Galapagos Trip 2023 -- Day 3 -- Tagus Cove, Isabela Island

After leaving Urbina Bay early due to the large waves, the ship weighed anchor and headed north through Bolivar Channel to the location of the afternoon adventures, Tagus Cove.  

Green lines are part of the gps track for Day 2.  Yellow lines are for Day 3.

As we made our way up the channel we could clearly see the lava fields that went down to the water on Fernandina Island as we passed by.  We were also on the lookout for things in the water.  The channel is known for dolphins and whales.  Some people thought they spotted something and the Frog went out on deck, but I am not sure what, if anything, could be identified.

It only took the ship about 1.5 hours to reach Tagus Cove.  I did not realize it at the time, but we were almost directly across the channel from Punta Espinosa, the location of our afternoon adventure the day before.  We ate lunch in the new anchorage just outside the cove.

Tagus Cove is a sheltered deep-water bay that has been used by ships for centuries.  Geologically it is a former caldera that has partially collapsed into the sea.  As can be seen on the map below, the caldera contains a lake that sits above the bay, Darwin Lake.  More on that later.

Green line is gps track for Day 2.  Yellow line is for Day 3.  As you can see from the track, we never actually entered the cove on our adventures, but went along the outer edge of the old caldera.

Early afternoon activities.  After lunch there were both early and late afternoon activities.  Tagus Cove is well protected from the ocean waves, so it was an opportunity for a variety of water activities including kayaking and paddle boarding.  

James is on the right trying out paddle boarding.

Some folks taking a picture in Tagus Cove of a penguin that was sitting on the rocks.  Those are other ships anchored in the bay.  The La Pinta was just outside the bay.

I don't remember what Paul and Gwen did, although I know they did something.  We decided to pass and just take it easy for a little while.

Late afternoon activities.  The late afternoon activities were either a panga ride to check out the wildlife along the water's edge just outside the cove (what we did), or a hike up to the top of the caldera edge above the lake. 

I was a little disappointed that we could not do the hike, since it is one of the iconic locations on the islands.  However it requires climbing about 150 steps.  The guides explained in the briefing multiple times that it would be a "power climb" without stopping for pictures.  They seemed to be signalling very clearly that they did not want any of us that might have problems with stairs on this activity.  At least Paul, Gwen, and James went and could tell us about it later.

Off on the panga.  With cameras in hand, we loaded into the panga and were off.

Much to our surprise we began to see multiple penguins.  We had been so happy to catch even a glimpse of any swimming near the pangas on previous days.  After all, how often do you get to see penguins in the tropics!  Now they were scattered all along the shore sitting on the rocks.

A penguin just sitting on the rocks as we go by.

More penguins hanging out on the rocks.

The guide indicated that was normal.  Apparently they tend to hunt for food by swimming in the morning, then hang out on the rocks in the afternoon.

Unlike yesterday, we saw very few marine iguanas.  When we did, they tended to be by themselves.

Marine iguana

Since this is the outer rim of an old caldera, there were a lot of interesting geological structures along the coastline near the water. 

One of several caves

Most of the depressions or caves had critters of one sort or another.  Upon closer examination of the cave in the picture above, we could see several sea lions.

A closer look of the little nook above reveals several sea lions.  Also note all of the Sally Lightfoot Crabs just above the water line.

Closeup of a Sally Lightfoot Crab -- almost the only brightly colored creature (at least above water) along the shore.

Most of the sea lions, like almost all the animals we saw on this adventure, were sleeping.  However we saw one sea lion climbing up the rocks.  He was surprisingly agile, walking right up the rocks on his flippers.  Apparently walking on their flippers is a trait of sea lions but not seals.  Seals can only move along on their bellies due to very small front flippers.  Sea lions are also different in how they swim.  They use their powerful front flippers to propel themselves through the water.  They are the only aquatic mammals to swim that way.

I was particularly intrigued by the sea lion's back flippers.  The individual digits were like fingers.  I don't know if he could bend them individually, but there seemed to be "knuckle joints" so he could at least partially bend them like we bend our fingers to close our hand.

Interesting "fingers" on his rear flippers

 Of course there were lots of blue footed boobies in many little nooks and crannies. 

