Day six marked our final day on the island of Isabela prior to heading back east towards the central part of the archipelago. It was on day six where the reality sunk in that we were almost to the end of our tour but first, we had more terrain and wildlife to explore!
Bahia Elizabeth
We navigated overnight and anchored in Elizabeth Bay for another early outing the morning of day six, where we hopped in the zodiacs and we were off to explore the labyrinth of mangroves that make up the bay. These red and white mangroves are deeply rooted in the bay itself, play host to a wide variety of animal life and can grow up to 60 feet. Each leaf cluster has a predetermined ‘sacrificial’ leaf that absorbs all of the salt that the roots carry from the ocean water below which allows the rest of the mangrove to thrive while only leafing (pun!) a small portion to perish. Most mangroves I’ve come across in the US are much smaller than the ones in the Galapagos and its incredible how large they can really get.
The animal life wasn’t all that active this morning, however we did see a mature brown pelican nesting in the mangroves.
As we were coming out of the mangroves, we were greeted by a small colony of penguins that were out in the bay for an early morning swim. Folks are likely tired of all of my penguin commentary and photos, but there’s something about these little guys that warm your heart. This group was bobbing above and below the surface alongside our zodiac and were rocketing through the depths of the bay.
The biggest surprised this morning, came from a huge flock of blue footed boobies (bluebies?) that were circling a section of ocean and diving for their early morning catch. Similar to the bait ball we ran across the day prior, there were hundreds of boobies doing their best to get an easy meal. Due to their diving nature, the blue footed boobies have air sacs in their skulls that act as airbags that absorb the impact of the dive which prevents disorientation and allows them to make continuous dives!
Punta Moreno
After our foray into the mangroves and a short two hour navigation, we were anchored at Punta Moreno, a unique section of Isabela that contains small oasis in the middle of vast lava fields. Walking across lava fields in the late morning is an interesting experience. Even though the temperature was around 80 degrees, the clear sky, lack of breeze the further we went inland and the jet black nature of the lava field itself, produced a powerful heat that isn’t too dissimilar from walking outside during a Phoenix summer. Due to the jaggedness of the terrain, we spent an hour or so hiking across the fields but our efforts were well rewarded in the form of a flock of greater flamingos.
Still no sign of any plastic lawn humans
On our previous trip, we managed to see a flock of 30 or so on the island of Floreana but due to where they were at, we weren’t able to get all that close to them. On Isabela, there were only a handful but they were only 100 feet away or so. Punta Moreno (in addition to Floreana) is one of the two main spots where the flamingos stop to feed on brine shrimp. These flamingos aren’t endemic to the archipelago and can be found in other sections of South America and Africa. Most know that they’re naturally white in color and that its the shrimp that give them their pink hue but when they do eat, they actually flip their head upside down in the water and filter the shrimp, which is why their necks are so long!
The morning ended with a snorkeling excursion alongside the coast. At this point in the trip, we almost became desensitized in the marine life we were experiencing only because we’ve been incredibly lucky with what we’ve seen in the days prior. Today, we were again able to swim with sea turtles, surgeon fish and get a little closer to a handful of different rays effortlessly gliding through the water.
Our day ended earlier than normal due to a long, 11 hour navigation from Isabela to our next day’s destination of Floreana. You may have seen from the flamingo photos, that there was a storm headed our way and about two hours in, it caught up to us. For those of you who haven’t been stuck in a rough storm in the middle of the ocean, it’s exactly as rough as you think it is and if you’re prone to sea sickness (like Lauren and I are), its even rougher. We managed to last about four hours before we caved and loaded ourselves up with Dramamine to fight the waves (pun #2!) of nausea we were having due to the rough seas (or Ricky’s navigating, we’re not sure which). We ended up skipping dinner that night in favor of napping, that transitioned to a full night’s sleep. At around midnight, we were at our final destination with the rocking of the Samba finally abating.
Featured Image – a sea turtle looking cautiously upon Lauren as she gets an incredible shot while snorkeling at Punta Moreno
to love and wander 