Day 5–Exploring Isabela

After breakfast we went to Urbina Bay to hike around the sandy and lava stone trail to look for Galapagos tortoises and land iguanas in the wild.  This hike was amazing!! We saw so many tortoises, iguanas and beautiful foliage.  The tortoises were just freely roaming about frequently ambling down our walking trail.  They are magnificent.  

We were supposed to snorkel in this area but the water was too rough and not good condition for snorkeling. We were, however, able to swim; which we did for quite a while.  We were joined by a couple curious sea lions which was also amazing. 

Back at the boat we had lunch and prepared for our deep water snorkeling adventure.   Again, another magnificent experience.  We saw so many animals including, small barracuda, many tropical fish, many starfish such as the chocolate chip starfish, red starfish, blue starfish and more playful sea lions.  They got so close you could touch them (but we didn’t because it’s better for the animal if we just watch).  One came almost nose to nose with us before we could swim back a bit.  I tried to take a photo but it all happened so quick I missed it. 

We had a late afternoon hike off Tagus Cove where we ascended to see wonderful views of Darwin Lake and the cove.  We saw lots of birds and lovely views along the way.