Galapagos 5 - Isabela

This morning we were due to land at Urbina Bay, situated on the western coast of Isabela at the foot of the Alcedo Volcano.  This area was "uplifted" (I love this expression, so Biblical) from the sea in 1954 and is rather flat but there are loads of fossils, corals and marine formations to look for.

Unfortunately it was very rough and Capitán Guillermo was concerned that we wouldn't be able to land safely.  There was another, larger, boat (pax c.80), moored near us and their pangas were considerably more robust so we watched with interest as they headed out.  Having seen a couple successfully reach the shore, two of our crew headed off to have a recce to see if it was possible to land taking action man Steve (unable to miss anything) and Stephanie with them for the ride. Hugo (Steph's boyfriend) wasn't ready in time so they went without him and next thing I heard was him summoning Laurentia to join him in the other panga - the foolishness of youth ha !  

Our unsuccessful landing parties returning.

Anyway they reported back that it was indeed too dangerous for us to land and even if we managed it, there was no guarantee we'd get off again!

So we moved off early to our next stopping place of Tagus Cove but as the timings are strictly controlled by the Galapagos National Park we were unable to do anything either on land or in the water ahead of our scheduled afternoon time.  The answer was to turn the boat broadside and let anyone who wanted to (including crew) swim and dive from the boat  - I stayed onboard and took a few photos and Ian slept bless him!

After lunch, and at our official time, we duly landed at Tagus Cove which was originally used as an anchorage for pirates and whalers; there are still the names of ships and crews carved in the rocks.  

Our boat is the little one in front.

The walk was to view a water-filled collapsed caldera and sadly not particularly inspiring as it was more of a route march so there wasn't time to study the flora and fauna around.

But the view was lovely and as you can see, it was very hot.

A close-up Sally.

Back to the Beluga.