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We woke up at 5 am. After getting all of our things ready, we headed down through the lovely hotel courtyard and into the separate restaurant building. Inside we see the now familiar wall painting of the Galapagos, as well as the buffet table awaiting our arrival. Feeling very comfortable navigating the breakfast routine, we had an early breakfast of ham, cheese, scrambled eggs, croissants, yoghurt, cereal, and deliciously fresh strawberry juice. The Hotel Fernandina restaurant sure put on a great breakfast for our departure day. Once we finished, Angel quickly appeared in his white pickup truck to drive us to the ferry landing on the other side of the island. Once again the sun was shining down as we left town and joined the main road. The road is almost completely straight so speed limits are strictly enforced here. Stopping at a checkpoint to mark our departure time, the rangers track how fast you get across the island. Many birds cross this road on a regular basis. If cars are traveling too quickly, the birds get hit and killed. In order to prevent this from happening, the rangers take this very seriously.
As we crested the top of the island ridge, we could see all the way down to the ferry ahead of us. Seeing all the birds darting back and forth in front of our vehicle, we understood how important watching our speed would be. Once we made our way across the island, we got into line and we boarded the ferry. After we were already situated, a second ferry pulled up, loaded up with people, and took off. We weren't quite sure what to make of this, but our luggage had already been loaded onto the first ferry, so we waited while watching the blue footed boobies divebomb the water for fish quite close to the ferry. After the few minute ferry ride across the canal to Baltra was complete, we boarded the awaiting bus. It was quite crowded. Sebastian was quite nervous about the time and instructed us to move quickly to try to be among the first off the bus. Apparently all these folks came from the prior ferry so it was probably best that we waited afterall. Once we gathered our luggage, he whisked us through airport check-in and security. We were told that as a group our baggage was overweight and Sebastian was forced to leave his bag behind. He would have to get Angel to retrieve it for him and send it over to Isabela on the next boat. He was less than thrilled about this, but was much more concerned that we had all of our luggage with us. We felt awful for him as he had to scramble and hope it all worked out in the end. It was quite frustrating since we actually had very little luggage with us, and we had followed the weight guidelines we were given. Sebastian didn't have much at all with him but his bag was being left behind. We really didn't understand the comment that "as a group we were overweight". How could that be? Hoping it all would work out for him, we exited onto the airstrip and approached the plane. The plane was waiting for us on the tarmac with 4 passengers already aboard. We wondered what luggage they had already placed on the plane. Craig climbed in first, and then Sebastian folded the seat back like an old car and climbed in the far back where he looked pretty uncomfortable. Then I climbed into the space next to Craig. I hesitate to call it a seat but it had a seatbelt so it must have been one. We were all so crammed into the seats that I could barely shut the door behind me. As the plane took off, we could watch the pressure being taken off of the plane's wheel. This sure felt like a small aircraft and we hoped it wasn't actually overweight too. The flight was only about half an hour long, and though we were packed in like sardines, we got a good aerial view of Santa Cruz from above as we took off. Suddenly all seemed right with the world and we were on our way! As we approached Isabela, our view of it was spectacular. It is obviously a much newer island, and most of it looks like barren lava fields. It is by far the largest island of the archipelago, and its shape looks like a seahorse from above. We could easily see multiple volcanoes and we could see the way the island was covered by a patchwork of criss-crossing lava trails. We could see sparse vegetation, and there were places where it was obvious that lava had bubbled up from underneath, cracking right through the earth's crust. The beautiful bays and beaches were spectacular to see and were made even better by the fact that there were absolutely no roads near any of what we could see. This part of the island seemed to be devoid of human life. We landed at a teeny tiny airport and suddenly it all became clear. The other group seemed to have been allowed to bring on multiple bags each. Some of their individual bags were much heavier than all of ours together, but there was nothing that we could do. Nobody stopped them, nobody told them they had overweight luggage, nobody was there telling them to leave bags behind. By the time we were brought to the plane, there just wasn't enough room for our stuff. Sebastian had to take the fall for all of them. We rejoiced in the fact that the flight made it at all. Seeing how much stuff these four people managed to bring on the plane was downright scary, we were glad this was unknown to us until we had already arrived at our destination. After our bags were hand-checked to