We have had a wonderful expedition so far. Today we woke up in high spirits with a magnificent view of Urbina Bay. This place is of great geological interest because an unusual and recent event took place here as recent as 1954. An earthquake of approximately 6.5 magnitude on the Richter scale occurred on June 4th, 1954 which caused a huge area adjacent to the coastline to suddenly uplift, leaving many marine creatures exposed, left high and dry. Nowadays it is still possible to see, as relics of this event, huge pieces of brain coral inland!
In this area there is a healthy population of Galapagos land iguanas and we saw many of them along the trails. We even spotted a few Galapagos Giant tortoises in their natural habitat. At the end of the walks we had a chance to cool off on the landing beach.
Once all were aboard the ship, we repositioned south to Tagus Cove where we will spend the afternoon. After lunch we had a very entertaining activity. We had, for the first time ever, a kayaking race in Tagus Cove. Five double kayaks and their intrepid competitors paddled with all of their might to win the race. It was not only exciting, but hilarious to watch the race from the ship. Later on we had a regular kayaking outing followed by deep water snorkeling. We saw Pacific green sea turtles, Galapagos penguins, and Flightless cormorants.
In the late afternoon we disembarked at Tagus Cove for an invigorating, 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 another kayaking round instead of the walk. Both activities were successful for we had the chance to cover a long distance admiring the striking volcanic landscape and looking for wildlife. Blue footed boobies, Brown pelicans, Noddy terns, Flightless cormorants, Galapagos sea lions and Galapagos penguins were seen along the coastline.
