Urbina Bay & Tagus Cove

 Another great day on land and sea. We landed on the black volcanic sand beach at Urbina Bay to find sea turtle tracks leading to a freshly dug nest. There was a marine iguana basking on the sand to welcome us ashore. We walked past the beach into the palo santo forest beyond. The forest is a relatively recent addition to the island, the result of an uplift event in 1954 that raised the sea floor several meters. We saw rocks with the shells of sea creatures stuck to them hundreds of yards inland. The forest did not start growing until the 1980s because it took that long for enough soil to be deposited and for the salt to be washed away. Roberto explained the various ocean currents around the Galapagos and how they affect the climate. We encountered a numbered of large land iguanas. Finches, yellow warblers, and Galapagos mockingbirds chirped and twittered all around us. 

On our way back to the beach we saw our first Galapagos giant tortoise. He was estimated to be about 12 years old and was the size of a beach ball. There are 5 tortoise sub-species on Isabela, one for each volcano. They are separated by ancient lava flows that the tortoises cannot cross. Urbina Bay is by Volcan Alcedo so this tortoise was the vandenbughi  sub-species. 

The day's second stop was Tagus Cove in the shadow of Volcan Darwin. This narrow inlet has steep sides currently being used by the brown pelicans as a nesting site. At the dock we met some sea lions having a nap. A Galapagos penguin rocketed by in the water faster than anyone could raise their camera. 

We climbed up to and then along a ridge to and overlook where we could see Lake Darwin and the ocean beyond. This former caldera was once connected to the ocean via filtration through the porous volcanic rocks. Millennia of sediments eroding into the cone sealed the connection and now it is a hypersalinic (saltier than the ocean) lake slightly higher than sea level. From the we climbed higher to the remains of two spatter cones composed of jagged black and red rocks. This vantage point offered us magnificent views of the summit of Darwin Volcano as well as Fernandina Island.

We wrapped up this stop with a snorkel in the bay's clear water. We found the usual abundance of parrotfish, urchins, and damselfish. There were also large schools of red cardinal fish and silvery black-striped salema. These seemed to attract the attention of swift moving predators like the pelican barracuda, flightless cormorant, and Galapagos penguin. We gave ourselves whiplash trying to follow the penguins in particular. This was a great place to see the red sea stars which are stunningly beautiful and a foot across.