Isabela Island
This morning we anchored off Volcan Alcedo of Isabela Island, and following breakfast disembarked on a steep beach for hike options: long-fast, long-medium pace, or short and slow. The first thing that we noticed was the recent track of a sea turtle in the black sand. This track was evidence that during the night a green turtle had come on shore for several hours to dig her nest and lay upwards of 60-80 eggs. Buried beneath two feet of sand they are protected from predators and the elements, and will incubate in the natural warmth provided by the hot tropical sun on the dark sand. In approximately two months the hatchlings will claw and tear their way out of their leathery eggs, and then in unison with their nest mates they will scratch out of the sandy nest hole and emerge onto the beach during the cool of night.
Lifting their heads they locate the sea because that is the direction of the brightest horizon, and they race towards the water where for the next year or two they will feed on small crustaceans and jellies and hide from the myriad predators that would like to make a meal of them. Only one in 1000 will survive to become an adult.
Not much further along on our morning exploration we found another huge reptile- also a member of the turtle and tortoise family: a giant Galápagos tortoise! We were delighted to find several of these slow and lumbering creatures which have given their name to the islands. “Galapago” was the name given by the early Spaniards to the tortoises because they looked like horses’ saddles; soon the islands themselves were called the Galápagos because of the numerous and edible tortoises that inhabited them. The tortoises were easily caught and provided abundant and tasty meat for early sailors, whalers and explorers and were an unexpected bonus on these otherwise uninviting islands also called the Islas Encantadas or Enchanted Islands.
All of us who explored Urbina Bay this morning found several tortoises of varying sizes and over a dozen large colourful land iguanas. Galápagos hawks, a few marine iguanas and flightless cormorants along the coast were additional sightings. After the humid inland walk a cool swim felt delightful; four of our group made the long swim from beach to ship with a Zodiac escort for safety’s sake.
In the afternoon we had many options to choose from: snorkeling, kayaking, a hike or a Zodiac cruise, and we could all do two of the above if we wanted. The snorkelers enjoyed another swim with penguins, sea turtles and cormorants. The kayakers who went paddling with Jeffo found cormorants nesting along the shore, had dozens of sea turtles pop up for a breath alongside them, and were escorted by sea lions. In the Zodiac with panguero Max, we found turtles, sea lions and cormorants too, and a dozen penguins that we watched as they darted after fish and then slipped and slid up onto the shore. Jeffo and the kayakers paddled over to the penguins and enjoyed watching them and a small group of curious sea lions.
Fernando and Gilda took two groups of hikers on a power walk up to and then around the crater lake above Tagus Cove. They walked under leafless palo santo trees, and admired the view to the north when they had climbed to the end of the trail. Everyone had a full and satisfying day today – the terrain has been varied, the wildlife abundant and the company pleasant. Tonight we navigate all night back to the central islands of the archipelago, leaving the volcanoes, penguins and flightless cormorants behind here in the west. No doubt new scenes and surprises await us in the days to come as we continue to explore these magical islands.
