Southern Isabela
It was a beautiful sunny and blue, yet breezy, day to start off the New Year; we disembarked on the small, pristine black sand beach at Urbina Bay. Deep pits left by nesting sea turtles covered the top of the beach, out of the reach of the surf. Each nest holds between 60 to 80 eggs that will incubate in the warm sand for two months. The hatchling will dig their way to the surface and then struggle down the beach and rush into the sea. Two turtles had nested last night and their tracks were particularly fresh and obvious in the sand.
We had long and short walk options this morning. All of us found a couple large, colorful land iguanas, and saw Galápagos hawks. Several golden brown juvenile hawks landed near those of us who hiked along the coast. The adult hawks, chocolate brown in color, flew overhead and screamed from the bulky stick nest that we spotted in a palo santo tree on a ridge. We discovered one giant tortoise hidden in the shade, and correctly identified the Galápagos cotton plants that were both in flower and with seeds along the trail.
Back at the beach after our hikes, we swam and body surfed or relaxed on the beach until it was time for us all to return to the ship at noon. We had a scrumptious Peruvian buffet lunch, a needed siesta, and then I gave a presentation about Charles Darwin. The afternoon’s options were: lava walk or coastal panga ride. Juan Carlos led a group of intrepid hikers across jagged lava flows to three brackish lagoons where lush vegetation grows and ducks and gallinules were seen. Daniel and Alexandra took panga riders into the mangrove lagoons where they found golden and sting rays, big snappers and many mullet. Cormorants were nesting on the lava rocks and sea turtles popped up to breathe every few minutes. As they returned to the ship, both pangas splashed and bounced on the waves, and the kids in the front of the boats yelled in delight as they got thoroughly soaked.
The guests in my panga had an equally successful yet much more subdued Zodiac cruise, and by 1800 we were all back on board the National Geographic Islander. Captain Carlos set sail towards the setting sun and we gathered in the lounge for cocktails and our nightly recapitulation and my briefing about tomorrow’s activities. We are especially looking forward to snorkeling and kayaking!
It was a beautiful sunny and blue, yet breezy, day to start off the New Year; we disembarked on the small, pristine black sand beach at Urbina Bay. Deep pits left by nesting sea turtles covered the top of the beach, out of the reach of the surf. Each nest holds between 60 to 80 eggs that will incubate in the warm sand for two months. The hatchling will dig their way to the surface and then struggle down the beach and rush into the sea. Two turtles had nested last night and their tracks were particularly fresh and obvious in the sand.
We had long and short walk options this morning. All of us found a couple large, colorful land iguanas, and saw Galápagos hawks. Several golden brown juvenile hawks landed near those of us who hiked along the coast. The adult hawks, chocolate brown in color, flew overhead and screamed from the bulky stick nest that we spotted in a palo santo tree on a ridge. We discovered one giant tortoise hidden in the shade, and correctly identified the Galápagos cotton plants that were both in flower and with seeds along the trail.
Back at the beach after our hikes, we swam and body surfed or relaxed on the beach until it was time for us all to return to the ship at noon. We had a scrumptious Peruvian buffet lunch, a needed siesta, and then I gave a presentation about Charles Darwin. The afternoon’s options were: lava walk or coastal panga ride. Juan Carlos led a group of intrepid hikers across jagged lava flows to three brackish lagoons where lush vegetation grows and ducks and gallinules were seen. Daniel and Alexandra took panga riders into the mangrove lagoons where they found golden and sting rays, big snappers and many mullet. Cormorants were nesting on the lava rocks and sea turtles popped up to breathe every few minutes. As they returned to the ship, both pangas splashed and bounced on the waves, and the kids in the front of the boats yelled in delight as they got thoroughly soaked.
The guests in my panga had an equally successful yet much more subdued Zodiac cruise, and by 1800 we were all back on board the National Geographic Islander. Captain Carlos set sail towards the setting sun and we gathered in the lounge for cocktails and our nightly recapitulation and my briefing about tomorrow’s activities. We are especially looking forward to snorkeling and kayaking!
