Day 10: Isabela Island

We had an early wake up today in order to eat breakfast and get to the airport for our first inter-island flight leaving at 8:00 am. But because the airport is tiny, and so is the plane, we didn’t need to leave the hotel until 7:15 am.

Martin picked us up with a taxi and it took about five minutes to get to the airport. When we arrived, all we had to do was check our bags (after they weighed them to make sure they were under 25 pounds, which was probably the part of checking-in they took most seriously).

Check in at the only open gate

The airline only has two planes, and our flight only had about 10 seats. So there wasn’t exactly a long line. When everyone was checked in, they walked us to the main airport to go through security and wait at the only gate. As a surprise bonus, there was a Priority Pass lounge that we gladly utilized for 10 minutes.

Just a bunch of VIPs in the lounge

When it was time to board, we all went onto the tarmac and loaded ourselves into the plane. We were sitting right behind the pilot. Probably could have sat shotgun if we asked since there was no co-pilot. We took off just after 8:00 am and were in the air for about 45 minutes before landing on Isabela Island. Totally beats the boat ride, which would have been at least two hours to Santa Cruz, then another two hours to Isabela.

I’m not used to being taller than the plane

Captain Luis gives us the sky team rules briefing

Starting the decent to Isabela Island

After landing, we grabbed our bags as they were removed from the cargo hold and walked a few feet to the road where our taxi driver Jonathan picked us up. Like San Cristobal, the main town is pretty compact and it only took a few minutes to arrive at the hotel. Since it was only 9:00 am, our room wasn’t ready yet. No problem, we got ourselves ready for the morning adventure and left our bags with the hotel before Jonathan picked us up and took us to the docks.

Hotel Casita de Marita

Similar to yesterday, we were once again part of a larger group on a boat, but with Martin as our guide, it was still effectively our own tour. The first part was a short boat ride to see any wildlife we could spot. We saw blue footed boobies and some other various birds.

Blue Footed Booby

Next up was a short walk on the lava flow next to the water. Isabela island is the biggest of the Galápagos Islands and was formed by volcanic activity resulting in large areas of lava. On the path were Iguanas (full grown and a bunch of babies) and lava lizards. We also saw a few sea lions playing in the water and could see a sea turtle in the distance.

Just sea lion around

A bunch of marine iguanas on the rocks

The final event of the morning was snorkeling. The water was pretty clear and was mostly shallow, though it did drop off to deeper sections. We saw sea turtles, lots of different fish, a few different types of sting rays, inlcuding the marbled sting ray (which was huge), and sharks! This tour was called Las Tintoreras, which is the type of shark we saw. Aptly named tour. As an added bonus, we saw Galapagos penguins on the rocks at the shore. Overall, a great snorkel day.

Ready to jump in

Following a sea turtle

We saw penguins!

We climbed back onboard and headed straight back to the pier. Jonathan picked us up again to take us back to the hotel. Our room was ready and we had some time to change before lunch. The Mexican restaurant was a few blocks away, and we walked along the beach to get there.

Isabela Island shoreline

Met another penguin

Blue Heron enjoying a beach day

After lunch, we walked to a lagoon where you can sometimes see pink flamingoes if you are lucky. And we were! We saw about 10 of them hanging out in the lagoon. I don’t think you can see both penguins and flamingos in the same day in most places.

Next stop was the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. Jonathan was busy, so his cousin picked us up. When we arrived, Martin told us that introduced animals, like goats, became invasive and threatened the tortoise population. Now there are projects to get rid of the goats and increase the tortoise population back to what it was before humans arrived. The center has different areas for different ages of tortoises. We saw little babies all the way to fully grown giant adult tortoises.

Giant tortoise breeding center

Baby (not so) giant tortoises

From the center, we walked a path to a different lagoon (no flamingoes this time) then continued on back to the main town. Now having an understanding of where we were, we said bye to Martin for the next few hours. We walked around the shops and were successful in finding a little stone turtle (that doubles as a magnet), blue footed boobie, and a sea lion to add to our collection.

Oh, look. Isabela Island likes Darwin too

We walked back along the beach to the hotel and tried to relax on the back porch. We were in the shade, but there was no breeze and it was just too hot. Plus the hotel bar’s “special” two for one cocktail deal was still ridiculously expensive. We took all of this as a sign to go find one of the many bars on the beach. We walked to the first bar we saw that had (1) shade, (2) a breeze, and (3) a good happy hour special. We enjoyed our drinks and the view while catching up on some blogging.

Tracking the elusive Galapagos beach chair

Our plan was to stay to watch the sunset over the ocean, but it was a bit too cloudy by that time. We stopped back at the hotel to drop off some things before walking to dinner. The restaurant was on the beach and aptly named Beach Restaurant. Pro tip: when you are on an island, always order the fish.

Martin surfs and knows things!

Tasty fish and octopus

Tomorrow takes us to yet another island — technically two. We will first fly to Baltra (because that is where the airport is), then take a ferry to Santa Cruz (because that is where the giant tortoises are).