Isabela: Caleta Tagus … Darwin’s Lake Walk

Tuesday, July 10 (Part IV)

After the zodiac portion of our afternoon activity (post here), we headed to the landing site for a short walk.  This was our only opportunity to walk on Isabela Island. 

The landing was described as a tricky, dry landing.  Tricky it was in that the zodiac nosed up to the shoreline and we had to step out onto wet rocks that could be slippery.  Just before we debarked the panga, the crewman on shore put down a wet Celebrity beach towel to help with traction, so it turned out to be not too bad after all.

Nosing up to these rocks, we’ll land for our short walk.
Note the graffiti on the rocks.  is it all historic? …

… I don’t think so.  Some of these are dated 2007; and I think Flugt 77 is a reference to
the American Airlines flight that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
So much for graffiti being prohibited now :-(

The walk began with 150 steep steps.  Taking it slow, most of us made it up OK, but at least one person in the group gave up and returned to the landing site instead of continuing the short distance to the lake.

These steep steps lead to an overlook with a view of Caleta Tagus.

The path to the Darwin’s Lake overlook was narrow and followed the rim of a volcanic tuff cone.  Darwin mentions swimming in this crater lake when he visited the island in 1835.  It is thought that the crater was filled by a tidal wave resulting from the eruption of a volcano on neighboring Fernandina Island.  (History does record an eruption that took place in 1825.)  About 60 feet (18 m) deep, the lake is saltier than the surrounding sea water.  This is attributed to the fact that as the water in the lake evaporates, it leaves behind its salt content.  This salt is added to the sea water that seeps into the crater from the porous rocks that form the sides of the crater, thus increasing the salinity.

Two to Travel at Darwin’s Lake.

We didn’t go much further than this overlook.  Yes, it was a short walk; perhaps a little too short.  But I’m still glad we chose this over the alternative of the ‘fitness walk’.  Those who took the longer walk later confirmed that they indeed made only a few stops.  I can speed-walk for exercise when I get home :-)

From the bottom of the steps looking towards the landing site.

The hours after our return to the Xpedition were not all that different from yesterday.  We cleaned up, downloaded pictures and videos, and joined our shipmates in the Discovery Lounge for the briefing on tomorrow’s activities.  Oh yeah; one difference — instead of piña colada, the featured cocktail was the blue-footed booby!

The blue-footed booby is made with Cana Manabita (Or rum), pineapple juice, Blue Curacao, & cream.

We joined the Passmans for dinner once again.  We’ve been struck by how much this family of four — mom, dad, and two adult kids — really enjoy each other’s company.  We also invited Scott and Cindy from Toronto, whose company we had enjoyed previously, to join our table.  The conversation was lively; always an indication of a good evening.

Our selections from the Day 3 Menu.

We wanted to round out the night with a bit more stargazing.  We even went up to deck 6 with our travel flashlight to make it easier to find our way to the bow.  Alas, the cloud cover got in the way.  Maybe tomorrow night.

The Xpedition will be rounding the tip of Isabela Island overnight, once again taking us briefly into the northern hemisphere before we head south of the Equator to our next island.  Let’s see, on this trip we’ve traveled between the hemispheres twice already; today will make it three times.  Or should I double that number, counting once each way for a total of six crossings :-)  Regardless, even though we elected not to attend tonight’s ‘crossing the line ceremony’ and pay our respects to King Neptune — not our cup of tea, I’m afraid — we definitely deserve the certificates that were sitting on the bed when we returned to the cabin.

It’s official!

P.S.  For those curious, there’s more about the crossing ceremony and its origins here.

Isabela: Caleta Tagus by Panga

Tuesday, 10 July (Part III)

After the deepwater snorkel participants returned to the ship, the Xpedition remained at anchor in Caleta Tagus for the next activity of the afternoon.  Tagus Cove, by the way, was named for a British naval vessel that moored here in 1814 to look for giant tortoises, a favored source of meat for seafarers of yon.

The arrow points to the site of our two afternoon activities.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]

There were two options given for the post-snorkel activities — a long fitness walk and short zodiac ride vs an extended zodiac ride and short walk.  We opted for the latter.  Not because the first option was difficult; it wasn’t.  We just wanted a slower pace to appreciate what we were seeing and doing.

To keep the number of people on the trail manageable, the last couple of groups to leave the ship did the zodiac ride first.  The panga hugged the rocky shoreline where the wave action was strong, but our driver managed to give us a relatively steady ride.  This option was definitely the better choice for us as we saw quite a bit of wildlife perched on shore, including flightless cormorants drying out their wings after a swim.

A sally lightfoot crab trods over a barnacle-covered rock.
barnacles are related to crabs and lobsters.  The nutrient-rich, cold waters of
Bolivar Channel, where the Cromwell current upwells, is an ideal habitat for them.

