Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove: Turtles, Flightless Cormorants, and Diving Boobies

The daily schedule is always displayed on the screen in the lounge. The days are pretty packed with activities. Today included a walk followed by snorkeling from the beach at Urbina Bay, more snorkeling at Tagus Cove, and then a hike to Darwin lake.

We stayed at the anchorage until around 5 a.m., which meant a much calmer night than the previous one and some genuinely good sleep.

Walking Around Urbina Bay

Our first stop of the day was Urbina Bay on the west coast of Isabela Island. The landing itself was straightforward, with an easy walk inland where we saw giant tortoises, land iguanas, and a Galápagos hawk.

We got pretty excited about this bird, thinking it was a Darwin’s finch. But it looks nothing like a Darwin’s finch and is instead a yellow warbler.

Snorkelling with Sea Turtles at Urbina Bay

Once we finished the walk, we headed straight back to the beach for a snorkel. No wetsuit this time, but the water temperature was comfortable enough without one. The area was full of sea turtles, but the water was a little murky.

Back on the Ecogalaxy, we began moving north along Isabela Island toward Tagus Cove.

Snorkelling at Tagus Cove

After lunch, we went out for another snorkel, and if anything, this one was even better. This was deep water snorkeling, so we wore wetsuits and entered/exited from the pangas. The visibility was better here because it was a dramatic dropoff rather than a shallow sandy beach.

There were sea turtles in every direction, along with flightless cormorants swimming underwater, which was something we hadn’t seen before.

Blue-Footed Boobies and Galapagos Penguins at Tagus Cove

After snorkelling, the plan was to hike to Darwin lake, but we convince the guides to take us out on a panga ride instead.

We saw plenty of blue-footed boobies.

There were a lot of boobies.

We also saw more Galapagos penguins.

We also saw a few Nazca boobies, but only managed this one butt shot.

There wasn’t much swell overall, but being so close to the cliffs meant the panga was constantly moving with the waves. Pair that with looking through a long lens, and we were both feeling a little nauseous.

Just as we thought the panga ride was over, a group of boobies began diving into the water around us, folding their wings and dropping from the sky like missiles. Excuse the shaky footage but this was so wild to see and capture on video!

 

One Last Visitor

After dinner, we had one final wildlife encounter. A sea lion appeared and settled itself on the swim platform, apparently deciding that the Ecogalaxy was as good a place as any to spend the evening.