This morning's options were a long or short walk (with both choices to be in the same area on Isabella Island), followed by optional snorkeling (or kayaking again, which was also offered but had no takers today). The walk commenced with a "dry" landing, which was nice, since we could wear our regular shoes without taking them off. The landing had a small, man made dock.
Isabella Island is the largest of the Galapagos Islands and has six volcanoes, five of which are considered large. One of the large volcanoes, "Wolf," last erupted in 2015. Lava fields are still visible. Note: the lava fields create an issue for the giant tortoises -- they cannot cross them. Other large volcanoes on the island include Darwin, Alcedo, and Ecuador. Our ship was anchored in Tagus Cove, which is also a former volcanic crater that was flooded by the ocean.
As we rode the panga toward shore, we saw white breasted storm petrels (not a super large bird), who do not dive, but eat small fish on or near the surface of the water. The weather today, like yesterday, was gorgeous, sunny with no humidity. The sea water was crystal clear and deep blue.
Tagus Cove was a favorite hide-out location for pirates. They liked to leave graffiti on the walls of the cove, which is still visible today. They liked to write the name of their ship and the year that they were there. The oldest graffiti that has been found is marked "1836."
Our hike began with a climb up stone steps, then up a 130 step wooden staircase. It was somewhat challenging, but not the hardest climb we've ever done by a long shot. From there, the pathway continues to climb (but no more steps) until we reached a stunning viewpoint of Darwin Lake.
Along the way, we saw a bird that Javier, our guide today, called a Darwin Finch -- not sure which one (there are several types). We also saw more examples of Palo Santo and Croton trees, dry since the rainy season ended, which Javier called "garua." Garua is a Spanish word that means drizzle or mist.
Darwin Lake is also a former volcanic crater that filled up with rain water. Ocean water seeps through the wall that separates the lake from the Tagus Cove. Although the level of the lake seems to be above the ocean, it is not (optical illusion). However, it is not impacted by large tidal movements, but the level of the lake will change a little with the tide. As a result of its underground connection to the ocean, the water is salty, or brackish. During the rainy season, it is a little less salty, but when dry, it is more salty as evaporation impacts it. The rainy season begins in December or January.
Now that we had ascended to a higher level, we were able to see lava formations that are not lava fields. Javier told us that these are called "spatter cones." Lava is shot up as an explosion, but doesn't flow, just sits and cools where it landed.
We continued climbing to an even higher viewpoint where we could see three or four of the island's volcanoes, as well as a large lava field.
After enjoying this view, we retraced our steps back to the panga. Along the way we saw white lantana flowers and deep pink Galapagos cotton (looks a little like hibiscus).
We had seen again the morning glory on the way up. We had also admired a plant that Mari later identified as cyclic, and Javier pointed out a large shrub called castello ______. The other group who did the hike with guide Mari saw a cuckoo. Marion took a nice photo that she shared with me.
Boarding the panga left about one half hour in the schedule that we could use to ride around and search for birds and other sea life. I was still hoping for a good photo opportunity of a boobie, and we did see a few flying about, but there were none standing on the shore (showing off their blue feet!). However, we did see quite a few impressive creatures. They included:
- A flightless cormorant tending his nest made of algae (seaweed).
- Penguins! There were a total of eight including one swimming! The Galapagos is the northernmost home on the planet to penguins.
- A Great Blue Heron that we were able to get quite close to.
- More white breasted storm petrels.
- And a few more brown pelicans.
- We also saw swimming sea turtles!
Then it was back to the boar for a shower and lunch. Again too much food: paella, chicken parmesan, cauliflower with cheese and tomato sauce, hot dogs (for the young people), salads, and coconut sorbet (Rob enjoyed, I passed).
After lunch, we had some time to relax on the sun deck -- another gorgeous day: no clouds, no humidity and warm, but not too warm.
Our afternoon activity was another longish hike, this time on Fernandina Island, the westernmost island in the Galapagos. Again, we were fortunate to have a "dry" landing to a man made, but crude, dock. The panga pilot had to navigate through many lava rocks to reach it, part of the way backwards, which took considerable skill. We disembarked and proceeded on land. We were told that one of the main attractions here are the black marine iguanas. They have long flat tails which they use to propel themselves through the water; their feet are useless in the water. Sometimes, they are eaten by hawks.
We passed through a grove of both red and black mangroves. The tree is a protected species because it helps to prevent erosion. The red mangrove also has elongated leaves. Nearby, there were also many orange Sally Lightfoot crabs. Birds will eat them when they are small. We also saw many lava lizards. Here on Fernandina, which has so much black lava, they have adapted to this environment and appear quite black in color themselves, to disguise themselves from snakes. On eastern, more "green" islands in the Galapagos, the lizards have a greenish hue.