make sure we weren't introducing anything we shouldn't be, Sebastian called a cab, which arrived momentarily. He called Angel on Santa Cruz and found out that he had already received Sebastian's bag. Angel would be putting his bag on the next ferry, so it should arrive safely by tonight. Departing the airport, we couldn't even see where the human population lived. From the air we barely saw anything that indicated there were people living here at all. Fortunately it was all an illusion. After driving a short way we arrived at Casa de Marita, a cheerfully bright Caribbean-looking beachfront compound. We were escorted into the kitchen of the main building, and were welcomed by Marita, the owner, and given fresh juice. The living room had a large picture window and a screen door opening right out to the beach. The hotel was very charming and we were given a key with a pewter finial on the keyring. There was an honor bar in the kitchen, and Sebastian placed our personal water supply in one of the cabinets for us. Our room was in a separate building and we had our own exterior staircase to get to it. The ceiling above the stairs was rather low, and we had to be careful not to bang our heads. The rooms were named by color rather than number, and ours was "naranja" (orange - the dominant color of the room decor). You could tell that the whole place had been very lovingly decorated by Marita, with lots of custom art pieces. There was a a king-sized bed and a futon couch in the spacious room, along with a mini fridge. There were two small geckoes in the bathroom who appeared to have come in through a small opening next to the bathroom window. After freshening up in our room (and putting on sunscreen - it was a very hot day and we would be snorkeling in the bright sun), we met up with Sebastian and naturalist Carlos. We walked down the sandy road, past a beached wooden boaty in three pieces, to the small pier. Isabelans successfully resisted large boat tours from coming to the island, and the result is a much more laid-back isolated feeling than is present in Santa Cruz. We met Anselmo, a cheery man who would be driving our boat. We boarded the boat and headed out into the bay. It was incredibly picturesque, and we circled an old green boat which was deserted except for a sea lion sunning himself on deck and a pelican sitting on the roof. A green sea turtle popped its head above the surface. Although we had seen a few on this trip so far, this was the first one that I was able to photograph. They can weigh as much as 400 pounds and can travel up to 800 miles to Central America. Their green color is a result of the algae they ingest - it literally turns their body fat green! The plan was for Anselmo to drop us off to do a short hike, to be followed by snorkeling. But Anselmo soon found a flock of penguins in the water, and Sebastian quickly changed the order of the program so that we could take advantage of their presence. Galapagos penguins are the northernmost penguins in the world. Penguins are only found in the southern hemisphere, and we had seen yellow-eyed penguins in the wild in New Zealand and Magellenic penguins in Chile. The penguins here sometimes find their way into the northern hemisphere, as the equator passes through northern Isabela. Sebastian couldn't snorkel, as his bathing suit was in the bag that was still in Santa Cruz. My water camera didn't appear to be working at all, but Sebastian took photos of us from the boat with our regular camera. The penguins could easily have been mistaken for ducks when they were swimming on the surface. We jumped into the water and they were shy at first, swimming away from us. The penguins are among the smallest species, and they were very agile in the water. Sebastian told us later that he had counted 22 of them in the water with us. The current was strong, which made swimming very tiring, and the water not 100% clear. We saw tons of sea cucumbers lying in the sand. We also saw parrotfish, lobed sponges, and even a bit of coral. Two penguins passed right by Craig, and he said that one passed right between us, though I somehow managed to miss it. At one point three sea lions came right up to me and started to swim playfully. Carlos tried to point things out, but he spoke through his snorkel in Spanish and it was difficult to tell what he was pointing at. I would swim furiously against the current to try to see what he was trying to show me, only to find that it was something I had already seen. But that was ok, I appreciated the fact that he was excited to show us things. We got back onto the boat and Anselmo dropped us off at a landing where jagged black lava met the blue sea, tangled with occasional mangroves. This was the start of the Sendero Las Tintoreras Trail, named after the white-tipped reef sharks who shelter in the small natural canals here. We climbed several steps and found ourselves on a nice trail carved through very jagged a'a lava. It must have taken someone a long time to make this trail. The raw, razor-sharp black lava was punctuated with white patches which looked like guano. Sebastian explained that it was actually lichen, which only grows on one side of the lava, due to weather patterns. We came across a blue-footed booby whose throat was vibrating, which is a way for them to regulate their body temperature in the heat. We walked around in hopes of seeing white-tipped