Galapagos Series - Isabela Island

Isabela is the largest of the islands and is probably the easiest to see without a guide.  We spent three days on Isabella mainly relaxing and eating.  We also decided to properly honeymoon a little and booked ourselves into quite a nice hotel called La Casa De Marita.  It was right on the water and had the one pre-requisite for any beach front hotel – hammocks.

When we weren’t sipping on cocktails or trying some of the local fare we ventured out to see some of the local wildlife. 

Mmmm delicious Smurf Sperm.

We booked an afternoon bay tour which took us out to a rocky outcrop in the bay called Tintoreras.  Here we saw our first Blue Footed Boobies!  The island is called Tintoreras because there are often the white tip reef sharks (tintoreras in Spanish) resting and eating in the areas.  There is also a large marine iguana nursery and sea lion colony.

Earlier on Marc was still excited to see a Sea Lion...

Then he just got bored with them.

These sea lions have commandeered an abandoned vessel

Marine iguana nursery

The next day we headed inland to a lava cave.  We were the only ones there and were ill equipped.  Luckily our friendly taxi driver was on the ball and had a torch ready and waiting for us.   It wasn’t the longest of trails (the recommended hour and 15 minutes is a tad excessive) but it was a pleasant walk.

Entering the lava tunnel

Recommended time - 1 hour 45 minutes.  Actual time - 25 minutes.

The rest of the time was spent relaxing and ordering room service pina coladas.