February 14

Day 7:  February 14

Tagus Cove / Punta Espinoza.  Stop for a visit at Tagus Cove and hike to a lookout to get a stunning view of the bay.  Spot old graffiti on the cliffs from whalers and pirates who once visited the cove.  Continue to Punta Espinoza on Fernandina, the youngest of the Galapagos Islands.  Witness the large colony of marine iguanas and a variety of bird life.

Morning.  Tagus Cove Visit.  Visit Tagus Cove, an Isabela Island anchorage site that was popular among whalers and pirates.  Tour the area on foot for spectacular views of Darwin Lake (a spherical saltwater crater), the bay, and Darwin and Wolf volcanoes.  Upon landing, take the wooden stairway to the trail entrance, and follow the trail through a dry vegetation zone.  Opt to continue on an ascent to a promontory made up of spatter cones (small volcanic cones) or explore the area by dinghy.

Morning.  Snorkelling (Tagus Cove).  Grab a mask and snorkel and witness schools of tropical fish as you navigate through calm waters.  If you're lucky, spot rockfish, sharks, and seahorses.

Afternoon.  Punta Espinoza Visit.  Tour a number of different trails at this not-to-be-missed landing site that's home to some of the largest colonies of marine iguanas and sea birds.  Follow the path along the beach and across lava flows for a unique opportunity to explore one of the least-visited areas of the Galapagos.  

Afternoon.  Snorkeling (Punta Espinoza).  One of the best snorkelling sites in the islands, here get a glimpse of marine iguanas grazing underwater, sea lions, sea turtles, rays, puffer fish, and dolphins.

We find ourselves moored quite close to shore this morning.  Tagus Cove.  Apparently this was a favourite of whalers and pirates over the centuries.  They left their “calling cards”; lots of graffiti on the cliffs. 

Tagus Cove info from the Moon Guidebook:  Tagus Cove is the best place to see how humans have left their mark - literally - on the Galapagos Islands.  The rocks above this popular anchorage in the Bolivar Channel are covered in graffiti.  It's a strange but interesting sight, with the oldest readable record from whalers dating to 1836.  The 2 km hike from the cove to the interior is quite strenuous but worth the effort.  A dry landing leads to a trail through a steep gully to a wooden staircase and then along a gravel track.  At the top is an impressive view over the deep blue Darwin Lake.  This eroded crater is 12 m deep, and the waters have a high salt content, so it's largely lifeless.  Scientists have concluded that seawater seeped in through the porous lava rocks beneath the surface.  The small round pebbles covering the trails began as raindrops that collected airborne volcanic ash and hardened before hitting the ground.  The trail leads to the lower lava slopes of Volcan Darwin, and there are spectacular views over the entire island of Isabela.  

At 7:15 we left for a hike.  Their was a pair of flightless cormorants nesting right on the steps close to shore.  Then a sea lion having a snooze. 

Photo by Oswaldo

Here's a good picture of the "wings" of the cormorants.

Photo by Oswaldo

We didn’t have to walk very far before we started to get views of Darwin Lake; one of the few "freshwater" lakes on the islands. 

Not toooo far from the ocean, though.

We did see finches, but they move too fast for me to photograph, so a picture of a nest will have to do. 

There were a few viewpoints along the way.  We stopped at all of them to wait for everyone to catch up.  And, of course, the daily group shot.

 

And then………  the top.  We could see three volcanoes from there.  Darwin volcano was the closest.  Then Wolf – the highest point on the Galapagos at about 1700m.  This is also one of the newest volcanoes, at about 500,000 years old.  To the extreme left was Ecuador Volcano; now extinct. 

 

More views on the way down, and the same critters to step around.  Also lots of crabs on the rocks at the landing site. 

Back to the boat and a bit of break before donning snorkeling gear and heading back into the same area.  We were told to watch for penguins and marine iguanas.  I saw just one penguin (most people didn’t see any) and one sea turtle.  But – dozens of starfish of all varieties.  There was a lot of bright green algae on the rocks, so the starfish contrasted beautifully with the green and made for lovely photos for those with cameras.  One marine iguana was spotted on the rocks (out of the water) but I missed him.  The water seemed colder than usual; we were all pretty chilled by the time we were done.  Oswaldo did take some great videos of penguins, marine iguanas, and sea turtles swimming, and of some marine iguanas eating the algae.   

Where does the time go?  Time for lunch now and then another snorkel and another hike this afternoon. 

Punta Espinosa info from the Moon Guidebook:  Fernandina is west of Isabela and is the archipelago's youngest and most volcanically active island.  There is one visitor site at Punta Espinosa, which has a large population of nesting flightless cormorants, the largest colony of marine iguanas in the archipelago, and a large sea lion colony.  The marine iguanas here are the largest in the archipelago, due to the abundance of food from the cold currents on this side of the islands.  Fernandina is special even by Galapagos standards.  The westernmost island in the archipelago is one of the few that have escaped invasion by introduced species, and the island's pristine ecosystem has been preserved.  This island is also less visited than most of the others due to its remote location.  At under one million years old, Fernandina is the youngest volcanic island in the archipelago and also the most active.  The volcano, La Cumbre, has erupted several times in recent years, most spectacularly in 1968, when the caldera collapsed more than 300 metres, and most recently in April 2009.  

This afternoon we moved over to Fernandina Island.  This is apparently the most recent island.  What a treat!  First up was snorkeling.  We saw a kazillion sea turtles.  So amazing!  Why didn’t I think of buying a GoPro before I came??  Also lots of feeding marine iguanas.  Not so many fish, but I was so focused on the turtles and iguanas that I probably wouldn’t have noticed them anyway.  Oh yes, and some pretty coral too.  

After snacks and a brief break we headed out in the dinghies again.  A cool landing in the  middle of a mangrove bush. 

Right away we had to watch where we stepped.  Marine iguanas everywhere! 

We came upon several “colonies” of them.  Dozens, perhaps hundreds, all piled together.  They tend to blend right in with the black lava rocks.  It seems that personal space is not a priority for them. 

They make their nests by digging holes in the sand.  Apparently they lay 4 eggs each year.  They can live to be about 40, and females can start laying eggs after about a year. 

Photo by Oswaldo

Photo by Oswaldo

We also saw lots of crabs and sea lions.  Including – young sea lion pups and one Sally Lightfoot crab eating another one.  Oh – and I couldn’t get a picture of this, but we watched sea lions surfing for a while.  They would ride a wave, then swim out to catch another, and another.  We could see them in the wave, just outside of the breaking water.  So fun!

Photo by Oswaldo

Photo by Oswaldo

Our walk wasn’t very long, but very interesting – both the wildlife and the lava formations that we were walking on.   

Lava Cactus

Just at the end of the walk we came upon some pilot whale bones that had been collected some years ago after some of the whales beached themselves and died. 

 

The weather held for us today, and actually was quite sunny in the afternoon.  This is one of the boats that we have been travelling with all week – The Endemic. 

Another G Adventures boat – Eden. 

Freddy, the captain starting to move the boat to its next location.

The Ecuadorian flag at the back of the boat. 

Interesting skies. 

Oh – and we are scheduled to cross the equator somewhere between 8 and 8:30 tonight, and presumably again sometime early in the morning.  And for the first time since we got onboard, we actually have clear skies and most of us went up to the sundeck for some stargazing. 

 

Photo by Donna P

That’s it for another day………….