Always fun to take more pictures of blue-footed boobies.

Blue-footed boobies looking very serious

We had seen most of the various critters before at previous stops during the week.  However, we did see some new things, including a jellyfish looking thing.  As best I can tell from iNaturalist, it is a type of sea star called a Red Sun Star.

Apparently a Red Sun Star along with some barnacles

Like everything in the Galapagos, the scale of things is deceptive in the pictures.  It was easier to realize how large the cave is in the picture below when I noticed the little dot in the center against the black background is the other panga.

Cave on the left.  Note the panga in the distance in the center

This particular cave was not very deep, but there was at least one sea lion asleep on the big rock in the middle.

The sea lion is on the right side of the rock in the center

Zonked out sea lion on his rock in the cave

Like so many of the caves, there were brown noddies on the ledges. 

A brown noddy upset about something

Where there was more space close to the water we saw a flightless cormorant drying his wings.

Flightless cormorant

Like most of the animals, he seemed very tired.  Somehow he kept his wings out while he put his head down across his back and closed his eyes.

A tired flightless cormorant

Even this brown pelican seemed tired, although some of his buddies were diving for fish.

Brown pelican

There was yet another blue-footed booby watching us as we headed for home.

A lone blue-footed booby

As we rounded the point, we could see the ship ahead.  It was only about 5:30, but being so near the equator sundown was 6-ish.  With the clouds it already was noticeably getting dark. 

La Pinta dead ahead

Despite the impending darkness, we made one last stop so the guide could take pictures before we returned. 

On our way back to the ship.  Although only 5:30, it was starting to get dark.  Notice the ship's deck lights are already on.

Hike to the rim above Darwin Lake.  While we were exploring the coast, Paul, Gwen, James and others were hiking to the rim above the small circular lake above the bay, Darwin Lake.  

Tagus Cove and Darwin Lake are on the topo map below.  The trail  is shown on the map as a dashed black line.  It starts at the water near the head of the bay.  Once reaching the rim of the lake, the trail proceeds around the lake on the east side,   It is 1.7 miles out and back with a 291 foot elevation gain.  (That probably includes the extension north from the rim.)  As mentioned earlier, there are roughly 150 steps up to the rim.

Topo map of Tagus Cove and Darwin Lake.  The trail is the dashed  black line on the east side of the lake.  The yellow line is our gps track.  Note we never actually entered the cove.

Landing here for the hike is a dry landing.  The trailhead is in the background of the picture below.

These are some of the folks on our cruise.  You can see the Darwin Lake Trail trailhead in the background.

Tagus Cove is an outstanding naturally sheltered cove that has been used by ships starting as early as the 1600's.  The first seamen to frequent the area were "pirates".

The era of the pirates.  I put pirates in quotes above because it may depend on your nationality how you feel about those sailors and their activities.  European ships, particularly the English, were after Spanish galleons loaded with gold and other valuables on their way back to Spain.  Sea captains with papers from the English monarch to legitimize their theft were privateers.  Those loyal to the Crown but without papers were buccaneers.   Those without any pretense of allegiance to the English Crown were pirates.  I am sure they were all pirates to the Spanish.

Whether they were privateers, buccaneers, or just plain pirates, the Galapagos Islands were a perfect spot from which to prey on Spanish shipping.  They were close enough to the mainland to be within striking distance of the ports and shipping lanes, far enough away, uninhabited and mostly uncharted so as to provide a great hiding spot.  The islands were also a source of fresh meat, although without dependable sources of fresh water the islands tended to be only a short term stopover.  The pirates definitely used sites in the Galapagos and it is almost certain one of the prime sites was Tagus Cove.

Graffiti.  Evidence of the early visits to Tagus Cove is the plentiful graffiti on the surrounding walls and cliffs of the names of visiting ships.  There are conflicting reports as to whether they go back as far as the period of the pirates (probably 1570 - 1820) .  Existing graffiti does go to at least 1836, the beginning of the time when visiting ships were more likely to be whalers. Some of it can be seen at the trailhead in a blowup of the picture above.

Graffiti at the trailhead in the background.

I was surprised to learn the graffiti even extended high up on the walls of the bay and included more recent ships, although it was all supposed to have stopped when Galapagos became a National Park in 1959.

