Isabela Island
Urbina Bay was uplifted in 1954; all the area came up in probably days. Witnesses found dead fish, sea turtles and lobsters miles away from the coast. The first report was made by some fishermen that were close to the area; they said that apart from the different shore they found there were some shining things on the distance… we went looking for them.
The walk was about two miles long but the highlight of the day was to arrive to the place where we found the “shining things” which were no other than huge heads of corals that came up with the uplift. After finding the corals we walked through dense vegetation where we identified plants unique for the Islands like the Galápagos cotton or the Darwin bush. After a two-hour walk we came back to swim off of a black sand beach.
The afternoon was spent on the southern side of Isabela Island, between Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul volcanoes. We went for a lava walk that ended at a couple of brackish water lagoons where we found flamingos, followed by a zodiac ride where we saw sea turtles and penguins.
As we were coming back we saw some activity from the distance. Close to the surface of the sea there were all different kinds of birds trying to get fish from the waters, a feeding frenzy! Blue-footed boobies, pelicans and frigate birds were all there!
We came back just in time for an amazing sunset from our ship.
