THE GALAPAGOS - ISABELA ISLAND

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We have found a piece of paradise. Getting there was an exciting adventure. We flew from from Baltra in an 8-seater plane. It was tiny and cramped inside and felt a bit like a toy plane. Amy likened it to Noddy’s (only it wasn’t red). The view from the plane was spectacular though as you were so close to the islands as you flew over them. After the short 30 minute journey we were at Isabela Island. Our first impression was that the land was covered in a cracked lava crust and it was sort of moon-like.

The town of Puerto Villamil had sand roads and a few dusty weather-worn shops, restaurants and a handful of hotels. Our hotel for the first few nights was beautiful. Right on the beach, lots of deck chairs out the front to enjoy the view and great staff. It was a little indulgence for a few days as it was overbudget, but we enjoyed it.

On our first full day we went to the Tortoise Breeding Centre. They’d rescued 16 flat backed tortoises from the fires some years ago and now had about 200 offspring from them. We were pretty excited by all the baby tortoises who were very very cute. One of the men that worked there came and showed us a 6-month old baby tortoise he was holding. He allowed us to have a quick hold too, including Amy. It was adorable. The centre was very successful and it was great to see. Afterwards we went to see some flamingos at a nearby quarry. There were only three there at the time, but they were beautiful nonetheless. We also spent hours playing on the beach, watching the occasional sea lion play in the waves and the countless iguana on the beach.

Next day we hired a guide to take us, along with 3 others, to Los Tunneles. Waiting at the dock for our boat we spotted tiny penguins, sting-ray and sea-lions. The boat ride across to Los Tunneles was to take an hour. Within 2 minutes I had decided the trip was a BIG mistake. The swell was big and the boat driver suddenly got serious while he navigated out to open sea. We’d taken our Kwells but it wasn’t seasickness I was worried about it was our safety. However, the sea settled a little and we started to relax and enjoy the trip. On the way to the tunnels we stopped at a strange pile of rocks in the middle of the ocean, stacked up high. How they got like that is a mystery, but they were fascinating to look at and there was loads of birds & sea lions all over too.

We arrived at the spot where we had to get through the breaking surf into Los Tunneles. The driver did this skilfully, without one wave breaking on us thank goodness. Once inside the reef it all got very calm and suddenly we were surrounded by the most amazing rock formations. It looked like something on Mars - a molten lava landscape broken up by rockpools, arches, tunnels, topped by prickly cacti. Looking down into the turquoise pools of water we could see turtles, sharks, manta rays, sea lions and lots of fish of course. We first walked around on the crumbling lava near to where blue footed boobies were sitting on their eggs, then excitedly, got our wetsuits on and snorkelling gear and were in for the most fantastic snorkel. It was so unusual, going under arches in the water and looking into very deep pools, the most interesting thing was the underwater landscape and architecture. There were a couple of sea lions that swam near us but they were not interested in playing. The sharks stayed away but we saw some turtles and manta ray. Sadly our snorkelling there came to an end but it had been awesome. However, we had one more treat. The driver took us to the bay near the boat harbour for the final part of our trip. We went in the water which was filled with manta ray and went down a long channel a meter wide and less than 2 meters deep between the rocks . Within this channel were white-tipped sharks, 40 or more of them! Some of them were sleeping on the bottom, some were swimming along in front, but most were swimming directly underneath us. A few were getting a little twitchy too and I have to say that for a moment I started to wonder if they were dangerous and was glad that Amy had decided not to snorkel with us as I’m sure she’d have panicked. There was no going back either and so I followed the others through the channel which was maybe 100m long and just crossed my fingers. At the end we all stopped for a moment to catch our breath and say how incredible it was to swim with these creatures, then it was decided we’d go back and do it again! Crazy.

We moved to a guest house on day 3 as it was cheaper (but not as nice either) and headed off for a trip to the green volcano. The highlands of the island were green with lots of farming. The walk around the triplet volcano was pretty and there was a rope climb down into one of the three craters (Amy declined to do it so Andy waited with her). Inside the crater was incredible deep with a dark lava tunnel at the bottom. On our return to town we stopped at a fruit farm which was also a camping ground and had a tortoise enclosure. We were shown lots of tropical fruit trees and got to sample the passionfruit and oranges fresh from the tree which was delicious of course.

On Sunday morning we got a truck/bus out to The Wall of Tears. It is a site about 6km from the town where prisoners were kept in the 1940s. The Wall of Tears was a huge construction of lava slabs put there by the prisoners. I guess the guards wanted the prisoners to do hard-labour so they had them build a useless wall which really didn’t serve any purpose. The bus driver had walked us around the site telling us, in Spanish of course, all about it. I didn’t understand very much of what he was saying so can’t say much more about the history of the place. There was a great lookout from the hill above the wall. The truck/bus then took us back about 2km to a point near the beach so we could walk back to town. First we headed off on a path which took us to a small rocky cove. There a family had been fishing and they were cleaning the fish on the rocks. Above their heads were 20 boobies and frigate birds, some swooping down to try and steal some of the fish. We hadn’t been so close to the frigate birds before and we could have almost touched them as they flew over. We had our breakfast picnic there of bread rolls and chocolate spread.

Along the track back there were lots of side tracks with lagoons, coves, lava tunnels and more. We swam at a little bay with a sheltered rock pool to cool off and found it full of colourful fish - who were curious as we stood in the water looking down on them. Around that bay Andy photographed some of the biggest marine iguanas we’ve seen. One pair were having a fight which entails them head butting each other. It all ended fairly quickly and neither seemed particularly hurt. The final leg of the walk was along the main sandy beach for about a km. It was peaceful and beautiful.

Dinner that night was wonderful - a seafood platter of lobster, octopus, prawns, fish. Yummy.
Our last day on Isabella Island was as magical as the rest. We went to a bay close to the harbour which was completely protected by reefs. As we watched from the pontoon we could see a sea lion playing and a tiny penguin fishing in the bay. Amy fed small colourful fish from the pontoon and soon there were hundreds around us. We hastily had our picnic breakfast of empanadas then put on our swimming costumes and snorkels and we were in the water. There were stingray swimming about nearby and loads of fish. Underwater the rocks were covered in sea-urchins and seaweed which was being nibbled on by the fish. In the centre, where there were no rocks, it was deep, so deep you couldn’t see the bottom. It was a bit unnerving and thoughts of the Loch Ness Monster kept popping into my mind! Also, where it was deep it was cold, so I stuck to the shallow edges. After we walked to the boat harbour and soon discovered three very playful sealions nearby, jumping over each other, leaping into the air, generally having a mad time. At one point they came over to inspect us, but they weren’t really interested. We then went to another beach for a swim and were thrilled to see more sea lions and a penguin playing in the waves. Of course within a flash we had joined them. Amy and I were standing quite close to them at one point and they continued playing while we watched. The penguin was oblivious to us and just kept fishing and surfing the waves.

That night at our guest house they were playing beach volleyball and serving empanadas. We joined them for a beer, watched the game and watched our last Isabela sunset.

Isabela Island for us has been one of the most special places so far, not just for the abundance of wildlife, but for the surreal and magnificent landscape. We will miss it and are certain that when/if we ever come back again that it will not be the same. Amy will remember it as a place where she swam with sealions and penguins, huge iguana and red crabs, looked a big birds with blue feet and black birds with red necks. Amy will remember the powder sand beaches she loved to play on hour after hour, drawing pictures in the sand.

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Photos

Amy at Los Tunneles
Isabela Island

The Wall of Tears
Build with prisoner labour in the 1940s