On Board the Carina on Isabela, Galapagos - Urbina Bay & Mangle Point, Day 11 - Friday, 24 December 2021

Galivanting thru the Galapagos & the Amazon

Day 11 - On Board the Carina (Isabela: Urbina Bay & Fernandina: Mangle Point) - Friday, December 24, 2021

Urbina Bay: A long, loop trail leads the visitor away from the beach and into the arid zone of the island. Here visitors may have the chance to see giant tortoises, land iguanas, and flightless cormorants (near the coast). The most unique feature at Urbina Bay is the result of an uplift of the island in 1954, when a 6-km stretch of coral reef was raised up 5 m, stranding the coral heads above sea level with the new coastline more than a km away. However, exposed to the air, the coral heads are rapidly deteriorating.

My day started an hour too early! I heard our anchor pull up & we started moving & I misread my Fitbit watch! I got up showered & started dressing before I realized it was 5:15am rather than 6:15am!! Sigh. Too late to go back to sleep, I just read until it was time for George to wake up!! By that time we were Anchored in Urbina Bay, on the west side of Isabella, in the indention across from Fernandino Island.

We had our breakfast of omelettes, crepes, fruit, some sort of bacon, slipped our swim suits on under our hiking clothes & loaded in the pangas for our first "wet" landing experience.  All of us managed it without any problems & then after drying off a bit, we inspected this deep dark sandy beach that had tiny shells all mixed into the soil.  It was a rather grey day, but very warm - low 80's.  

 There were others on the beach, but they appeared to be leaving. We didn't mix with them, just set off on our walk.

Luis did his thing again with calling the Finches.  Not as many responded this time, but we did get a few of them.  Also more mockingbirds.  

Luis gave us lots of info about all the plants growing in this arid looking soil..  Several big ground tortoises were lumbering along the trails too.  

Luis continued with our educational walk - pointing out everything from seashells to iguana holes to seal throwup!!! We did manage to see a hawk hunting for it's morning meal. Sun was in the wrong direction for me to get any decent picture. He looked great in the binoculars though. Added a Ebird photo to give you an idea. He was rather smallish compared to the hawks we see in Arizona.

We finished the small loop & Jonathan took one of the Susan's & Kathi back to the beach to go back to the Carina, while the rest of us continued on a longer loop.  This was really desolate terrain, but we hadn't had a chance to walk outside much, so all of us were anxious to keep moving while we could.  Very glad it was overcast, as it was getting really hot quickly.  I kept seeing birds, but I couldn't keep Luis's attention - he was focused on the terrain.  The only thing other than the usual mockingbirds was a possible siting of Ani's & maybe a Cuckoo?  Mostly just mockingbirds & finches.  And the Hawk.  At one point, we were kinda fighting our way through some thick underbrush & we disturbed a Paper Wasp Nest.  Luis had us go back a ways while he found it & moved it out of the path.  He got stung on the forehead, but the rest of us were okay.  Our brave & fearless leader had saved us!!!

We saw land iguana's along the way too.  And lots of coral.  As the description said, this island had been mostly underwater until just recently & the coral heads are still present.  Very interesting & shows how this archipelago is still in flux!

The trail eventually led us back to the water's edge.  Still pretty touch going - the black lave rocks were making it quite a scramble & we were all working up a sweat.  Only a couple of miles, but with the heat & the rocks, it felt like further.  We were all pleased to see the beach again.

I just waded along the water's edge (the water was pretty darn cold!!!), but most of the others went in for a dip.  George said it was very refreshing, but that didn't entice me enough!  I just sat in the black sand & watched & took pictures!

Luis made a call to the ship & made a delivery for us.  PJ did the pick up.

Beer for the troops!  Yea!  Lovely way to celebrate our successful traipse around Urbina Bay.

Soon we loaded back onto our Panga & headed back to Carina.  Good bye Urbina Bay!  Hard to believe it's Christmas Eve!!!  Luis was originally wanting to let us snorkel, but decided the water was still a little too murky for it to be worthwhile. 

Francisco had been busy in our rooms & we had these adorable rays waiting for us in our cabin.  We had lunch & then started our cruise across to Fernandino Island and Mangle Point.

After a short nap, I realized we were anchored again & got up to peek outside.  I tride my darndest to get a picture of the strangest sight - it was a black fin tracing patterns in the water beside the ship.  I thought it must be a shark, but several days later (still to come in the travelogue), I was to realize I was seeing the fin of a Sun Fish!  It was very exciting at the time, regardless of what it was!!!!

About 2pm we loaded into the Pangas & cruised the short distance to the coast of Fernandino.  We saw rays in the water on the way over.

Mangle Point:  A visit to Mangle Point allows visitors to witness the amazing views and wildlife on the Coast of Fernandina Island. This is a small inlet on Fernandina's coast where you can snorkel to your hearts delight and watch playful sea lions, curious penguins, and also catch a glimpse of where flight less cormorants reside.

This place was wonderful for our afternoon cruise - we saw all kinds of turtles, Eagle rays, Golden rays, playful baby sea lions, Flightless Cormorants on nests, tons of marine iguanas, and even a Black Tipped Reef shark!!!  There was our first Nazca booby too!!!  

Wilson's Phalarope

Wandering Tattler

I added a couple of birds to my list.  I couldn't get any pictures, so sharing the ones from Ebird!  Also saw another hawk, & loads of Frigates.

At one point we saw a small sea turtle that we were afraid not be dead or injured.  Luis got out of the boat to investigate & it swam away!  He had a big smile about that!  Notice the Sea Lion looking on!!

The afternoon was just magical.  The weather was so beautiful & the wildlife so incredible.  We were just in heaven for sure.  The pictures don't even begin to do it justice.  What amazing memories for a Christmas Eve!!!!   We saw these enormous flocks of small white seabirds on numerous occasions, but couldn't determine what they were for sure.  Loved seeing the Flightless Cormorants side by side with the hundreds of Marine Iguanas!

We got back on board the Carina to find a very special table set for the evening.  The Captain wanted to cross back over to Isabel Island into Tagus Cove for the night so we'd be quiet & protected for the evening.  It was a lovely evening to cross - smooth water & very warm.  We all stayed up on the top deck to enjoy the crossing.  The Frigates kept an eye on us!

They had a very special evening planned for us.  We had a our choice of 2 different soups, a full size roasted Turkey, Sushi (both California rolls & tuna!!), dressing (albeit a little strange), lots of vegetables, salad, fruit, a Christmas bread complete with dried fruit, and a gorgeous cake with Christmas icing!  

Everyone was in a festive mood - we didn't sing Christmas carols, but we were all pleased to be together & healthy - that was for sure.  I handed out my Christmas blinkies!!!  I gave the Staff little blinking cruise ships.  They all seemed very pleased!

The staff sat & shared our meal with us.  That was one of the best moments of the entire week.  We all got tickled at Jonathan - he was very excited to be served a Turkey leg!  And ate the entire thing!

The champagne was included & all of us over indulged with food & drink!!  Each table setting included it's own personal bag of Christmas cookies too!   

Immediately after finishing our meal, Jonathan got the crew to doing a competition on napkin folding.  He said that most of the crew had had to learn all aspects of the work to be able to fill in for each other since it was such a small crew.  Even the Captain could fold special napkins!

Then the crew turned up the music & we danced for several hours!  Jonathan taught Sandy to salsa and Joanne & Francisco danced a lot.  George & I even did a Cha Cha!  It was a wonderful evening.  George & I finally retired to our cabin about 9:30pm - still had time for a Man in the High Castle before sleep!