least three miles into the forest and encountering many tortoises and land iguanas, we ended up back at the beach ready for swimming!
Our afternoon was very beautiful as well, as we landed on a large field covered only by lava flows from the nearest volcano, Cerro Azul. Punta Moreno is the perfect location to understand how lava flows would eventually transform into shelters for species to arrive. After walking a few hundred yards into the lava flows, we ended up in what appeared to be a “sanctuary” for birds. Big pieces of lava flows had collapsed and with the help of water filtration from the sea, plants had created their own micro-ecosystem. This has attracted lots of shore birds that have found an area to rest during their migration; one could expect to even find flamingoes scattered throughout the brackish lagoons.
As we returned to the ship we couldn’t help but notice the large amount of penguins sitting on the black lava rocks, simply sharing their space with sea lions and marine iguanas.
Just to complete our experience, the sunset turned out to be the icing on the cake for a day that has given it all: new experiences, fun times and lots of new knowledge.
