Located on the western side of Isabela Island at the foot of Alcedo Volcano, Urbina Bay offers a unique landscape, due to the landing beach and its adjacent coastline didn’t exist before 1954; that year 2 square kilometers of marine floor was uplifted by about 10 meters; the pre-uplift beach is now almost 200 meters from the new landing beach and is home of land iguanas and giant tortoises that use the soft soil for nesting.
5/29/2025
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National Geographic Gemini
Genovesa Island
Genovesa is considered one of the Galapagos crown jewels, and today it was showing off all of its splendor. Immediately after breakfast we put on our sturdy shoes and set out to explore Prince Philip’s Steps. This area is known for opportunities to observe not only large colonies of nesting Nazca and red-footed boobies, but maybe, just maybe, the short-eared owl which exhibits diurnal behavior on this island. After this walk we got ready for a dip in the Pacific Ocean and snorkeling along the inner coast of this caldera. The afternoon was equally amazing as we disembarked to explore Darwin Bay, along a short and easy trail that was packed with wildlife. Here we observed not only nesting frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, and Nazca boobies, but also a few yellow-crowned night herons. It was another incredible afternoon in the Galapagos Islands.
