This island is the largest in this oceanic archipelago. It has five main shield active volcanoes plus a small one known as Ecuador Volcano.

This is our second day in this part of the Archipelago, and we have been able to explore three spectacular visitor sites, and we are already heading back to the central part of Galapagos to continue our journey of exploration.

I have been working in Galapagos for over fifteen years already and I haven’t been able to explore all these majestic volcanoes. In this paradise we have over sixty visitor sites and one week is almost impossible to see everything, but for sure we had an amazing itinerary to learn and enjoy the wonders of this isolated unique archipelago.

We start our day disembarking in a black sandy beach, which is a very important nesting ground for the Pacific green sea turtles. Once at this beach we offered a long hike along the coastal area, followed by the inner area of the same location. This entire area was uplifted in 1954 due to the volcanic activity. Still present in these volcanoes is the best evidence of the volcanic event, a head of coral almost 12 feet above the sea level. And all along the entire trail we found barnacles and sea worm shells attached to the rocks as well.

We also offered a short hike with the same geological interest but without having to hike the entire trail. Both groups at the end were very happy because we also spotted shore birds, pelicans, boobies, marine and land iguanas, Galapagos hawks and our emblematic endemic Galapagos giant tortoises.

After all this morning’s adventure, we sailed for about two hours to a different location known as Tagus Cove. This is a place with a lot of human history because in 1835 it was visited by one of the most famous visitors in Galapagos: Charles Darwin. It was visited by buccaneers, explorers and adventurers as well.

This place is good for hiking, water activities and Zodiac rides, so we start our afternoon activities with a first round of kayakers, followed by deep water snorkeling. We continued our adventure with a second round of kayakers followed by a long hike to a beautiful view point where Charles Darwin likely wondered about the special animals of Galapagos. Along with these two activities we had a group of Zodiac riders along the same walls with impressive geological features.

Our day couldn’t have been better with lots of turtles, boobies, penguins, flightless cormorants, herons, hawks, and friendly Galapagos sea lions.

Another amazing day in the western part of Isabela Island.