Pulau Isabela - Galapagos

Once again, we first took the taxi boat to the speedboat, this time a unfortunately not so comfortable model, and then about 2 hours to Isla Isabela. The ride was very bumpy, as there were many waves and we were moving at a fast pace. When we arrived in Isabela, we were greeted by the sun again and we switched from the speedboat to the taxi boat and onto the dock. Isabela is the largest island, but has few inhabitants and consists only of a single town, the rest is a nature reserve. After checking in at the hostel, we strolled through the sleepy town at noon. Spontaneously, we booked a half-day tour for the same day. We took the boat out into the bay for snorkeling, where we saw a large turtle with a piece missing from its shell. We also saw a huge stingray swimming in front of us, round like a pizza. And then we swam through small lava channels, where the whitetip reef sharks take their nap. The tour was aptly named "Tintoreras," which is the word the locals use for these sharks. And we actually found 5 of them, sleeping just below us. Afterwards, we went to Islote Tintoreras and saw the cute Galapagos penguins, which are the second smallest in the world. They swam super fast through the water, waddled on the rocks, and hopped from stone to stone - absolutely adorable. There were also many blue-footed boobies and other seabirds. Then we went ashore on the island and saw baby iguanas and adult ones, which were lying in the sun in large numbers. We could also see more whitetip reef sharks from above in the clear water. In a small bay, we watched blue-footed boobies and sea lions hunting for fish. Our guide explained that sometimes they work together, and their only enemy is the frigate birds, the pirates of the sky, who like to steal the catch from the blue-footed boobies. After the tour, we met Inés and Lauren in a cocktail bar for happy hour and had a nice evening. Lauren had to leave early the next morning and we made plans with Inés for a bike tour.

So the next morning we rented bikes and rode to the famous "Wall of Tears," which was built by prisoners under difficult conditions in the 1950s and still stands as a memorial. On the way there, we saw several giant tortoises again. From a viewpoint, we could admire the endlessly long white sandy beach of Isabela. On the way back, we stopped at various beautiful beaches and once again watched iguanas, sea lions, and turtles in the water. On the way back to our hostel, we saw flamingos as the crowning glory! These islands are simply beautiful! After a short lunch break, we went snorkeling near the dock in the late afternoon. We saw turtles - they are really everywhere 😁 - and then a beautiful blue spotted eagle ray. Just before we were about to leave, we suddenly saw another really big eagle ray and swam after it for a long time. We finished the snorkeling with a cute little turtle, which calmly nibbled on algae right in front of us. For dinner, we met Jasmin again, who had also arrived on Isabela by now - in the end, we mostly follow the same route - so we could spend a lot of time with our little group ☺️.

For the next day, we had booked a hike to the second highest volcano on Isabela together with Jasmin. The island originated from originally 6 volcanoes, of which 5 are still active today. The Sierra Negra volcano is the only one that can be hiked. We walked past cows and fog and arrived at the crater, which is located at 1000m and is truly impressively large at 7 x 9km. Then we walked to another rocky area with a beautiful landscape of red, black, and yellow rocks. After a small snack accompanied by the song of a mockingbird, we walked back to the transportation and drove back to the town. We spent the afternoon lounging on the beautiful beach and demonstrated our artistic skills with sand drawings. After a quick visit to the souvenir shops, we went to our usual happy hour cocktail bar and then to our favorite restaurant. And then it was time to say goodbye to Jasmin, who will stay on Isabela a bit longer. Inés will travel with us to Santa Cruz tomorrow. She will spend a few more days on San Cristóbal, while unfortunately, we have to return to the mainland. We didn't want to leave, we enjoyed this idyllic paradise so much. We will definitely not be here for the last time! Even though the entry is a bit more expensive, the prices on-site are reasonable and worth every penny.

Early in the morning, we will take the ferry back to Santa Cruz, where we will take the bus, taxi boat, and another bus to the airport to fly to Quito from there. From Quito, we will go to the Amazonas directly on the same evening!