It’s a great morning on Tuesday and we happen to be anchored at Urvina Bay on Isabela Island. The geology of the area suggests that the land here was uplifted 1954.
The Zodiacs were ready so we disembarked onto a black-sand beach at 7:45 a.m. The first groups on the beach are those going on a long hike, and the later arrivals are those doing a shorter version. The action was intense right away, with us seeing four giant tortoises resting in the shade of some trees. At this moment we shared with our explorers the natural history of this iconic Galapagos creature. Not far down the path we again see tortoises as well as Galapagos land iguanas, which show no fear of our presence. We take pictures and have time for questions before heading to our next stop, where we viewed vegetation and discussed the botany of the islands. The bird watching here was also good, and many photos were taken. After our walk we better understood the ecology of this place and headed back towards the beach for a quick dip in the ocean to refresh ourselves before going back aboard the ship.
Our afternoon destination is a cove far north of here called Tagus Cove. It’s a place known by most privateers and buccaneers that used these islands to repair their ships. Evidence of their presence is found in some corners where they carved graffiti which is still visible to us as we explore this place.
We spent the afternoon kayaking and deep-water snorkeling, followed by a nice walk where the scenery of the young volcanos couldn’t be better. For those who wished, we organized a Zodiac ride along the beautiful coast of Isabela to end this fantastic day in this young part of the archipelago.
