Volcano and Beaches
Since there is no ATM on Isabela and no one takes credit cards, we counted how much cash we had left, subtracted out lodging and the boat ride back and realized we could only stay one more day. One of the reasons we wanted to go to Isabela was to see the volcano. The island is actually made up of six volcanoes that have merged together. We were picked up by the “tour guide” around 8 am and taken to the trail head. The rest of the group had signed up for the horseback riding option so our guide ditched us. Not having a guide is kind of a big deal in the Galapagos since they don’t want tourists to trample the whole place unsupervised. No worries, we actually beat the horses to the rally point and enjoyed much better views of the rim of Sierra Negra. The guide did show us around the rocky area that formed after the 2005 eruption, we saw deep craters, smoking fumaroles and more lava tubes. We don’t have a lot of pictures because we literally got drenched in a downpour. I mean, soaked to the bone, ring out our shirts, puddles in our boots drenched. Good thing it’s a warm rain. Two Americans decided they didn’t want to risk a broken leg on the way down the horse path and thought walking would be safer. So we had a group of four on the way back down.
The next day we had to be at the dock at 6 am for the ferry back to Santa Cruz. Somehow we got on the same boat as the little kid who threw up on the way to Isabela. What are the chances?!? And yes, he threw up again. We went back to the same hotel and found short day trip things to do. After a quick water taxi ride across the bay, we walked about 20 minutes to Las Grietas. With all the volcanic activity and such, this long, narrow deep canyon somehow gets filled with both fresh and salt water. It’s quite a refreshing, chilly, almost breath-taking dip after the 20 minute walk exposed to the sun and heat. Unfortunately there are not too many sea creatures to look at in the 15 foot deep water, but it’s fun to float back and forth looking for them.
Our last full day on the island we headed to Tortuga Bay. We had heard that it was really beautiful and had great snorkeling. This time we had a three kilometer walk to the beach. Here we were met with an empty white sand beach, marine iguanas and pelicans. The first beach is for surfers only because the current is too strong. The second beach is much calmer so much so that swimming lessons, complete with whistles, were disrupting the peace and quiet. We hopped in the water and went out past the swimmers in search of marine life. Unfortunately the visibility was quite bad, but we think we saw a sea turtle in the distance. After our refreshing swim, we decided to eat our lunch on the quiet beach and then head home, out of the sun.
You’d think if you had a flight at 1 pm you could do something with your morning. However, the trip to the airport is quite the complex journey. First, the city is located 45 kilometers from the airport, so you have to take about an hour taxi ride. The airport is actually on a small island not connected to the main island so you have to have a 5 minute ferry across a small channel. Once on the other side, you need to get on a bus that takes you to the actual airport on the north side of this little island. The timing of the ferry and buses is more dependent on the arriving flights, so the wait time for these can be unpredictable. Who do have to thank for this? Probably the US government. They actually used the island as a radar station during WWII which included a landing strip. So instead of making a new, more convenient airport, we’ll just use the old one. I guess the environmental effects might have something to do with it as well.