Saturday, January 14, 2017

Ecuador-Wednesday, December 21st: Isabela, Galapagos Islands


Wednesday was another boat trip.  This time to Isabela island, which is over 2 hours away.  It ended up being not as enjoyable of a boat experience as the day before.  The boat was full to capacity, loud, Preston got sick and I wasn't feeling great myself...but, we made it.  And it was worth it.

After dropping our bags off at the hostal we took a very hot and humid walk through the flamingo estuary to the Tortoise hatchery.  The animals kept things interesting enough that we could forget about how hot and sticky we felt.
With it being mating season for the iguanas, we got to witness a lot of males fighting.  
They would push each other off the rocks and bob their heads to claim their 'king of the hill' status.  
The tortoise nursery has different types of Galapagos tortoises from around the island.  It is interesting to see how the shapes of their shells evolved after being separated.
And to see how tiny they are to start off.


After our walk, we were thankful to cool off in our air conditioned room for a few minutes before our bus picked us up for our Tintoreras tour.
We went on a boat to the outcropping islands off of Isabela. It is so strange to see penguins at the Equator with crabs and iguanas by their side. 
We walked along the lichen covered volcanic rock to see the spot that the sharks like to hang out.
This sea turtle appeared to have a bite taken out of its shell.


After exploring the island we went into the water for more snorkeling.  This sea lion was very friendly and kept swimming circles around us.
And we got to see more sea turtles swimming with us also, as well as many kinds of fish and chocolate chip sea stars.  The penguins jumped in also, but they were too fast to try to swim with.
We headed back to find some dinner and enjoyed listening to the ocean that night while we slept.

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