View of the cliffs in Tagus Cove taken by a NOAA ship in 2018. NOAA Photo Library

Whenever it appeared, thinking about the graffiti makes me think of all the types of ships that have visited in the past.  Yes, even Charles Darwin himself climbed up here in 1835.  He was so excited to see the lake below that he scrambled down and started drinking.  Unfortunately it is very salty, probably filled by a tsunami after an earthquake or volcanic eruption on neighboring Fernandina Island.

Present day visitors.  Shown below are some of the more recent visitors to the spot.  As far as I know, none of them are pirates.

James above Darwin Lake with the La Pinta in the distance

Paul and Gwen also made it to the top

It looks like everyone had another great day.  As usual, we still had happy hour, a lecture, and another world class dinner to go.

We had a long way to go to reach tomorrow's destination.  The ship got underway about 9 pm for a full night of sailing, including two more crossings of the equator.

Galapagos Trip 2023 -- Day 3 -- Urbina Bay, Isabela Island

It is now Day 3 of our Galapagos Adventure, Sunday, May 14, Mother's Day!  What a Mother's Day it was.  I was hiking with Gwen, Paul and the Frog.  That alone was very special to me,.  However we were not hiking just any place, we were hiking to see Galapagos Tortoises!

It was a very short trip across the Bolivar Channel from our adventure on Day 2 at Punta Espinosa to our Day 3 morning adventure at Urbina Bay (sometimes referred to as Urvina Bay) on Isabela Island.  We left Punta Espinosa just before dinner on Day 2 and were anchored at  Urbina Bay before bedtime.

The yellow line is our gps track for Day 3.  The green line is for Day 2.

The plan for the day was a hike in the morning at Urbina Bay followed by the opportunity to snorkel from the beach.  The ship would then move for adventures in and around Tagus Cove in the afternoon.

Hoping for Tortoises.  Urbina Bay is the only uninhabited location among the 60 visitor sites in the islands where tortoises are likely to be seen in the wild.  Even there, it is primarily during the rainy season (January-April/May), when the tortoises come down to the shore from the higher elevations.  It was already May, but there had been lots of green vegetation everywhere we had been, so we were hopeful there would be tortoises.

Wet landing.  Before we could get to the hike we needed to get ashore.  This would be the first wet landing of the trip.  I had envisioned wet landings to be jumping off the panga onto a sandy beach with water gently lapping at my ankles.  Well...not exactly. 

Urbina Bay definitely has a beautiful sandy beach.

Urbina Bay.  This is looking back from the beach towards the La Pinta which is the right most ship in the picture, about a mile out from the beach.

It was a gorgeous place,  but the picture above is deceptive. The beach in the picture is a plateau at least 10 feet higher than the ocean.  Beyond the edge in the picture, the beach slopes sharply down to the water.

Below is the only other picture I have of the beach, which is a shame but perhaps understandable given the wild adventure getting ashore and getting ready for the hike.

Returning to the beach after our hike.

My guidebook, which I did read beforehand this time, describes the landing at Urbina Bay as follows:

The landing on a steep beach can be so wet that you get sodden to your waist.  Keep cameras in waterproof bags!

Fortunately before the trip the Frog had found drybags on Amazon that were big enough to hold both our hiking boots and camera gear but were also configured as backpacks.  For the Frog, that meant the larger size, which you can see him carrying above in blue.  Fortunately I could get by with the smaller size.  (Mine was yellow.) We gave each other these for Christmas.  I am so glad we had them on this trip.

Although the weather was beautiful, the waves were sizeable.  I think the tide may also have been coming in.  Fortunately there were crew members from another ship on shore to help hold the pangas on the beach while we were trying to disembark,   Even then, it was all the group of them could do to keep the panga semi-steady.  It was bouncing up and down and riding in and out on the waves.  

As each of us disembarked, our guide took our bag and gave us a hand.  It was still all I could do to keep my feet as the waves hit me.  I am not sure how high the water came up on me, but it was well over my knees.  Thank goodness I had read the guidebook description about the landing and had sealed the extra camera batteries that I carry in my pocket into a plastic bag.

Well, that was fun, but it only got more exciting.  

