Urbina Bay & Punta Moreno

Last night we expected to be very hot and sunny in Urbina Bay, like it usually is in the hot season, but luckily it was cloudy so we could enjoy the walk even more. Close to the black beach where we disembarked, we found a marine turtle resting on the sand. She probably laid eggs early in the morning and got very tired trying to go back to the sea. I assume she stayed there because the tide was low, there were too many lava rocks around, and she couldn’t reach the water, but she was breathing and looked fine.

We kept on walking to reach the place where the giant corals from the 1954 uplift remained. The guests of my group were surprised at their size and took several photos. On our walk back to the beach we found many bright yellow land iguanas, some of them lying just outside of the burrows where they rest. They were still on the path, looking sleepy, waiting for the sun to heat them up before going to search for food.

I was explaining about the endemic Darwin shrub (Darwinothamnus tenuifolius) when a juvenile hawk appeared flying over us. It was very nice to see it close by.

The guests that went on the short walk with Lynn saw a giant tortoise on the path close to the black beach, but when we got there, at the end of the walk, it was gone. They like to hide under the bushes and look for water in ponds where we cannot go. We saw several in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, however.

In the afternoon we enjoyed the walk on the young pa-hoe-hoe lava of Punta Moreno. The sky was very clear and allowed us to see Cerro Azul, Sierra Negra and Alcedo volcanoes around us. It was very impressive to see the isolated brackish water lagoons surrounded by bright green vegetation, and when we thought we wouldn’t see any flamingos around, in one of the last lagoons there was just one hiding! Common gallinules and a great blue heron were there too.

A white tip shark was waiting for us in an inlet close to the end of the trail, with some groupers and a puffer fish. The light and the clouds were perfect to take pictures.

We said goodbye to Isabela and to the cormorants as we finished the day with a panga ride!