Urvina Bay & Punta Moreno, Southern Isabela Island
We awoke to find a lovely, flat calm sea and following a hearty breakfast we had several options to choose from. The long hikers disembarked first for a wet landing on a steep, black sand beach. We did not climb to the crest of the beach or go much behind the tidal wash-line as this area was heavily pockmarked with sea turtle nests. After brushing sand from our feet and putting on our best walking shoes we followed Rafael on a 2 mile loop along the coast and then inland. We admired the stranded corals that are part of an amazing uplift of this shoreline in 1954. We watched finches and mockingbirds fluttering in the shrubs and over a dozen fat and colorful land iguanas resting along our path.
Alexandra lead the kayakers in an enthusiastic paddle south along the shore and then back out to the ship. They spotted a few cormorants, sea lions and sea turtles and had a delightful time as the conditions were perfect for paddling. Back at the ship they grabbed water bottles and shoes and then followed Alexa in to shore where they did a short hike
Carmen and I took the short hikers in, as soon as the kayakers had boarded their boats, and we both had very successful searches for land iguanas. We found ten of them, some resting and others walking and two of them were covered in dust and had obviously been digging out their burrows. These deep, dusty holes were everywhere and the naturalists and I explained that they are basically used for sleeping.
My group spotted a small tortoise snuggled under a poison apple tree. He or she was a real youngster: probably only 15 to 20 years old, and since the giant tortoises live to over a hundred he had many years yet to go. The tortoises and the land iguanas had been feasting on poison apples and were all nice and fat and very healthy.
All of us convened on the beach where we played in the surf alongside a lazy sea lion, one diving blue-footed booby and a tightly packed school of sardines that moved back and forth across the beach “hiding” from the predators.
The afternoon outings began after lunch, and optional siesta, a tagua 4-in-a-row tournament, postcard drawing and my powerpoint presentation about Charles Darwin, and again we had a choice of outings. Naturalist Alexandra lead the lava hikers across a broken lava field and they were surprised to find flamingoes and shorebirds in grassy edged brackish pools. Fabulous walk –what an experience to be in the middle of miles and miles of barren black lava!
Lynn, Rafa and Carmen took the remainder of the guests out for a panga ride: we searched quiet mangrove lagoons and found golden rays, eagle rays, many sea turtles and nesting cormorants and pelicans. We watched a feeding frenzy of noddy terns, pelicans, boobies and fast moving penguins. On one white-washed lava shelf penguins, huge iguanas and sea lions were resting in relative peace. Panguero Henry and Naturalist Rafael did some “wild and crazy panga surfing” as they returned to the ship. The orange ball of the sun set – without a green flash – and another fabulous day in Las Islas Encantadas came to an end.
We awoke to find a lovely, flat calm sea and following a hearty breakfast we had several options to choose from. The long hikers disembarked first for a wet landing on a steep, black sand beach. We did not climb to the crest of the beach or go much behind the tidal wash-line as this area was heavily pockmarked with sea turtle nests. After brushing sand from our feet and putting on our best walking shoes we followed Rafael on a 2 mile loop along the coast and then inland. We admired the stranded corals that are part of an amazing uplift of this shoreline in 1954. We watched finches and mockingbirds fluttering in the shrubs and over a dozen fat and colorful land iguanas resting along our path.
Alexandra lead the kayakers in an enthusiastic paddle south along the shore and then back out to the ship. They spotted a few cormorants, sea lions and sea turtles and had a delightful time as the conditions were perfect for paddling. Back at the ship they grabbed water bottles and shoes and then followed Alexa in to shore where they did a short hike
Carmen and I took the short hikers in, as soon as the kayakers had boarded their boats, and we both had very successful searches for land iguanas. We found ten of them, some resting and others walking and two of them were covered in dust and had obviously been digging out their burrows. These deep, dusty holes were everywhere and the naturalists and I explained that they are basically used for sleeping.
My group spotted a small tortoise snuggled under a poison apple tree. He or she was a real youngster: probably only 15 to 20 years old, and since the giant tortoises live to over a hundred he had many years yet to go. The tortoises and the land iguanas had been feasting on poison apples and were all nice and fat and very healthy.
All of us convened on the beach where we played in the surf alongside a lazy sea lion, one diving blue-footed booby and a tightly packed school of sardines that moved back and forth across the beach “hiding” from the predators.
The afternoon outings began after lunch, and optional siesta, a tagua 4-in-a-row tournament, postcard drawing and my powerpoint presentation about Charles Darwin, and again we had a choice of outings. Naturalist Alexandra lead the lava hikers across a broken lava field and they were surprised to find flamingoes and shorebirds in grassy edged brackish pools. Fabulous walk –what an experience to be in the middle of miles and miles of barren black lava!
Lynn, Rafa and Carmen took the remainder of the guests out for a panga ride: we searched quiet mangrove lagoons and found golden rays, eagle rays, many sea turtles and nesting cormorants and pelicans. We watched a feeding frenzy of noddy terns, pelicans, boobies and fast moving penguins. On one white-washed lava shelf penguins, huge iguanas and sea lions were resting in relative peace. Panguero Henry and Naturalist Rafael did some “wild and crazy panga surfing” as they returned to the ship. The orange ball of the sun set – without a green flash – and another fabulous day in Las Islas Encantadas came to an end.
