Southern Isabela Island
We felt a strong breeze aboard National Geographic Islander while navigating the Bolivar channel towards Urvina Bay, our next destination. The excitement has been building since last night when our guests learned about the uplifting that took place here as recently as in 1954. The sun appeared just past seven in the morning, breaking up the cloud cover and heating the trail, which drew out the cold-blooded Galápagos land iguanas. We were fortunate to see wildlife beyond the many iguanas. It was as if we had stumbled upon a performance theater – three giant tortoises made their way into the open just in front of all of us, and they took over the stage without being spooked at all by our presence. Soon after, another tortoise joined them. This time it was a juvenile not older than 15.
After a refreshing dip in the ocean, our young explorers got Zodiac driving lessons, and some other guests preferred to swim off the ship. At noon we were already heading to a more southern spot, Punta Moreno. The magnificence of this place is unspeakable. The immense lava flows coming from two different directions have created a world of surreal beauty. Inserted within the lava, ponds of salt and brackish water hold a strange biota made of waders and shore birds and some fish as well. The greenery of the plants surrounding the ponds makes this a striking lookout.
In the distance, the volcanoes Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul stand impassibly as great monoliths. We feel like they were assenting on our expedition with their presence.
