Day 16: Isabella (Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove) - Tuesday February 6th 2018
In the morning we made a wet landing at Urbina Bay. The main attraction here is the sight of a raised beach and coral heads 100m or so inland. Movements of the Earth's crust raised the whole area by up to 10m in 1954 and there was a further smaller uplift in 1994. The wildlife highlight was Dark-billed Cuckoo, which, unfortunately, only 2 or 3 of us saw. There were also several very bright Land Iguanas here.
Later we had another good snorkelling session, this time including close encounters with Sea Lions and Turtles. One Sea Lion played 'chicken' with me - swimming straight at me and then veering off at the last moment, it then swam around me and repeated the manoeuvre another 2 times. I obtained some fairly decent video of the Black Turtles - click on the link to view. We then cruised north to Tagus Cove. Before our landing here, a few people snorkelled again while I went kayaking, this time having close encounters with Galapagos Penguins and Flightless Cormorants.
Once ashore at Tagus Cove we climbed to a view point first above the cove itself and then above a substantial (salty) blue lagoon just inland. Then we had a very nice panga ride around the cove and for some distance north along the Isabella shoreline - seeing more Galapagos Penguins and Flightless Cormorants. All in all a very enjoyable and energetic day.