In the wee hours of the morning Captain Patricio Jaramillo had our boson haul up the ship’s anchor and we began a short navigation in the National Geographic Islander. We crossed the Bolivar Channel between Fernandina and Isabela and anchored at dawn in Urbina Bay on the south western side of Isabela Island. This is a unique visitor site in the Galapagos because sometime before 1954 the coast was violently and instantly uplifted by several meters when magma moved below the earth’s crust. A section of a quarter mile of shoreline that had been underwater for centuries was thus thrust up, high and dry. On our hikes this morning we could still see evidence, in the form of exposed coral heads and encrusting tube worms, which proved that where we now were hiking had once been ocean bottom!
Following breakfast we boarded the Zodiacs for a short ride in to land on a steep black beach. Here we had a choice of two walk options: a mile long easy, nature and photography walk, or a two mile strenuous exercise hike. The weather was perfect this morning, overcast and breezy. On both hikes we were delighted to find big colorful yellow land iguanas and at least 20 giant tortoises! We were all amazed by the number of tortoises!! None of the naturalists had ever found so many here along the trail before. It seems that an early morning rain had coaxed them out of the vegetation to drink from shallow temporary pools of water on the trail.
After the hikes, back at the beach we swam, relaxed or returned to the ship. In the afternoon we enjoyed lunch and a well-deserved siesta while we navigated north to anchor in Tagus Cove at the base of Volcan Darwin. In the mid- afternoon, we had several options to choose from: snorkeling, kayaking, hiking and Zodiac rides.
Two groups of kayakers went out at 2:45 and 4:30 pm with Salvador and then with Juan Carlos. The guests paddled their bright yellow boats along the shoreline of Tagus Cove. They were happy to find sea turtles, sea lions, flightless cormorants, pelicans and even a few penguins as they explored. Two Zodiacs of snorkelers joined Juan Carlos and Paul and swam with sea turtles, penguins, many species of fish, -including the bright orange harlequin wrasse - and some saw an unusual, small horn shark!
Those who chose to hike followed Salvador and Paul up a steep slope and wooden stair, then along the ridge of a tuff cone. They hiked under the pal santo trees and stopped to admire a scenic view of Darwin’s Crater Lake and the ship beyond, anchored in Tagus Cove. Inland we climbed a spatter cone and from this vantage point had a view to the north of Darwin and Wolf volcanoes. Panguero Santiago and I took our group along the shore on a Zodiac cruise. We found many cormorants, and blue footed boobies and several penguins. Everyone returned to the ship as the sun set. It was another lovely day in the Islas Encantadas!
