Category: isla isabela

Northwest passage

This post is late as the tsunami post took precedence. Three weeks ago we took a cruise to the northwest of Isabela, clockwise around the top and down the east side crossing the equator twice.

Day 1: We started March 3rd from home base in Puerto Ayora and drove to the highlands to visit the giant tortoise reserve and the nearby large lava tunnel which was old news to us but new to our friend Pete who was visiting from Vancouver. Back to the boat for dinner and a meet and greet with our crew who wore their crisp whites for the occasion. Near midnight we cast off for Puerto Villamil, the town on Isabela (where we had spent six peaceful days at Christmas).

Day 2: Following a 7am breakfast, our guide Dario led the way in our two pangas (zodiacs) to Las Tintoreras, a large lava outcrop just off Isabela. Our panga was lucky to see a large group of penguins swimming close to the boat.

We did a one hour walk along a restricted path through hundreds of marine iguanas that were digging nests and competing for spots in the softer lava gravel beds. We witnessed an iguana laying eggs but unfortunately, they were exposed to the air so would not survive.

In the afternoon we went ashore and visited the tortoise nursery where young giant tortoises are fostered until large enough to be repatriated to their respective volcanoes.

The return walk brought us through a salt lagoon where we saw four flamingoes feeding and had the good fortune to see nine more fly by.

Just after we got back to town for an afternoon at the beach, heavy rains started, and several of us happily sat in an open air restaurant having a beverage or two…

Day 3: We woke up anchored at Punta Moreno where we went on a rough lava walk. En route we could see the sources of the massive lava flow, Volcan Sierra Negra and Volcan Cerro Azul.

We passed lava cacti and a few oases which are salt water lagoons in the middle of the lava fields. One contained feeding flamingos, and we saw that when the water is too deep for wading, flamingos can swim like swans.

After lunch we motored to Elizabeth Bay and once the tide had dropped, we took the pangas into the mangrove waterways to look for sea turtles. We only saw a few since the water was still high but en route, we passed a small lava outcrop that hosted pelicans, flightless cormorants and penguins.

Day 4: Sunrise found us anchored in Tagus Cove where we went for a morning hike past a salt lake to a high viewpoint. From above, the lake appears to be higher than the ocean but in fact, it is not. The lava is just a porous barrier between it and the sea.

Following the hike, we went snorkelling where we swam among penguins, sea turtles, sea lions and cormorants, and for those of us without wetsuits, we felt the stings of tiny jellyfish.

That afternoon we motored across to Punta Espinoza on Isla Fernandina where the walk took us through swaths of basking marine iguanas, sea lions, nursing pups, flightless cormorants, sea turtles and the bleached bones of a small whale.

Back on board, we headed northwest along the coast of Isabela, crossing the equator for the first time at around 5:15pm. We celebrated with a G & T.

This part of Isabela is rugged and spectacular, and the sunset was okay too.

Dinner was finished by the time we turned right across the top of Isabela which was fortunate because the ocean had become rough for the first time on the trip. Around 9pm Sally’s stomach and nerves were feeling fragile, so we made our way to the top deck for fresh air and stargazing. An unexpected treat was being accompanied by ghostly swallow-tailed gulls that make curious clicking sounds. They are the only night-feeding gull in the world and fish up to 30km from land.

The voyage throughout the night was rough (apparently, that leg is), and only smoothed out shortly before our dawn arrival at Playa Las Bachas, back on Isla Santa Cruz. There we went ashore early in order to see the nesting sea turtles before they left the beach. We barely succeeded; there was evidence in the soft sand of departed turtles, and only one remained. She was just finishing covering her eggs before slowly hauling herself back into the sea.

Our cruise ended at Baltra where we made the familiar trip by ferry across the Itabaca Canal and by taxi to our casa in Puerto Ayora.

For more photos from the trip, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sataylor/sets/72157626312634668/with/5543728384/

isla isabela

Christmas on Isabela

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we took the 2-hour boat ride to Isla Isabela accompanied by our friend Mike who had just returned from a 3-day cruise of the southeast islands. That evening the hotel staff at Casa de Marita prepared a delicious Christmas meal complete with turkey (yum!) and spice cake for dessert.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of Puerto Ayora where we live, Puerto Villamil on Isla Isabela is a small tranquil town with sandy streets and a beautiful long beach. Except for Mike’s hike to Volcan Chico, we took it pretty easy and still managed to see flamingos and penguins.

