Southern Isabela Island
One of our guests this week asked me today: “Ernesto, why are most of these trees without leaves? I thought these were tropical islands, they are located right on the Equator…” Tropical by geography, the Galápagos are islands special and different in many different ways to typical tropical environments. The archipelago’s climatic conditions can resemble sub-mild Antarctic weather sometimes, but mostly the islands are hot and humid throughout the whole year. This humidity is yet not enough to sustain a rainforest.
These conditions are the ones we found today at Urbina Bay, our first site in the morning. The pumice covered ground found in Alcedo volcano is unique for the entire archipelago. This soft terrain is ideal for Galápagos land iguanas to burrow and nest. Both land iguanas and Giant tortoises have an abundant supply of food in the numerous poison apple trees and the somehow exuberant vegetation of this area. The numerous Darwin finches and Galápagos mockingbirds that live in Urbina Bay are eager to use the endemic cotton buds available everywhere for building their nests. After a pretty warm hike we found great refreshment in a quick dip at the beach. The water had the perfect temperature we all expected. Once again we were satisfied by all that nature had to offer us. Swimming at the black sand beach marked the end of the first half of the day.
The afternoon came quickly and soon our guests were ready to continue our expedition. The National Geographic Islander lead us in the afternoon to a formidable lava field. Punta Moreno produces a sort of inexplicable enchantment to those who visit the place. Little brackish water ponds are formed by blocks of lava, the lava itself being barely colonized by a handful of pioneer plants. Along the shorelines those who chose a Zodiac ride instead of the hike on the lava fields came upon a rather alien landscape where things were difficult to match according to our logics. The capricious combination and weird accommodations made by nature, produced an exhilarating visit. Everybody was delighted with the encounter of Galápagos penguins, marine iguanas and brown pelicans. The clearness and calmness of the ocean help us to understand the privilege of being in such magical place.
One of our guests this week asked me today: “Ernesto, why are most of these trees without leaves? I thought these were tropical islands, they are located right on the Equator…” Tropical by geography, the Galápagos are islands special and different in many different ways to typical tropical environments. The archipelago’s climatic conditions can resemble sub-mild Antarctic weather sometimes, but mostly the islands are hot and humid throughout the whole year. This humidity is yet not enough to sustain a rainforest.
These conditions are the ones we found today at Urbina Bay, our first site in the morning. The pumice covered ground found in Alcedo volcano is unique for the entire archipelago. This soft terrain is ideal for Galápagos land iguanas to burrow and nest. Both land iguanas and Giant tortoises have an abundant supply of food in the numerous poison apple trees and the somehow exuberant vegetation of this area. The numerous Darwin finches and Galápagos mockingbirds that live in Urbina Bay are eager to use the endemic cotton buds available everywhere for building their nests. After a pretty warm hike we found great refreshment in a quick dip at the beach. The water had the perfect temperature we all expected. Once again we were satisfied by all that nature had to offer us. Swimming at the black sand beach marked the end of the first half of the day.
The afternoon came quickly and soon our guests were ready to continue our expedition. The National Geographic Islander lead us in the afternoon to a formidable lava field. Punta Moreno produces a sort of inexplicable enchantment to those who visit the place. Little brackish water ponds are formed by blocks of lava, the lava itself being barely colonized by a handful of pioneer plants. Along the shorelines those who chose a Zodiac ride instead of the hike on the lava fields came upon a rather alien landscape where things were difficult to match according to our logics. The capricious combination and weird accommodations made by nature, produced an exhilarating visit. Everybody was delighted with the encounter of Galápagos penguins, marine iguanas and brown pelicans. The clearness and calmness of the ocean help us to understand the privilege of being in such magical place.
