Urbina Bay & Punta Moreno, Southern Isabela
Sunrise found us navigating across the Bolivar Channel on calm seas and under cloudy skies. We dropped anchor off the rugged coast of Isabela at the base of Volcan Alcedo. Following breakfast we disembarked on a steep black sand beach that is a favorite nesting site for sea turtles. This morning there were several hiking options: fast-long, slow-long, short and extra-short , so that everyone got to do exactly what they desired!
Urbina Bay was uplifted by several meters in 1954 when molten material shifted underground, and along both the short out-and-back, and the long loop trail, we could see evidence that this entire area was once sea floor. The lava rocks were encrusted with the remains of marine organisms, and the long hikers found several huge coral heads that were well inland and high and dry. We came to the original beach where all the small lava rocks had been rounded in the pounding surf; now land iguanas feed on poison manzanilla apples where the ocean once washed.
Inland we found almost a dozen bright yellow land iguanas, both males and females. The males were more fearless and they lifted their heads and shook their jowls at us in territorial display. Along the trail there were far more iguana burrows than iguanas, so we surmised that they dig more than one each, and we found one individual excavating his hole, kicking dust and pebbles and flinging them out the burrow entrance. Finches, mocking bird and yellow warblers flitted among the drying trees and when the cloud cover burned off, the day became quite hot.
Back at the black sand beach we had a wonderful swim and either relaxed on shore or returned to the ship when we pleased. A Peruvian lunch, short siesta and my talk about Charles Darwin occupied the rest of the early afternoon, and at 1530 we boarded the Zodiacs, with Naturalist Paul and Ximena, and set off for a lava hike.
Miles of black, broken lava fields stretched as far as one could see towards the bases of Volcan Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul. We stepped cautiously on the spiky terrain, and admired pioneer plants that are beginning to colonize the otherwise barren lava flows. We reached several brackish pools surrounded by lush vegetation and we were delighted to find three brilliant pink flamingoes feeding in one of these “oasis.” Gilda and I took our Zodiac riders along the coast and into the calm mangrove lagoons. We spied several species of rays: golden, spotted eagle and huge marbled sting rays. A flotilla of feeding penguins approached our boats as curious about us as we were about them. And to top off a spectacular day, as the fiery orange sun set, the last, thin slice, glowed neon green before it slid below the horizon.
