Southern Isabela Island
Today we had the chance to sleep in until seven in the morning. After breakfast the first group was ready to leave the M/S Islander, led by Naturalist Celso Montalvo, and head for a power hike up Sierra Negra volcano. This is one of the largest and most active volcanoes on Isabela Island. Here we can enjoy recent lava flows and steaming fumaroles.
The rest of us visited the Tortoises Breeding Center at Puerto Villamil. Eight hundred thirty five tortoises live here, and 120 of them are breeding adults from Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanoes of southern Isabela. The eggs that these tortoises produce and bury in the ground every year are collected by Park Rangers. They are carefully marked, and then incubated for about four months until the babies hatch out. The little ones are kept in dark boxes for one more month while they finish absorbing their yolk sac, which has been their nourishment resource while in the egg. Their plastrons (the under part of the shell) fuse completely and then they are ready to emerge. Since they are still vulnerable to the attack of cats and rats, they are kept in pens covered by screens for two years. Then they go into a semi-natural training corral for another two or three years. Once they reach a size big enough so that they cannot be eaten by a dog, pig, Galápagos Hawk or rat, they are repatriated to the area from which they came. Each animal that is released carries a PIT transmitter, which has information about the animal’s origin and life history.
A trail through the mangroves led us to brackish lagoons where white-cheeked pintail ducks, semipalmated plovers and greater flamingoes were feeding on the little crustaceans that live buried in the mud. Once out on the beach both parents and children had a great time playing in the waves and on boogie boards. We hung in the hammock or sipped a drink at Beto’s Bar.
In the afternoon Expedition Leader Lynn Fowler led the trip to the “wall of tears, where brave men weep” as it was once announced in Ecuadorian newspapers during the years that the penal colony was operating on the island of Isabela.
During the panga ride and walk to Tintoreras (white-tipped reef sharks), we were delighted by the presence of hundreds of baby marine iguanas sun bathing on the basaltic rocks. They scrambled away as we walked past them. When we reached the water filled lava channel we found over a dozen sharks sleeping on the bottom. They let the water current pass across their gills to breathe! What a surprise! A spotted eagle ray swam slowly across the shallow lagoon and a pair of great blue herons were building a nest. Penguins and blue-footed boobies rested on the rocky shore of the bay.
But the day was not over yet. Teenagers were eager for salsa and merengue lessons, and soon we were joined by the waiters and chefs and the whole bar was boogying!
I can not resist saying it yet again: another GREAT DAY IN PARADISE!
Today we had the chance to sleep in until seven in the morning. After breakfast the first group was ready to leave the M/S Islander, led by Naturalist Celso Montalvo, and head for a power hike up Sierra Negra volcano. This is one of the largest and most active volcanoes on Isabela Island. Here we can enjoy recent lava flows and steaming fumaroles.
The rest of us visited the Tortoises Breeding Center at Puerto Villamil. Eight hundred thirty five tortoises live here, and 120 of them are breeding adults from Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanoes of southern Isabela. The eggs that these tortoises produce and bury in the ground every year are collected by Park Rangers. They are carefully marked, and then incubated for about four months until the babies hatch out. The little ones are kept in dark boxes for one more month while they finish absorbing their yolk sac, which has been their nourishment resource while in the egg. Their plastrons (the under part of the shell) fuse completely and then they are ready to emerge. Since they are still vulnerable to the attack of cats and rats, they are kept in pens covered by screens for two years. Then they go into a semi-natural training corral for another two or three years. Once they reach a size big enough so that they cannot be eaten by a dog, pig, Galápagos Hawk or rat, they are repatriated to the area from which they came. Each animal that is released carries a PIT transmitter, which has information about the animal’s origin and life history.
A trail through the mangroves led us to brackish lagoons where white-cheeked pintail ducks, semipalmated plovers and greater flamingoes were feeding on the little crustaceans that live buried in the mud. Once out on the beach both parents and children had a great time playing in the waves and on boogie boards. We hung in the hammock or sipped a drink at Beto’s Bar.
In the afternoon Expedition Leader Lynn Fowler led the trip to the “wall of tears, where brave men weep” as it was once announced in Ecuadorian newspapers during the years that the penal colony was operating on the island of Isabela.
During the panga ride and walk to Tintoreras (white-tipped reef sharks), we were delighted by the presence of hundreds of baby marine iguanas sun bathing on the basaltic rocks. They scrambled away as we walked past them. When we reached the water filled lava channel we found over a dozen sharks sleeping on the bottom. They let the water current pass across their gills to breathe! What a surprise! A spotted eagle ray swam slowly across the shallow lagoon and a pair of great blue herons were building a nest. Penguins and blue-footed boobies rested on the rocky shore of the bay.
But the day was not over yet. Teenagers were eager for salsa and merengue lessons, and soon we were joined by the waiters and chefs and the whole bar was boogying!
I can not resist saying it yet again: another GREAT DAY IN PARADISE!
