Today we woke up with the wonderful view of Urbina Bay. The ocean around us was not as calm as usual. in fact, we had big swells that lasted the morning. The latter added some excitement to our expedition for disembarkation was a little tricky today. Guided by the expertise of our skilled natural history staff, Zodiac drivers, and sailors we made the disembarkation smooth and safe despite the challenging conditions. Urbina Bay is of great geological interest, for an unusual and recent event took place as recent as 1954. Tectonic events that happened there on June 4th, 1954 provoked a huge area adjacent to the coastline to suddenly rise leaving many marine creatures high and dry. It is still possible to see the relics of this event, pieces of coral and other marine organisms embedded in lava.

In this area there is a healthy population of Galapagos land iguanas. We saw several of them along the trails. Many flowers were in bloom including the beautiful Galapagos cotton flower. At the end of the walks we had the chance to cool off on the landing beach. It was very amusing to see how kids and adults enjoyed surfing the high waves with their bodies.

Once all aboard the ship we repositioned south to Tagus Cove, where we spent the afternoon. In the early afternoon we had a deep-water snorkeling outing. Waters were not as cool as expected. We were fortunate for we had great sea turtle sightings and a few guests even observed Galapagos penguins swimming and fishing up close.

In the late afternoon we disembarked at Tagus Cove for a fast-paced hike along the rim of a volcanic tuff cone. We saw an inner lake aptly named Darwin in honor of the great naturalist who explored this area when he visited the Galapagos in 1835. Some guests opted to go for a Zodiac ride or kayaking instead of the walk. Both activities were successful as well, for we had the chance to cover a long distance to admire the striking volcanic landscape and look for wildlife. Many blue footed boobies, brown pelicans, Galapagos sea lions, and penguins were seen along the coastline.

We can hardly wait to see what this expedition in this magical archipelago has in store for us tomorrow.