Isabela Island. Tagus Cove
An early breakfast again and then off to Tagus Cove for an demanding walk up to see Darwin’s lake. Our guide was Diego who had no idea who was at the end of his group, but we still enjoyed the scenery and seeing a few birds, probably finches.
Tagus Cove is bordered by a steep rocky coastline and has offered shelter for ships. The cove is named after the British frigate HMS Tagus visiting the Galapagos in 1814. And by the 1830s other ships had their visits recorded by painting or scratching their name onto the rocks. From the landing a trail through an incense tree forest leads past Darwin Lake to a viewpoint on top of a spatter cone.
Once back we whiled the morning away until 12.30, when we went up to the bridge for a presentation there by the captain to about eight of us, then into lunch .
Afterwards Chris had a Jacuzzi, but it started to rain as she lay down on a sunlounger.
Click on any of the thumbnail photos for a larger version
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Elizabeth Bay
At 3 o’clock, we went out on a zodiac ride through the mangroves with Javier. This was most enjoyable, tranquil, and we saw penguins, sea, lions, rays and pelicans. We started off in really heavy rain, but that soon ended.
Elizabeth Bay is one of the marine sites on Isabela’s west coast. South of Alcedo Volcano and north of Sierra Negra, It is found at Isabela’s narrowest east-west extension where the lava flows of these two volcanoes have connected each other. Elizabeth Bay’s shores show mangroves and specifically the easternmost part, a cove which can only be entered via a narrow channel, has red, white and black mangroves.
Different animals prefer different parts of Elizabeth Bay. Las Marielas, three rocks at the entrance to the bay, are favoured by Blue-footed Boobies, Flightless Cormorants and Galapagos Penguins as a resting place, while the mangrove area is preferred by Great Blue Herons for hunting or the Magnificent Frigate birds for perching.
The bay is used by turtles & rays. The mangroves in the small inlet allow smaller fish to hide from bigger predators.
Once back aboard there was a cocktail party on deck seven at 5:30 with very good nibbles. Before this we had already had the customary tapas that the Butler delivered to us each day in the cabin.
We went straight to the lecture which was on Darwin and not too good and then Paulina gave a run down of the programme for the following day during the morning, Paulina had chatted to us about our problems with the paucity of things to do and the quality of the guides. As a result of this chat, she came to us during dinner and offered us a special extra zodiac ride for the following day.
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On to Wed 13 March - Floreana , Post Office Bay & Champion Islet & Punta Cormorant