The most exciting thing to happen was the rescue of a frigate bird. Mike and I watched from a distance as a group of boys threw what looked like a piece of fish or meat into the air for the frigate birds to catch. It turned out that the bait was tied to a reel of fishing line, and the “successful” bird became completely ensnared. It was heartbreaking to watch it soar into the air only to be pulled down and entangled further. Eventually it crashed to the ground, and Mike followed the line to reach the bird. While Roger held it (with beak scars to prove it), Mike carefully cut the line. Once released, it wobbled for a moment and then flew away, so we hope that there was no lasting damage. We’re not sure if the boys intended to harm the bird (more likely they were just not thinking through their actions) but we relieved them of their fishing line.

Mike left on the 27th for the two day voyage back to Vancouver by boat, taxi and plane(s), and Roger and I stayed a few more days extending our reservation by one night. When we did try to leave at 6am on the 30th we found we weren’t on the list and the boats were full, so back to the hotel until another boat left in the afternoon.

Here are more photos from Isabela.

The day we left Isabela we received the sad news that my cat Stella had died. She was 17 years old and hadn’t been well for the past few weeks. Many of you know that I’ve had Stella since I moved to Vancouver in 1995 because she “came with the apartment”. Since then, she moved with me numerous times, sometimes sharing her space (albeit unwillingly) with others like Pudding, Kat, Mickey and Yogi. She came to Ontario with me when I was finishing my thesis, and she actually moved in with Roger four months before I did. I’ve been fortunate to have such good friends to take care of her over the years, and that Jackie and Dave stepped in at the end when her health failed. Stella spent her last few days at their cabin on the Sunshine Coast eating, sleeping and sitting on Jackie’s lap. Here are a few photos of Stella.

Not wanting to end on a sad note, here is a photo that we took today at the beach near the Darwin station. We wish everyone all the best for 2011! Apparently, Puerto Ayora is quite exciting on New Year’s Eve with burning effigies and loud fireworks, so there may be interesting photos to come.

isla isabela

Isla Isabela

After our return from Argentina, we had our first Canadian visitors, Wally, Terre and Emma! It was great to spend time with friends from home. Here they are feasting on empanadas.

During their visit, we went to Isla Isabela which is the largest of the Galapagos Islands and located in the northeast of the archipelago. To get there, we took a two hour boat ride from Puerto Ayora to Puerto Villamil, the main settlement on Isabela. We stayed at La Casa Marita which is such a charming hotel that Roger and I have decided to return there for Christmas.

Through the hotel we arranged a guided hike to Volcan Sierra Negra which is one of five active volcanoes on Isabela. After a misty start, we hiked under a blue sky through lush vegetation until we reached the caldera. We were amazed at the size (more than 10 km in diameter) and to learn that the east side had last erupted only five years ago.

We continued along the crater rim and then headed down the trail to stop for lunch under the shade of a Jaboncillo or soaptree. How a large tree can thrive in such an austere environment is truly impressive.

The next part of the hike took us to Volcan Chico, a smaller volcano located on the northeast side of Sierra Negra and with a beautiful view of Elizabeth Bay.

Here the walking was rough, and the vegetation thinned to a few cacti and then to nothing at all.

We walked on lava that came from eruptions in 1963 and 1979, and from many years before that. We saw lava tubes and felt the heat from a steam vent where our guide said we could boil an egg.

He compared the landscape to Planet of the Apes while all I could think of were the styrofoam rocks in the old Star Trek episodes.

After exploring Volcan Chico, we retraced our steps back to the misty beginning where our driver was waiting with refreshing coca cola! When we returned to the hotel, Roger and I walked right into the ocean to clean the dirt from our feet.

When we return in December, I would like to do the longer hike to see the sulfur mines on the west side of Sierra Negra but Roger is leaning more towards lying in the hammock and drinking pisco sours.

More photos from our hike: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sataylor/sets/72157625428717134/