Isabela - Urvina Bay and Tagus Cove

lava gull

Over breakfast a lava gull sat on one of the panga's looking for food, it eventually found a morsel and proceeded to devour it.

Urvina Bay on Isabela Island was this morning's destination with a wet landing!   This is an area which had a land uplift of 10m in 1954 and a second in 194 of 90 cm.   Evidence of this can be seen along the beach.  

Worm casts from the seabed

The landing today was to be a wet one onto the beach, not as easy as earlier days, but everyone successfully landed with varying degrees of wetness!   As we took off life jackets and prepared for our walk, blue-footed boobies and brown pelican dived for fish in the bay.   We wandered along the shore watching sally lightfoot and hermit crabs examining shells and other sea animals washed up on the shore.   There were also fossils of worms which would have previously lain on the seabed.   As we looked back to the beach there were two galapagos hawk - one standing on the "stop" sign protecting the turtle nesting area.  

Galapagos Hawk

As we returned to the beach, more hawks were about, in the end at least 18 were counted, some very obligingly on a small tree beside the path.   Even when a second group of people joined us they continued to sit completely unperturbed at our presence so close.

Land Iguana

We walked inland and saw large land iguanas, their nests and the trails that they leave as they move through the sandy ground.   Lava lizards scurried away from us.   Finches played alongside yellow warblers in the shrubs which included saltbush, poison apple and galapagos cotton.   Juan explained that the cotton flower would be yellow on the first day of flowering and pink/orangey yellow on the second day, a few days later the cotton will start to form.

We passed by relatively new lava fields with little vegetation, and saw small tree finch and large-billed flycatcher.

Cliffs at Tagus Cove

Soon it was time to go back to the Cachalote for lunch and sail to our next destination, Tagus Cove.  The captain gave the order for the sails to be used for this stretch of the journey, as we had to hold onto our drinks and soup bowls as the boat rocked from side to side, the hope was that the sails would counteract this.   At one stage two glasses of juice and a cup of coffee went flying across the dining room.   Gravy slopped over the side of our plates and it was a tortuous mealtime.  Once we had anchored in the bay life was a little easier, and at least things stayed where you put them!   After lunch we had time for a siesta or a chance to explore the cliffs.   Early mariners have carved rheir ships' names on the cliffs and as the years have gone by it has degenerated into graffiti.   The authorities have now stopped this, but there are many names on the cliffs easily read with the aid of binoculars.

A galapagos penguin was spotted on a rock at the base of the cliff and then several others were noticed nearby.   We took to the pangas for a cruise along the cliffs before landing.   We found two groups of penguims one appearing to be a family group with two rather large well-fed juveniles.

We moved towards the landing area, but we could all see that it would be a rather challenging leap of faith to go ahead.   Our guide gave us a couple of options, to either continue cruising along the base of the cliffs, or to return to the boat and move on.   As we had a long journey over the northern end of Isabela, and also and also had the added excitement of crossing the equator we decided that we should continue on our journey looking for dolphins and whales.   We all took to the sun deck on the top of the boat, near the bridge.   The captain invited us to enjoy his view, and as we sailed we spotted several spouts of water from indeterminate whales.   At one stage we saw a couple of humpbacks and soon after a minke whale.   A fur seal was also spotted by our guide.   Galapagos petrels and shearwaters cut through the air as the sea got rougher, a few took to their cabins and resorted to travel tablets, as the pitching and rolling got worse the barman rather bizarrely started to mix up a cocktail of a teal blue colour for us to toast the crossing from the south to north.

Crossing the Equator

Whilst the rest of us were holding on to anything that didn't move as we walked around the boat, the barman loaded up a dozen or so glasses onto a tray and proceeded to move to the bridge.   Obviously quite at ease in these conditions not a drop was spilled and in fact he got to the bridge far quicker than the rest of us and we only had to worry about ourselves.

Around 5.15 pm we got to latitude 00.00.000N, we sang "happy equator" and toasted our crossing, then we conceded defeat and sped back downstairs to the relative calm of the lower decks before it was time for dinner and a chat about our plans for tomorrow, which will be our last full day in Galapagos.