reef sharks, but there were none here today. We saw some playful sea lions splashing in the water. We inspected the many marine iguanas on the lava. The males get surprisingly big and look like dinosaurs. Galapagos marine iguanas are the only seagoing lizard in the world. As there is a lack of food for them on land, they have evolved with the capacity to dive up to 50 feet to feed on submerged red and green algae. They can hold their breath for 15 minutes at a time, and can maintain their body heat for 30 minutes in the cold water. After spending this long in the water, they lose 30% of their body heat and become sluggish. They return to shore and bask in the warm sand and lava rocks to recharge. While they are in the water, they ingest toxic amounts of salt. Once they reach dry land again, they desalinate expelling the salt. We saw them do this here. It looked like a cute little sneeze. As we wandered, we saw a penguin, some blue-footed boobies, and a marine iguana all within 6 feet of one another. Unbelievable. We saw a male and female marine iguana at the water's edge, being lapped by waves. All of a sudden a larger wave came in, and when it receded, the male got swept out to sea. We watched as he swam back in. After completing the circular trail and enjoying the scenery and wildlife, we got back into the boat and headed back to the Puerto Villamil pier. After thanking Anselmo and saying goodbye, we walked up the sandy road back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and ate lunch at 1:45. The dining room was upstairs in the main building, and it had a nice little porch, where we sat. The kitchen was open to the dining room. Food was included in our stay, and the kitchen staff (a bunch of smiling women) made the same meals for all of the guests. There were cheerful place settings with cloth napkins and brightly colored napkin rings. Everything was very artsy here and it felt like a boutique retreat. Our appetizer was potatoes with cheese formed into a little star. The presentation was as gorgeous as it was delicious. This was followed by beef mixed with onion and peppers served with rice. It was quite tasty. Dessert was red jello with whipped cream. After lunch, we had a little siesta in the room until 3:30. We finished up writing our postcards. The trip was coming to a close, and we were determined to get the postcards postmarked in the Galapagos. At 3:30, we met Carlos and Sebastian, and the four of us walked out the back door of the lobby and onto the beach. It was a very nice unspoiled beach with a picturesque stone jetty. We walked into "town", which consisted of a dirt road, a church, a few very small shops, and some small restaurants which didn't open until evening It was extremely sleepy and reminded us of Placencia, Belize. Sebastian and Carlos tried to hail a cab, and it seemed that there were only a couple of them in town. After some legwork, they were able to find one and it drove us to the Centro de Crianza de Tortugas Gigantes (giant tortoise breeding center). Here there are juvenile tortoises from each of the 5 subspecies endemic to Isabela. These five subspecies are separated from one another in the wild by volcanoes, and the jagged a'a lava prevents them from reaching one another and interbreeding. There are also some adult tortoises here because they were rescued (by helicopter!) from various natural disasters on the island, including volcano eruptions and fire. Some of the adults had brittle shells whose outer surface was flaking off in places due to damage sustained from the fire, but other than that they survived just fine and were leading healthy lives. They were still reproducing, so there seemed to be no long-term effects. Amazing creatures. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see them dangling from a helicopter during the rescues! The babies here were really cute. They were very active, stepping all over one another, challenging one another (looking each other in the eye and raising up their necks) as well as eating with abandon. An employee handed Sebastian a tortoise egg so that we could get a closer look at it. It had pencil markings indicating which end was up, its position in the nest, who the mother was, which subspecies it belonged to, etc. It was perfectly round and about the size of a clenched fist. When Sebastian handed it back to him, the man placed it on top of one of the cages of babies, and it rolled around a little bit. We were surprised that maybe it wasn't quite as delicate as we thought. Next he held up a 2 month old baby for us to see. It was adorable - a giant tortoise in miniature. He held it between his thumb and forefinger, and its little legs waved in the air as if it was trying to go somewhere. Sebastian remarked on its "cute eyes". It takes the babies a while to dig their way out of the nest, so they are born with a yolk sack protruding from the bottom of their shell. This nourishes them until they tunnel through the ground up to the surface, and it remains attached for over a month. This little guy had just lost his, and you could see a small place between the plates on the belly of his shell where it had been attached. The baby was opening and closing its mouth, revealing a tiny pink tongue. It was precious. It even had little tiny claws on its toes. The nusery incubators for these little babies were powered by a generator, and we noticed a backup