Mangle Point and Urbina Bay

Mangle Point has had no foreign species that  have ever invaded Fernandina Island and therefore it is one of the world's most pristine island ecosystems. The volcano “La Cumbre” dominates the landscape with lava fields reaching the ocean. This area as our guide Paulina told us had not been visited in 12 years and has just recently been reopened for visitors.This was one of the main reasons I chose this itinerary for the Galapagos, though I was not sure about some of the stops because there was not much info about them on the web I took a chance , it was well worth it. Because the area had not been well visited we ran into some local fishermen that were in the area that had traveled at least 60 miles to come to this area to fish and it provided safe harbor for them to spend the night.The mangrove areas were pristine! We entered a through a very rocky bottom that showed how experience our panga guide was, he basically turned the boat backwards so that he can view the bottom and not hit any rocks he is cleaver. As we entered we were welcomed by a few  sea lions and quickly saw like 20 spotted sea rays, sting rays , flightless cormorants. But as we got more into the mangrove we found death , the bill of a swordfish and other carcasses of fish just laying on the bottom which was ok as these local have the right to fish in their area I just did not want to see it. I had been around so much life and friendly animals I did not want to see all of that death plus it reeked!
We returned back to the boat after our dingy exploration and wet suits it was , back in that cold water. Brrrrr. We swam along the  rocky coast and along the way some marine iguanas just hanging out on the rocks and many many tropical fish.But the best was the large turtle that swam so peacefully with me , below is a video of the turtle.

Turtle at Mangle Point

But who would of thought after all that we just saw that was so amazing it would get better. I swan around the corner of the jetty and found a group of sea lions that thought I was their very best friend, I tell you I have so fallen in love with these animals they are fascinating and amazing, as I write I wish I could just snap my finger and be there right now swimming with them. Check out this video I will post of them there is one that just stares at me and just wants to play, then they all jump in and bombs away playtime! What a treat to be in the water with these wild animals, this is not swim with the sea lions at a park it is in their own environment in the wild, just amazing!

playing with the sea lions at mangle point

Later on that afternoon we went for a hike at Urbina Bay which presents some fascinating geological formations. In 1954, characterized by the resulting terrestrial coral reef , geology has given a touch of magic to this place over time. Once upon a time was the bottom of the ocean I am talking about an uplifted area created by the movement of tectonic plates. A big area of the coast of Urbina Bay was uplifted  bringing upwards some giant brain coral and other marine life that composes the sedimentary rock on land.  As we hiked in the gloomy rain  we began to look for land iguanas in the area because this is the Island that has the larger spices though there were not as many as we thought we would see because I think they were all holding up in their land holes staying as warm as they could and keeping from the rain. We did come across a few and they were very prehistoric looking land iguanas.



 Off to Punta Espinosa & Tagus Cove tomorrow.

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