Southern Isabela Island
This was our last day at the western part of the largest island of Galápagos, Isabela. We started our day with a short navigation from Fernandina to Urbina Bay on board the National Geographic Islander. Our guests had another chance to admire the five colossal shield volcanoes of this area.
Our first landing was at a black sandy beach with a group of long hikers, to explore the uplifted coast line of this point. This natural phenomenon took place in 1954; barnacles, sea worm shells, and heads of coral are found 15 feet above the sea level as evidence of this geological event. Other guests preferred to explore the flanks of Alcedo volcano looking for giant tortoises and land iguanas. By mid-morning everyone was back at the landing beach for swimming, before coming back on board.
Once everyone was back on board, we continued our navigation to Punta Moreno for a Zodiac ride and lava field exploration. In our first activity we saw pacific green sea turtles and rays in a beautiful bay covered with mangrove forest, and on our second activity, after a mile walk into a huge lava field, we spotted an oasis with common gallinules, and flamingos.
The rainbows crowned our day with color and beauty.
