Before I dive into the details of the final 3 days spent in the Galapagos, I must back up and tell you about the group that we spent our time with while there. It was made up of the 4 of us, a lovely newly engaged Canadian couple from Toronto, and 2 Russian couples. We first met the Russians while enjoying our ocean-side lunch within the first hour of arriving. I was rudely disrupted from my chips and guacamole by a clapping sound, followed by an angry bark that was coming from the sea lion resting area. As it turns out, one of the Russian men was disrupting the sea lions from their nap by clapping in their faces, hoping to get a good photo of them. I’m not sure what kind of photo he ended up with, but I’m nearly certain that he almost lost a hand. Sea lions may be adorable, but they have a mean side when annoyed. Going forward, I’m going to refer to this Russian wonder as “Ding Bat” (Jord – I hope it’s okay I adopted this nickname. I promise it was well deserved!). If you don’t already know why he was gifted this nickname, you will shortly. We arrived at the Giant Tortoise farm and while our naturalist, Juan Carlos Naranjo (John Charles Orange Tree in English), was explaining to us the mating rituals of the tortoises, Ding Bat is getting far too close to a baby tortoise. Within mere centimetres of him touching the tortoise, my mom yelped loudly and Juan Carlos whipped around, yelling for him not to touch the tortoise because he could frighten her for life. He stared at back and Juan Carlos with a dumb look on his face, perplexed at why he couldn’t touch the tortoise. He then proceeded to ask what they were doing with the tortoises and why they were protecting them. In case that was unclear, they are a unique and endangered species that the Galapagos is working very hard to preserve. As if that wasn’t enough, the following day, Ding Bat accidentally dumped his kayak and was left flailing in the water, life jacket up around his ears because he had put it on wrong. Instead of listening to the instructions from the guide, the naturalist, and the captain of the boat, Ding Bat flailed around, grabbing for the boats ladder. He hooked it onto the side of the boat incorrectly, scratching the side in a clumsy attempt to climb out of the water. It was not until the captain yelled at him to stop, wincing at the scratch on his boat, that Ding Bat finally relented and listened to instructions. Ryan and I were both trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the entire situation, while my parents, who were still in their kayak, went to fetch his paddle, which was drifting towards the shore. We proceeded to snorkel from there, and instead of changing into his bathing suit, Ding Bat jumped back in fully clothed. He was already wet, so there was no point in getting his bathing suit wet as well, right?! Fortunately (unfortunately?), our time was numbered with Ding Bat, as him and his wife stated that night after our briefing for the following day that they didn’t want to walk to the crater, and that they would prefer to sit on the beach and watch the ocean instead. It was probably for the best that they skipped the hike. Ding Bat probably would have tried to climb in the crater or something ridiculous like that. Nevertheless, Ding Bat provided a solid comic relief for the first few days!
As previously mentioned, our 3rd day on Isla Isabela began early with a hike up to the top of Sierra Negro shield volcano, which has the 2nd biggest crater in the world. The morning was beautiful, but within in minutes of climbing up hill, we were all drenched in sweat. Thirty degree weather is much nicer when you’re not hiking in it! Despite the heat, standing on the rim of the crater looking out into the distance was definitely worth the effort. Quite different from the Quilotoa crater, this crater was filled with dried, black lava, having last erupted in 2005. We spent a while admiring the beautiful view before heading back down the volcano and down the road to do some bird watching; specifically looking for the different types of finches that live in the woodlands. From there, we made our way to a local farm where they fed us a delicious and hearty Ecuadorian meal. Fortunately, we had a relaxing afternoon snorkelling off the beach near the main port. The snorkelling was mediocre here, but it was really interesting to see the shipments of supplies coming in and out of the island. A cargo ship was anchored off the shore and smaller boats were bringing in loads of beer, pop, toilet paper, and even a mattress. The supplies were piled high on the beach, waiting to be picked up by their owners. The beach is also covered with sea lions lounging in the shade, some even lying on the beach chairs! They don’t really leave much room for human sunbathers. After being in the Galapagos, I have decided that I would like to be a Galápagos sea lion in my next life! As we were drying off and the sun was beginning to set, the boobies and pelicans were beginning to feed; they would circle the water until they spotted a fish and then dive straight down to catch it. It was pretty incredible to watch.
The following day we set off early on a boat and headed towards Los Tuneles, which is a labyrinth of volcanic rock left over from past volcanic eruptions. Our captain expertly steered us through the narrow channels between the volcanic arches. The lava stretched for miles, the occasional cactus poking its head up through the lava. This was one of the most spectacular and most unique landscapes I have ever seen. We wandered the lava by foot, observing the blue footed boobies and finches, as well as the unique rock formations. On the way back to Isabela we stopped to snorkel twice. We saw an incredible amount of wildlife, including more than 5 turtles, sting rays, an octopus, manta rays, and reef sharks. Near the end of our second snorkel we came across 2 turtles sleeping about 6 feet below us. One stirred as we floated over top him and he began to rise, breaking the surface only a few feet from our group, and then swimming below again to feed. The fact that he wasn’t scared of us so closely was pretty amazing. As we made our way back to the mainland, our captain decided that we would fish for tuna. Within moments of casting the rod, a tuna was hooked and the Canadian guy from our tour got to reel in the catch. A second line was cast and my dad reeled this one in, brining in an even larger tuna that we were able to take back to the hotel for dinner. Nothing like fresh ahi tuna!
However, before dinner we set off for the wetlands where we saw flamingos in the wild, and then headed to a turtle nursery where we saw a variety of baby turtles. There were hundreds of them from all different species! They were so little and adorable, climbing over top of each other to get around. The nursery is a project run by some of the local children on Isabela, and they are responsible for cleaning the area, and collecting donations to keep the project going. It was pretty interesting to see turtles that were only a few days old, and then up to 25 or so years old. I was surprised how small they are for the first 50-100 years of their lives, especially after seeing how big they can get! Our group walked through the mangroves back to the beach to catch happy hour and watch the sunset. As I sat sipping my mojito watching the sun set for the last time as a 24 year old, I reflected on how truly fortunate I am for this amazing experience.