Kayaks & Kaleidoscopes

A male land iguana

I'm not sure if you can feel the exhaustion through the screen as the quality of the blog posts slip day by day but here goes!

We hit the ground (and sea) running with a 7:30 am start at Urbina Bay on Isabela Island. The morning hike delivered more Galápagos magic — our first encounter with the lumbering land tortoises and, stealing the spotlight, a posse of golden land iguanas basking in the sun like they owned the place.

After days of saltwater and sunscreen, I finally surrendered to a massage. Sixty glorious minutes of bliss. I may have missed the beach swim, but my aching muscles thanked me profusely — every knot, kink, and cramp coaxed into submission. Totally worth it, especially with the unexpected USD 50 discount.

Lunch was, as always, an exercise in eating as if we hadn’t been fed hourly. Then it was onward to Tagus Cove, a historic anchorage once frequented by 19th-century whalers and pirates. It was also time to swap hiking boots for sea kayaks.

The paddle along the cliffs was an upper body workout in choppy conditions but a wildlife parade, sea turtles everywhere, marine iguanas clinging to the rocks like tiny goth geckos, and even a lone Galápagos penguin torpedoing past at record speed. I know it sounds blasphemous, but I might officially be sea-turtled and marine-iguana’ed out. (I can hear Charles Darwin sighing in disappointment.)

Naturally, there was no rest for the wicked. Deep-water snorkeling followed, where we saw penguins darting underwater like feathered bullets — a surreal, National Geographic moment in 3D. Then came the fastest outfit change in history: twenty minutes to swap fins back to hiking shoes and climb up to a viewpoint overlooking the lagoon and cove below. Totally worth it.

The day ended, predictably, with drinks, canapés, and the nightly recap before dinner. I skipped the post-meal talk — the lure of my camera roll and hundreds of unsorted photos proved stronger than scientific enlightenment.

Day 12: Tortoises, turtles, and too many activities — but at least my chakras are realigned.

One of the guides educating us on all things land tortoises

And one rolls by right on cue

A female in her "hole" not a true burrow

Yellow warbler

This is in place of doing a quad workout in the gym

Asians delight yes there are lobsters here BIG ones. This is no longer alive

Hike time

To see this. The lagoon was elevated. Our ship in the background

Sunset