More wetness.  We next had to get at least our feet dried off, switch from our Keen sandals to socks and hiking boots, then get our camera gear out and ready.  We had everything we needed in our drybags, but I felt slightly rushed since I did not want to keep the others that were not switching shoes waiting.

There were lots of lava rocks to one side of the beach.  You can see those a bit better in the blow-up below of the previous picture.

Lava rocks at one end of the beach.  One or two people are sitting on them to change their shoes.

It was obvious the folks from the other ship had left their belongings there and along the top of the beach.  Everyone scrambled to find a place to sit and started getting ready.  Fortunately I went close to the top.

I was moving along in the process when someone from on top starting yelling "Look out!"  A huge wave, much larger than the other breakers, swept up onto the beach and nearly reached to the top of the rocks.  It stopped just before it got to me, but caught the Frog, who was just barely below me.  However there were multiple people and lots of stuff that got very wet.  The Frog was able to grab his stuff but others were not so lucky. Paul, bless his heart, was one of several people who went down to the water and tried to recover people's belongings before they floated away.

None of this was scary, but I think I was so focused on hurrying to get ready without getting washed away (or getting my camera wet or sandy) that I forgot to take pictures.

Off we go.  Eventually everyone in our group was ready and we were off.  There are apparently multiple trails at this location.  We took the inland trail (about 0.8 miles round trip) known for land iguanas and sometimes tortoises.  Apparently the folks from the other ship were on the other trail because we never saw them.

Aerial photo of Urbina Bay with the gps track of our hike.

The trail began behind the beach.  We were immediately into an area of dense bushes with lots of birds.  Like the larger birds we had encountered elsewhere, even these little birds were remarkably tolerant of us.

We got our first good look at some Darwin finches, also known as Galapagos finches.  They are small, unexciting, sparrow-like birds, but were central to Darwin's  conceiving the theory of  natural selection.

Darwin finches on the trail

This finch in particular was willing to pose.

A female finch, probably a medium ground finch

I think it is probably a female medium ground finch, but I don't know for sure.  There are on the order of 18 different species and there is a huge amount of overlap in their appearance.

One of the biggest differences between species of Darwin Finches is their beaks.  El Nino years, with lots of rain and lots of plant growth, favor birds that can pick up the plentiful small seeds.  During La Nina years, when there is drought and primarily only large, tough seeds remain, birds with larger, tougher beaks that could crack open such tough seeds were favored.  Amazingly (and certainly unknown to Darwin) these changes are observable in only a few years or sometimes from year to year.

We also saw multiple types of small birds along the trail, including multiple yellow warblers.  Their bright yellow color really stood out in the shrubs.

Yellow warbler

We even saw a few flowers.  One, to my great surprise, turned out to be a type of cotton.  It seemed weird that such an ordinary plant as cotton showed up here, although the particular species is endemic to Galapagos.

Darwin cotton

I had always heard of hermit crabs, but had never seen one.  Now I have.

Hermit crab

We did not have to go far before we began to encounter multiple land iguanas. As usual they were just hanging out and ignored us.

I hope Gwen got a good pic of this guy.

Our assumption about sufficient green foliage to keep some of the tortoises at lower elevations was correct.  We encountered a tortoise right on the trail.

Tortoise ahead

 She (I think the guide said it was a she) was mostly interested in munching on the vegetation.

Giant Tortoise

 She did get nervous and pull into her shell when we got close.

I am happy to report she quickly recovered and was munching away again.

On the northernmosst part of the trail that turned us back towards the bay, we came to an open field and conveniently there was a tortoise munching away on the vegetation.

There have been at least 14 species of giant tortoises in Galapagos, with 12 species still surviving today.  All of those species can be divided into two types, dome-shaped and saddle back.  

All of the tortoises we saw on this hike were dome-shaped tortoises, referring to their dome shaped shell.   

The saddle back  is only found in more arid regions where there is little or no ground vegetation.  The saddle shape of their shell allows them to extend their necks more vertically and reach vegetation that is higher off the ground.

Even though the dome shaped tortoises can not extend their necks very far vertically, I was still impressed with how far they extended their necks. 