From its size, I’d guess this is a young marine iguana.  the A. c. albemarlensis, Named for
rulers of spain, is a different species from the iguanas we saw on Santiago yesterday.

Brown Pelican — breeding adult (left) and Flightless Cormorant.

the iconic pose of a flightless cormorant shows its stubby, useless-for-flight wings.
some sources say that cormorants use this posture to dry their wings, others
believe it aids thermoregulation, digestion, and balancing.

Note the fuzz on the wings of the flightless cormorant center right;
this is a juvenile that is just shedding its baby down.

Like other penguin species, the Galápagos penguin is monogamous and mates for life.
Less social than the other species, they live in pairs or small groups of 5-6 penguins.
the small population of 2,000 or so penguins are concentrated mostly around
Isabela and fernandina islands where the cromwell upwelling brings the colder,
nutrient-rich  waters of the humboldt current to the surface.

The great blue heron is not endemic to the archipelago.  It is believed to have arrived
here from Central America or extreme northwestern Ecuador, where it is rare.

This marine iguana is getting the ‘spa treatment’ from a Darwin’s Finch.

The Nazca Booby is sufficiently different from the masked booby so as to be
considered a separate species Nearly endemic to the Galápagos Islands.

Compared to the blue-footed boobies we saw at Elizabeth Bay, these birds have
less yellow on their iris; this identifies them as female.

The eroded cliff ledges make a good resting spot for sea lions and marine iguanas.

From this point, we continued onto the land portion of our afternoon activity … coming up in the next post.

Isabela: Deepwater Snorkel

Tuesday, 10 July (Part II)

After returning from our zodiac ride in Elizabeth Bay (post here), we had free time aboard the ship while the second group went out for their ride.  We took advantage of this time to relax on deck 6 and keep an eye out for whales and dolphins.  No luck with any sightings.

Once the second group returned to the ship shortly before noon, the Xpedition weighed anchor and started the short transit north to the site of our afternoon activities — Caleta Tagus (Tagus Cove) — via the Bolivar Channel between Isabela and Fernandina islands.

The arrow points to the site of our two afternoon activities.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]

The transit took about 2 hours, which gave us time to have lunch on deck 5 (carried from the Italian buffet featured in the Darwin Restaurant).  The BBC film, Galápagos (Part II), was being screened in the Discovery Lounge after lunch.  Having watched the entire series shortly before we left on our trip, we skipped the documentary and relaxed on deck 6 instead — reading (me) and napping (Mui).

At our Caleta Tagus anchorage, the zodiacs are readied for the first afternoon activity.

At 3:00p, Mui joined the rest of the snorkelers for the deepwater experience.  Different from the off-beach snorkels, this one left directly from the ship and participants had to get in/out of the water from the panga via a ladder.

For this snorkeling experience, those participating gear up on deck 3 aft before …

… they take off to the snorkeling site by zodiac.

This activity was billed as suitable for advanced snorkelers.  What that really meant was that those participating needed to be comfortable in depths where there was no possibility of standing to rest.  (Mui didn’t use one, but snorkeling vests were available.)

Mui said the currents were stronger, so you had to be more careful about being washed up against the rocky shoreline.  Also, because the water was open to the sea, visibility wasn’t very good, either.  The murkiness could have been due to plankton and other microscopic life in the water.  After all, there is a reason why this area is popular with dolphins and whales.

That description of the deepwater experience is all well and good, but that wasn’t the first thing out of his mouth when he returned to the ship.  When I asked him how it was, “Coooooldddd,” was his response.  And yes, he stretched out the word :-)  Regardless, he had a big grin on his face, so I know he enjoyed himself.

Here’s a bit from Mui’s snorkeling experience; you can see how much stronger the
currents were from the movement of the camera, especially when he was
swimming with the Galápagos green turtles.

So what did I do while Mui was off snorkeling?  I wandered around the ship, taking photos of the graffiti on the cliffs.  Historically, Caleta Tagus was an anchorage spot for pirates, whalers, and wayfarers who carved the names of their ships on the rocks.  The oldest of these apparently date back to 1836 and 1846.  The practice is now prohibited, of course; but I did see some that were dated as late as 2007.

Can you see the graffiti on the cliffs?  Look at the striated rocks?  Still not seeing them ...

… how about now?
Labeling the graffiti as historic still doesn’t make it right (IMHO).

The graffiti documented, I took advantage of one of the umbrella-shaded tables at the Beagle Grill to enjoy a cold beverage and some reading time until the snorkel pangas started to trickle back to the ship.

Mui’s smiling; must’ve been a good snorkel!

Time to get ready for the next activity of the afternoon!