Southern Isabela Island
Isabela Island was officially re-named by the Ecuadorian Government, in 1894, after Queen Isabel of Spain - the person who supported Christopher Columbus in his voyage of discovery to the Americas.
I don’t know, however, whether this Queen was beautiful enough to deserve having this island named after her, because this particular island has no rivals in beauty with young and astonishing volcanoes which give it a mysterious air. Isabela is by far the largest of the Galápagos Islands, and is inhabited by strange and unique life forms that are not found any place else on this planet. When I saw this island for the first time I fell completely in love with this beautiful place. It so inspired me with its unique landscapes and inhabitants that I decided it would be the perfect name for my first daughter who is named Isabela too, which reflects the fact that a child is also unique and one of it’s kind to its father.
The Islander dropped anchor at the foot of the impressive Alcedo Volcano, under a cloudless blue sky. We made a wet landing on a beach of black volcanic sand riddled with turtle tracks up to the nesting area in the dunes. The area were about to explore is named Urbina Bay, and consists in an approximately three square mile stretch of coastline was uplifted in 1954, by almost twelve feet! Those who took the long walk got to walk through a virtual cemetery of many marine organisms, including massive coral heads. The inner trail passed through land iguana nesting territories, and we spotted many of the largest and most colourful land iguanas in the archipelago.
We returned to the ship for a fabulous Ecuadorian feast, featuring dishes from many different parts of Ecuador, and repositioned to the southernmost of the Isabela volcanoes, where we disembarked in the late afternoon on Punta Moreno. This is an exceptional area where everywhere you look you see fresh, black lava flows that give us an idea how our planet formed. We can also get a idea of how these sterile flows become colonized as we come across little oases of green where salt water from the sea, filtered under the rocks, and freshwater from the highlands filled depressed areas formed by collapses of the lava when is was cooling down. These make perfect brackish water lagoons that are ideal places to spot a variety of shore birds such as pintail ducks and flamingos, as well as some unusual species such as blue-winged teals, laughing gulls and a pied-billed grebe.
Isabela Island was officially re-named by the Ecuadorian Government, in 1894, after Queen Isabel of Spain - the person who supported Christopher Columbus in his voyage of discovery to the Americas.
I don’t know, however, whether this Queen was beautiful enough to deserve having this island named after her, because this particular island has no rivals in beauty with young and astonishing volcanoes which give it a mysterious air. Isabela is by far the largest of the Galápagos Islands, and is inhabited by strange and unique life forms that are not found any place else on this planet. When I saw this island for the first time I fell completely in love with this beautiful place. It so inspired me with its unique landscapes and inhabitants that I decided it would be the perfect name for my first daughter who is named Isabela too, which reflects the fact that a child is also unique and one of it’s kind to its father.
The Islander dropped anchor at the foot of the impressive Alcedo Volcano, under a cloudless blue sky. We made a wet landing on a beach of black volcanic sand riddled with turtle tracks up to the nesting area in the dunes. The area were about to explore is named Urbina Bay, and consists in an approximately three square mile stretch of coastline was uplifted in 1954, by almost twelve feet! Those who took the long walk got to walk through a virtual cemetery of many marine organisms, including massive coral heads. The inner trail passed through land iguana nesting territories, and we spotted many of the largest and most colourful land iguanas in the archipelago.
We returned to the ship for a fabulous Ecuadorian feast, featuring dishes from many different parts of Ecuador, and repositioned to the southernmost of the Isabela volcanoes, where we disembarked in the late afternoon on Punta Moreno. This is an exceptional area where everywhere you look you see fresh, black lava flows that give us an idea how our planet formed. We can also get a idea of how these sterile flows become colonized as we come across little oases of green where salt water from the sea, filtered under the rocks, and freshwater from the highlands filled depressed areas formed by collapses of the lava when is was cooling down. These make perfect brackish water lagoons that are ideal places to spot a variety of shore birds such as pintail ducks and flamingos, as well as some unusual species such as blue-winged teals, laughing gulls and a pied-billed grebe.