A long neck extension to grab a mouthful

Mouth open to grab another mouth full

Lots of stuff sticking out of his mouth

I have no idea how big or how old these tortoises were.  Males can weigh more than 500 pounds, while females average 250 pounds.  Tortoises are apparently the oldest living land vertebrates, with a typical lifespan of over 100 years.  A particular individual,Harriet, was reportedly collected by Charles Darwin or someone on the same voyage in 1835.  She eventually ended up at the Australia Zoo, where she died in 2006 at the approximate age of 175.

Trail Conditions.  All of the pictures posted here make it look like this was a hike on a wide, flat, open trail.  Well, not exactly.

Flat.  It is true that the area we hiked was flat.  In 1954 an upward movement of magma suddenly raised nearly a square mile of what had been sea bottom to 15 feet above water.  It extended the shoreline into the bay approximately half a mile.  

Uplifts are not uncommon, but this one was particularly dramatic.  Apparently soon after the uplift a fisherman noticed a new white stretch along the shoreline.  When he explored further he discovered an eerie landscape strewn with decomposing creatures and an unbearable stench.  Sharks, lobsters and fish were left on land, some even in the trees.  Over 6 kilometers of reef had been exposed almost instantly, including large formations of coral.  Unfortunately we did not see any of the stranded coral on our hike.  The coral, at least what little may be left, is apparently only visible on the longer trail.  

Smooth rocks on the trail--worn down by wave action?  This was  far from the current coastline.  Check out those elephant-like feet and legs.

I did go back and look at pictures of the surface of the trail.  It varied a lot, but near the location of the first tortoise the surface was smooth rock. That seems consistent with the fact it was once under water and may have been worn down by wave action even though it is now over 0.25 miles from the ocean.

Wide and Open.  As the pictures show, much of the trail was wide and open.  However,there were multiple places where there were jagged lava boulders that we had to work over or around.  It wasn't impossible, but we still had to be careful.  At least one member of our group took a hard fall and skinned his leg.  I was glad the Frog and I decided to bring the bamboo walking poles provided by the La Pinta  They helped a lot in those areas.

Little Apple of Death.  The boulder areas seemed to invariably be where the trees had grown from either side to meet low over the trail.  In many places we had to duck considerably, especially James, to make our way through.  There are no pictures through those spots.  I was just trying to stay upright.

Making our way under and through this foliage was particularly concerning to me, since the guide had already pointed out the trees were poisonous manzanilla trees, sometimes called manzanilla de la muerte, little apple of death. 

I had already done some research (here or here ) ahead of time on these trees since I was going to try and locate such a tree in front of the Charles Darwin Research Center to log as a virtual geocache.  (Yes, I found the cache.)   Eating the fruit can be deadly, but even contact with the sap can cause a rash.  Apparently a single raindrop, if standing underneath the tree during rain, can cause blistering.  

I was trying very hard not to contact the branches too much and still stay on my feet given the lava boulders, but I was sure I had brushed against them at least with my backpack.  I asked the guide if we needed to wash our skin and/or our equipment after contacting the leaves, but he was very nonchalant and said it was not a problem.  I wasn't so sure, but I guess he was right because none of us seemed to develop problems later.

The fruit may be deadly for humans, but the tortoises love them.  Apparently the iguanas eat them too

Tortoise under a manznilla tree.  Notice all of the fruit on the ground.  Yes, those are also manzanilla leaves millimeters from Gwen's elbow.

Despite the rogue ocean wave, lava boulders, and apple trees of death, we found the giant tortoises and had a great time.

One of these beasts is not like the others.

Change of plans.  The original plan had been to allow snorkeling off the beach.  Some people did get in the water, but the guides announced the waves were too large for snorkeling here.  We would go back to the ship and move on to the next site.

It was thus into the pangas for the trip back to the ship.  I had stowed my camera in the drybag for the wet boarding and I did not get it out during the trip because we were really bouncing around.  We were slapping into each wave and getting some spray since we were going directly into the waves.

Despite that, we did see some interesting things in the water including a hammerhead shark.  Alas, there is no picture, but we did see an additional hammerhead when we got back to our room.

Another hammerhead shark when we got back to the room.

We had lunch and chilled out while the ship went on to the site for our afternoon adventure, Tagus Cove.