Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove, Isabela Island, 1/14/2025, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
Isabela Island is the largest island in the Galapagos Archipelago. It is comprised of a backbone of five huge shield volcano: Wolf, Darwin, Alcedo, Sierra Negra, and Cerro Azul. All of these massive volcanos are active, and you can say that more or less every three years we have an eruption from one of these volcanos.
Salvador Cazar studied biology at the Universidad Nacional Del Sur, Bahía Blanca, in Argentina and at the Catholic University of Ecuador. Between 1988 and 1994, Salvador worked as a naturalist and tour leader for several national and international to...
During a calm and nocturnal navigation, we made it to the western region of the archipelago. Here, colder temperatures enrich the waters, providing better quality and quantity of food for the species in the area. This is reflected in the size and numbers of the marine iguanas and the amazing amount of sea turtles we saw during snorkeling today at Fernandina. We are so excited to keep exploring this amazing destination aboard National Geographic Gemini. Photos by Walter Perez and Ixora Berdonces
Our morning started with a walk on the sparkling green beach at Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island. We crossed to the other side of the point, stopping along the way to see flamingos in the lagoon right behind the green beach. After our hike, some of us enjoyed an exciting snorkeling excursion around Champion Island. Others enjoyed a ride in our glass-bottom boat where we saw plenty of fish, as well as Galapagos sea lions, a green sea turtle, and a whitetip shark. The afternoon was just as fun, with a visit to Post Office Bay to drop off and pick up postcards from the barrel, a tradition that dates back to the whaling days of the late 18th century. The day finished with a late afternoon kayak near Post Office Bay surrounded by sea turtles. It was a peaceful ending to this perfect day!
It was our first full day in the Galapagos, and we started our exploration with Española Island, on the southeastern side of the archipelago. The first visitor site, Gardner Bay, has a mile-long sandy beach with turquoise waters, which provided a perfect opportunity for snorkeling. Here, we also enjoyed observing a variety of wildlife, like mockingbirds and the Galapagos sea lion. Soon after we were all back onboard, we had lunch and repositioned to Punta Suarez for a walk to search for the famous waved albatross. Today they were incubating their eggs, and soon we’ll have little chicks all over the island. We also had an opportunity to take a shorter walk, enjoying baby sea lions, turtles, and much more. We were welcomed by wildlife with no fear…and our expedition story has just begun.
