Isabela is the largest island in the Galápagos Archipelago, composed of six shield active volcanoes. Volcano Wolf, the highest in Galapagos with an altitude of 1707 meters, has been very active recently, with its last eruption ending just one week ago!
This morning we visited a very interesting site, called Urbina Bay. An area of about one and one half square kilometers of the marine reef along the coastline was uplifted some time ago, by as much as 15 feet! During the hike, we could see evidence of the occurrence: shells, barnacles, and sea worms attached to the rocks, small and huge coral heads, all spread throughout the trail. However, not only are the recent geological changes amazing, but the site itself is beautiful—the green vegetation dotted with yellow flowers is host to a great habitat for the herbivores of these remote Islands. Two young Galapagos Giant tortoises were spotted underneath the poison apple trees, and huge colorful land iguanas were all along the trail, as well as many Darwin finches and Galapagos mockingbirds. After the hike, most of our guests enjoyed a refreshing swim from the black sandy beach.
Once all the activities ended, we returned to the National Geographic Endeavour. Zodiac driving lessons were offered to our young explorers, while at the same time, Paul, one of our naturalists, gave a lecture onboard about the human history of the Galapagos Islands.
Today we were delighted by an incredible mixture of hearty flavors during our traditional Ecuadorian lunch, which would provide us with plenty of energy for our afternoon activities. We dropped anchor in Tagus Cove, at the base of Darwin Volcano, where we offered several excursion options, including kayaking, deep water snorkeling along the cliffs, Zodiac riding and a hike to the rim of a small crater. Kayaking here is fantastic, and our guests got to see pelicans, flightless cormorants, Galapagos penguins, marine Iguanas and pacific green sea turtles!
The underwater world is another amazing place, full of incredible sights: large schools of black stripped salemas and razor surgeonfish, diving blue-footed boobies, Galapagos sea lions, colorful harlequin wrasses, Panamic sergeant majors and lots of parrotfish!
We ended the day with a great hike, which was both physically and visually invigorating. It would be difficult to describe something so magnificent, with the fantastic views of the northern volcanoes of Isabela. This was indeed another great day in Paradise!
