Isabela Island
We started our expedition in Urbina Bay early in the morning, this site is impressive in many ways. During a plate shift, the seafloor of an underwater platform was exposed in 1954, providing the land we walked on today.
Two hikes were available, a long and a short one. Both offered opportunities to observe land iguanas in their natural state, and many were at their best: mating, displaying, basking, and even fighting. Plants and birds were our companions, while crustaceans and fossils were found all along the way. On the long hike we also experienced the exhorting heat of this equatorial place. The walk lasted about 4 km, and considering that the island is about 8,000 square km, this walk is a minuscule taste of the region that the national park patrols. Then just when we thought the walk was over, there it was, a young giant tortoise walking towards us, right on our path! What a delight it was to observe this reptile in its natural state as a grand finale to our walk. As soon as we arrived to the beach we went for a refreshing swim and then headed back onboard.
While navigating towards our next site a whale was spotted by our guests, and so we turned around and made an announcement. Most of our guests were able to observe this leviathan from the deep, a tropical whale also known as Bryde’s. What an experience to hear it exhaling over calm water, surrounded by volcanoes under an equatorial sun, the sea breeze gently caressing our smiles of excitement and joy.
The afternoon found us at Punta Moreno, where we had a walk over new lava flows frozen in time as a signature of mother nature; there we found an oasis of life, plants and brackish water shape this environment, a welcoming ecosystem for our greater flamingos, today we saw 5 pink “tulips” surrounded by harsh desert of lava under a volcano. Some of us opted for a panga ride, a close encounter with penguins and a farewell to our flightless cormorants.
As we were arriving back onboard we had a refreshing warm shower, a bit of equatorial rain; to our surprise, behind the ship was a rainbow and on our backs the promised sunset.
We started our expedition in Urbina Bay early in the morning, this site is impressive in many ways. During a plate shift, the seafloor of an underwater platform was exposed in 1954, providing the land we walked on today.
Two hikes were available, a long and a short one. Both offered opportunities to observe land iguanas in their natural state, and many were at their best: mating, displaying, basking, and even fighting. Plants and birds were our companions, while crustaceans and fossils were found all along the way. On the long hike we also experienced the exhorting heat of this equatorial place. The walk lasted about 4 km, and considering that the island is about 8,000 square km, this walk is a minuscule taste of the region that the national park patrols. Then just when we thought the walk was over, there it was, a young giant tortoise walking towards us, right on our path! What a delight it was to observe this reptile in its natural state as a grand finale to our walk. As soon as we arrived to the beach we went for a refreshing swim and then headed back onboard.
While navigating towards our next site a whale was spotted by our guests, and so we turned around and made an announcement. Most of our guests were able to observe this leviathan from the deep, a tropical whale also known as Bryde’s. What an experience to hear it exhaling over calm water, surrounded by volcanoes under an equatorial sun, the sea breeze gently caressing our smiles of excitement and joy.
The afternoon found us at Punta Moreno, where we had a walk over new lava flows frozen in time as a signature of mother nature; there we found an oasis of life, plants and brackish water shape this environment, a welcoming ecosystem for our greater flamingos, today we saw 5 pink “tulips” surrounded by harsh desert of lava under a volcano. Some of us opted for a panga ride, a close encounter with penguins and a farewell to our flightless cormorants.
As we were arriving back onboard we had a refreshing warm shower, a bit of equatorial rain; to our surprise, behind the ship was a rainbow and on our backs the promised sunset.
