Thursday, March 24, 2022, we had just a short journey last night from Espinosa Point on Fernandina Island to Tagus Cove on Isabela Island.
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| The red line is under the name "Tagus Cove." The cove is to the right on Isabela Island |
We anchored in a small cove that was visited by Charles Darwin in 1835. The name Tagus comes from an English warship that passed through in 1814 looking for giant tortoises (presumably for food). A huge shield volcano named after him is just to the east of the cove and a small salt water lake, 30 feet deep, in a tuff volcano cone, is also named after him a short hike up the hill from the cove. It is believed that Darwin Lake was filled by tsunamis caused by eruptions (or earthquakes?) from La Cumbre Volcano on Fernandina Island.
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| Darwin Lake in the foreground and our yacht in Tagus Cove in the background. |
It looks like the cove is carved into the side of the tuff volcano. We took a hike up above Darwin Lake to what I'm guessing was the rim of the tuff volcano and got some great views to the north of Wolf Volcano and Ecuador Volcano at the north end of Isabela Island.
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| In the foreground is old volcanic flows from Darwin Volcano. In the back, center, is Wolf Volcano, the tallest point in the Galapagos Islands. |
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| I believe Ecuador Volcano is directly in front at the northwestern tip of Isabela Island. I've been trying to determine if it is Ecuador or La Cumbre on Fernandina and have decided it is the former. |
On the hike up I saw a few Darwin finches, some Galapagos lava lizards and at the rim we saw a Galapagos hawk.
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| The top of the rim. |
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| This endemic Galapagos hawk joined us on a nearby overlook. |
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| I saw lots of lava lizards but only got this one photo. |
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| A medium ground finch, one of the Darwin finches. Saw lots of them, but this was the only decent photo. |
On the way down some friends saw a land iguana at some distance. Afterwards we went kayaking in the cove, then snorkeling. We saw penguins on the shore and I had one swim under me. I also had a sea lion swim very close to me.
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| Penguins in Tagus Cove. Photo taken with my underwater camera while snorkeling. |
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| Judy snorkels just beyond me and this Galapagos sea lion swims between us. |
As far as scenery goes, that view of Darwin Lake and the ocean in the background was one of my favorites. If a hawk can be cute, that Galapagos hawk qualifies.
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