Suddenly, our guide, Mari, saw a spout in the ocean (her eyes are always active and looking everywhere!). Our entire group rushed towards the shore (which wasn't that close by the way) to see the fin of an orca or killer whale. The orca is misnamed we were told, since it is really in the dolphin family, not the whale family. We watched for a while, but it was moving away from us. HOWEVER, one of the pangas from our ship was following it closely, which must have been terribly exciting! Later, back on the ship, stories were told and photos were traded. Young Gabriel took a wonderful photo that he shared with me.
After this excitement, we returned to the task at hand. Mari had many plants and wildlife to point out. First, since we found ourselves surrounded by it while "whale watching," she pointed out the lava cactus. Both birds and reptiles can use this as a source of water. Land iguanas will also eat it. (By the way, land iguanas, which we have yet to see, are difficult to locate as they have adapted to avoid "man," whom they have learned is a hunter.)
Mari explained that there are five types of sea mammals. Whales are cetaceans and are considered the most evolved. This is because they left the land 45 million years ago and need never return. As a result, they have no pelvis. Sea lions are only partially evolved since they must return to the land for sleeping and other reasons. Therefore, they have retained their pelvis -- otherwise they would not be able to "scoot" their bodies across the land or rocks. They went "to the water" 18 - 19 million years ago.
We were walking on one of two types of lava. The type we were walking on is called "rope lava," the name of which is based on what it looks like. The other type of lava is "aa," a Hawaiian word. It is more rocky and also more difficult to walk on.
We approached a lovely and large tide pool area. At this point in the day, the tide was low, so the pool was not connected to the ocean, but there was still a fair amount of water here.
The attraction was the sea turtles -- so many of them swimming in the pool. I was able to capture one on video.
Marine iguanas: we saw so many of them here (almost too many)! There are nesting sites here on Fernandina for the marine iguana. They look like large indentations in the sand. The iguana digs a hole in the sand, lays about three to five eggs, then buries the eggs, and says "goodbye." The eggs will hatch in about two to three months. When the young emerge, they do not swim, but will feed from algae in the protected tidal pools. We also saw marine iguana skeletons from the last El Nino event. We also passed straight lines drawn in the sand that are the marine iguana's "tracks."
As we walked back toward the shore, Mari pointed out the sound of the oystercatcher "chirping." To me, it sounded something like a seagull, but more pleasant. Then she spotted a Galapagos Hawk perched in a high tree in the distance (like I said -- her eyes are always moving!). We approached carefully, and he favored us with a nice photo op! He had white on his chest to indicate that he is a young hawk. Then he flew off -- but still quite a treat! His preferred meal? Blue footed boobie chicks and the placenta of a sea lion!
The remainder of our walk was devoted to fur sea lions. Initially, we were treated to a lovely viewing of a mother with a two week old offspring. Mother was tired, but the baby wanted to eat! Mari told us that the mothers would leave their quite young babies in order to fish in the ocean and then return. The baby only drinks milk, though. Sea lions have four breasts. We can't tear ourselves away and watched for several minutes (when would we ever have this opportunity again?). Finally, though, another female approaches with a little aggressive behavior to let us know to leave her friend alone. So we do. The female can be identified because her head is smaller than a male's head. The males also have more pronounced foreheads.
We only walked a what seemed to be a short distance and then we came across another mother and baby. Mari estimated that this baby was only one week old. They are so cute. (Side note: walking around this area of lava required navigated through MANY colonies of marine iguana. Countless black iguanas all piled on top of each other, trying to absorb the day's heat!) Continuing on, we came across another juvenile sea lion, playing in the water by himself. I couldn't resist taking a video.
Mari explained to us that the sea lions may nurse until they are one year old, and then, as if on cue, we spot a rather large sea lion (probably one year old), trying to nurse off his mother!
We did have one more surprise: a lava lizard attacking and eating a Sally Lightfoot crab! Mari got very excited about this because she had never seen this, nor had she even known that the lava lizard would do this. She made me promise to take a picture and send it to her (which I did).
As we came to the conclusion of this hike, I spotted a group of blue footed boobies out on a lava formation that would make the perfect picture -- oh well, I zoomed but they were too far away.
And Mari had one more thing to point out: love short leaf petunias growing in the sand.
I didn't take any notes regarding dinner, unfortunately, but I am certain it was delicious!
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