Isabela Island
VISITOR SITES
URBINA BAY
Urbina Bay is directly west of Isabella’s Volcano Alcedo, where we will make an easy, wet landing (a hop into a few inches of water) onto a gently sloping beach. In 1954, a Disney film crew caught sight of this gleaming white strip, and on further investigation found pools of stranded sea creatures! To their astonishment, three miles (5 km) of the marine reef had been uplifted by as much as 13 feet (4 meters) in moments.
Now visitors can walk amongst the dried coral heads, mollusks and other organisms that formed the ocean floor. A highlight of this excursion is the giant land iguanas, whose vivid and gaudy yellow skin suggests that dinosaurs may have been very colorful indeed.
Giant tortoises inhabit this coastal plain during the wet season, before migrating to the highlands when it turns dry. Our landing beach also provides opportunities to snorkel amongst marine creatures, or just relax on shore. Here we must take care not to step on the sea turtle nests dug carefully into the sand.
ELIZABETH BAY
A panga ride brings us to a protected mangrove lagoon, where sea lions sleep in trees (tree lions). Sea turtles and manta rays surface in the quiet waters while Galapagos hawks circle overhead. Outside the lagoon sit three islets known as Las Marielas, home to the largest concentration of Galapagos penguins on the islands.
PUNTA MORENO
Punta Moreno is a place where the forces of the Galapagos have joined to create a work of art. In the places where the roof of a large swirling black-lava flow gave way to form craters, crystal tidal pools have formed, some surrounded by mangroves.
These are a magnet for wildlife, including flamingo, great blue herons and pintails. One can walk to the edge of the lava to look straight down at the inhabitants of the pools, including the occasional green sea turtle, white-tipped sharks and puffer fish.
PUERTO VILLAMIL
Puerto Villamil has a feeling of standing on the edge of the earth. The tiny fishing village, founded in 1897 by Don Antonio Gíl, is something of a forgot gem in the islands. It has a population of roughly 1,700 and is set amidst miles of white sandy uninhabited beaches that rest beneath 4,452 ft. (1370 m) Sierra Negra volcano.
Buried pirates treasure was unearthed here some years ago in the shadow of a tall coconut palm thereby giving credence to all the legends of hidden treasure. We travel into the highlands by bus to the base of the volcano, then set out on a 2 hour hike on fairly steep terrain to the rim of Sierra Negra.
Measuring 10 km across, the caldera is the second largest in the world after Ngorongoro in Africa. At the rim we have some spectacular views of the caldera, the island and the surrounding Pacific.
We continue hiking for another 45 minutes to the sometimes active cone of Chico Volcano. This is a parasitic cone that protrudes from the side of Sierra Negra. Recent lava flows and fumaroles give evidence of the birth and continued growth of the islands. In the afternoon we’ll return to Puerto Villamil. Along the way we will visit a breeding station for the endemic giant tortoise as well as a lake frequented by flamingos.
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