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.