photovoltaic cell just in case the generator ever fails. We saw older individuals representing each of the 5 subspecies endemic to the island of Isabela. Each subspecies was sequestered in its own separate circular stone pen. Tortoises lounged on the ground and drank from pools of water. One particularly ambitious guy was trying to move a large curved stick using his mouth. We entered a small museum where we learned about a great program where local children "adopt" a baby tortoise friend. They help to care for their tortoise and help the researchers take measurements, etc. After five years, the children themselves get to release their tortoise friend into the wild. The children designed a patch for the breeding center, and they currently only had one left in stock. We bought it to support the program. It seemed like a great way for the next generation to learn to value the tortoises and work towards their conservation. We went into the gift shop and bought several items (a small wooden penguin, a coloring book for the Guatemalan girls, etc.). Craig was interested in getting some local music, and Sebastian recommended Iguanaman by Iguanamen de Galapagos. This group was formed by an ex-pat American called Gringo Juan and an environmental lawyer called Gringo Jeff who has a house on Isabela. He told us that it is sort of an islandy blues disc, which sounded right up our alley. He and the woman working at the gift shop relayed stories about Gringo Juan, who seemed like a local Jerry Garcia. The locals loved him and accepted him as one of their own. When he passed away several years ago, his children and the locals celebrated his life with a multi-day party, carrying his ashes around and then scattering them in various places that he loved. He was a local legend and we were anxious to hear his music (and we weren't disappointed - the disc is fantastic!) After this, we walked along a trail, admiring some pahoehoe lava formations, opuntia cacti, and other flora. In places, trees created shady arbors over the trail, and it was quite peaceful and picturesque. We saw the small yellow poison apples, which are a favorite food of the tortoise, but even touching them can give a human a very bad reaction. We then walked along a nice boardwalk through the mangrove wetlands in search of flamingos at Poza Baltazar Lagoon and Poza Puerta del Jeli Lagoon. We didn't find any, but we did see white cheeked pintails, stilts, and even a marine iguana who was totally submerged in water except for his head. The clouds had a pinkish hue and the moon was visible overhead. It looked magical reflected in the still waters. We arrived at the coastal road and walked along it towards the center of town, passing a beach volleyball game. We saw a large pink house on the beach that Sebastian said belonged to Gringo Jeff. There was a huge painting of a marine iguana on the side, and when we looked closely we saw that there were many marine iguanas lounging on his deck. He had painted it in tribute to them. We also passed Beto's Beach Bar, the local nightspot. We then turned left to go to a parallel street. We stepped onto a small pier and saw a lone flamingo in the water. The water was like glass and its reflection was perfect. We said goodbye to Carlos and Sebastian, and remained on the pier for a while watching the sunset. The colors were very dramatic. A couple (who happened to be from Boston) took our photo in front of the impressionistic backdrop. We strolled down the sand roads to the center of town, and found a post office that Sebastian had told us about. It had a mural in front of it depicting tortoises, sea lions, and opuntia cacti. I got a photo of Craig putting the postcards into the mailbox. It was funny that we did that, because for quite a while it was the only proof we had that we had actually sent them. It took 2 months for any of the postcards to reach their recipients. Note to self: don't mail perishables from Isabela. On our walk back to the hotel, we ran into Felipe for the first time on this island. When we got to our room, we looked at some of the sea lion photos on the underwater camera (which seemed to have no problem with playback, but could still not actually take a photo) and it looked like we had gotten some great ones. The camera had indeed worked when it really counted. We had some great momentos from our swim with the playful creatures. Craig drank a beer from the minibar. There was a knock at the door, and it turned out to be a woman delivering chocolates to us and reminding us that it was almost time for dinner. I love this hotel! Next we went to the restaurant to eat dinner with Sebastian. We sat at our appointed table, and were surrounded by other groups of guests and guides at their tables. We ate a delicious squash soup with homemade croutons, followed by yellowfin tuna with soy sauce, potatoes, and a salad. Dessert was a delicious passionfruit souffle which absolutely melted in your mouth. We considered going to Beto's Bar for a drink or two, but I needed to write the day's events in my journal, so we went back to the room instead. We were amused by the antics of several geckoes in the room, one of whom was trying to blend inconspicuously into the baseboard, as his coloring was so similar. We enjoyed these little visitors. We showered and went to bed at 11:30. |
               
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