Urbina bay & Punta Moreno, Southern Isabela Island
This morning we woke up with calm seas; those were precisely the weather conditions that we were hoping for, so we could launch our kayaks for an early morning experience.
Urbina Bay is by all means what we could call a strange place; its coastline was uplifted back in 1954 and everything living within twelve feet of water got pushed up to the surface. Without standing a chance to survive, these organisms are part of the strange mosaic of marine creatures that we encountered along our walk, not only at the shores but way into the island itself.
Our afternoon was dedicated to visit another strange location known as Punta Moreno. This place is located even more south from our morning location, and its main attraction are the large lava fields coming from the near by volcanoes.
The barren looking lava is disrupted by small areas full of life. These small “sink holes” are full of brackish water filtered through the cracks; this is precisely the perfect ecological niche for some species of plants and migratory birds to establish successfully. Some of them have become permanent residents and are now part of our weekly sightings when we visit this specific spot, but some others just keep on going to continue their yearly migrations. Flamingoes are one of those sure things to see during our visit, since the amount of brine shrimp (their usual food supply) is abundant in areas with high concentration of salinity. Moorhens and some other species are frequent visitors, such as yellow warblers and white checked pintail ducks.
Our walk coupled with a short Zodiac ride along the coastline of Punta Moreno gave us the spectacular afternoon that we are all becoming used to having in this paradise known as Galápagos!
This morning we woke up with calm seas; those were precisely the weather conditions that we were hoping for, so we could launch our kayaks for an early morning experience.
Urbina Bay is by all means what we could call a strange place; its coastline was uplifted back in 1954 and everything living within twelve feet of water got pushed up to the surface. Without standing a chance to survive, these organisms are part of the strange mosaic of marine creatures that we encountered along our walk, not only at the shores but way into the island itself.
Our afternoon was dedicated to visit another strange location known as Punta Moreno. This place is located even more south from our morning location, and its main attraction are the large lava fields coming from the near by volcanoes.
The barren looking lava is disrupted by small areas full of life. These small “sink holes” are full of brackish water filtered through the cracks; this is precisely the perfect ecological niche for some species of plants and migratory birds to establish successfully. Some of them have become permanent residents and are now part of our weekly sightings when we visit this specific spot, but some others just keep on going to continue their yearly migrations. Flamingoes are one of those sure things to see during our visit, since the amount of brine shrimp (their usual food supply) is abundant in areas with high concentration of salinity. Moorhens and some other species are frequent visitors, such as yellow warblers and white checked pintail ducks.
Our walk coupled with a short Zodiac ride along the coastline of Punta Moreno gave us the spectacular afternoon that we are all becoming used to having in this paradise known as Galápagos!
