Isabella

I awaken in my cabin thoroughly exhausted and aching from head to toe, this is the best! We’ve been going nonstop with multiple excursions to shore for hikes, zodiac rides along the coast and deep water snorkeling. This is my kind of vacation, the kind where you get back and are more rundown than when you left. I can guarantee no one does the Galapagos as well as Lindblad Expeditions!

After breakfast we hopped into zodiacs and headed to Isabella. We were in the belly region of the seahorse shaped island. Our naturalist this morning was David and within metres of heading down the pathway we encountered our first Galapagos tortoise. It was a little on feeding under some trees. Around the next bend were two more, these were big reptiles! I laid on the ground to get some perspective shots and was happy to see that the larger of the two was heading in my direction, it didn’t stop so I had to roll out of the way to avoid getting trampled in slow motion!

A little further down the path we came across a large male land iguana. A moment later another male emerged and they both began bobbing there heads, it was on! They were in the midst of a battle for territory, they continued the head bobbing as they approached each other. Contact was made as both tried to head butt and push the other off the path. Then as quickly as it started, it was over, the larger of the two victorious. Further down the path we encountered another tortoise. The ships videographer, Mark, told us this was pretty special as they rarely encounter the tortoises on this island, and in fact he’d never seen them in his visits.

We got back to the beach and were ready for a swim, it was hot. I had to wait as the videographer wanted to get some video of Mark and I answering some questions. Mark went first as I waited and stared longingly at the water. During by interview there was some rustling in the bushes behind me and out game another tortoise. Honestly, if you didn’t know any better you’d think everything was staged here!

For lunch we had a traditional Ecuadorian meal with foods from all around the country. It was incredible, my plan of taking it easy before snorkeling was blown out of the water as I wanted to try all of the foods I’d never had before.

Lunch ended and we geared up for some deep water snorkeling. The waters a bit chilly, but as I’ve said before, the cold water is nutrient rich supporting a lot of life. There were lots of Pacific green sea turtle, munching algae off the rocks or lazily gliding through the water. A real cool starfish is the chocolate chip starfish which you can see below. The highlight was the flightless cormorant, diving and searching amongst the cracks and crevasses for fish. I was fortunate to have my video on and was able to capture some footage of it doing its thing and then floating on the surface with me in between dives, amazing! Back in the zodiac we came across two Galapagos penguins on the shore, they quickly waddled to the edge and jumped in the water, but we found our penguins.

A quick change of clothes (see what I mean about always on the go?) and we were hopping into the zodiacs for a vigorous hike up to the top of a parasitic volcano. This cove was used by sailors over the centuries and there’s graffiti dating back to the early 1800’s. They used to mark to show who had been there and what could be found on the island.

The hike was great, we paused at one point to check out the lake that had formed within the crater and then pushed on to the peak. The view was stunning. Isabella is formed by six shield volcanoes that grew together and we had a view of Darwin, Wolf and Ecuador volcano. All active, Wolf having erupted last year. We ploughed down the hillside to our waiting zodiacs just after sunset and returned to the Endeavour.

Dinner was great again, enjoying some fresh fish. Each meal, Mark and I split up and sit with a different table. We’re trying to have a meal with everyone on the ship and have met a lot of really great people. Most people crashed hard right after dinner, but I headed to the library on the top deck to edit some photos. I checked the GPS screen and realized we were about to cross the equator again and would again later in the evening. Looking forward to another amazing day in the Galapagos tomorrow.

Baby Watch: Negative