Isabela Island
After spending the night at the skirt of the volcano, where we were right in front of the stream of lava reaching the ocean, we headed to Isabela, the neighboring island. In the morning we anchored off of Bahia Urbina at the foot of Alcedo Volcano. We started our trip early in the morning with a long walk to explore the island and its highlights.
Isabela is the largest island in Galápagos. It is made up by five major volcanoes that have joined together, and all of them are actively giving off a sulfurous steam. Our expedition at Urbina bay took us along a rocky path where we found many land iguanas, seabirds along the shore and tortoises in the interior of the island.
In the afternoon, we repositioned the ship and disembarked at Punta Moreno. This time we would explore the vast lava fields of Volcan Sierra Negara. It is amazing to walk along the layers of lava and see how the land becomes colonized little by little by the pioneer plants such as cacti and grasses. Once we concluded our walk we took the Zodiacs for a ride along the shore.
As we visited the mangrove forests of Punta Moreno, we spotted many things in these quiet lagoons. The rays were the highlight; we spotted eagle rays, golden rays and a pair of enormous marbled rays.
As we were still close to Fernandina we could see in the distance the columns of smoke and steam from the volcano still erupting. Right now we are on our way to Floreana Island in the south. We can still see the lava coming out of the volcano.
Just amazing!
After spending the night at the skirt of the volcano, where we were right in front of the stream of lava reaching the ocean, we headed to Isabela, the neighboring island. In the morning we anchored off of Bahia Urbina at the foot of Alcedo Volcano. We started our trip early in the morning with a long walk to explore the island and its highlights.
Isabela is the largest island in Galápagos. It is made up by five major volcanoes that have joined together, and all of them are actively giving off a sulfurous steam. Our expedition at Urbina bay took us along a rocky path where we found many land iguanas, seabirds along the shore and tortoises in the interior of the island.
In the afternoon, we repositioned the ship and disembarked at Punta Moreno. This time we would explore the vast lava fields of Volcan Sierra Negara. It is amazing to walk along the layers of lava and see how the land becomes colonized little by little by the pioneer plants such as cacti and grasses. Once we concluded our walk we took the Zodiacs for a ride along the shore.
As we visited the mangrove forests of Punta Moreno, we spotted many things in these quiet lagoons. The rays were the highlight; we spotted eagle rays, golden rays and a pair of enormous marbled rays.
As we were still close to Fernandina we could see in the distance the columns of smoke and steam from the volcano still erupting. Right now we are on our way to Floreana Island in the south. We can still see the lava coming out of the volcano.
Just amazing!
