Isabela
It was a very bumpy 3 hour boat ride, in what felt like a very small boat in amongst the very large waves. Wouldn’t call it relaxing, more a case of cling on to, what felt like a plank, and hope! However, we arrived in Isabela (Puerto Villamil) safely and without being ill, which was fortunate.
Straight away Isabela felt very different to Santa Cruz, sandy streets and laid back, much more desert island.
We had decided to treat ourselves and had booked into the most expensive (probably excluding Japan) hotel on our trip so far – but it was worth it, The Wooden House, small, friendly and a great place to relax in.
Isabela also has a giant tortoise breeding centre on it and we visited there on our first full day on the island, after finding out where the marine iguanas hang out of course! We were shown round by one of the workers there, who at on point jumped into one of the pens and found the only tortoise that likes to be tickled – just like a cat. What dry, leathery skin they have. We couldn’t get as close to these tortoises as you can on Santa Cruz, but they have a lot more here and we got to tickle one so can’t complain too much!!
That afternoon we also visited the Tintoreras, a set of small islands just off the coast of Puerto Villamil. More of the same, sea lions and marine iguanas, but also a good view of about 30 white tipped reef sharks swimming in a narrow channel and a Galapagos Hawk – the main preditor of the baby marine iguanas.
After a lazy day the following day – more marine iguana watching – we decided to head up to Volcan Sierra Negra the last volcano to errupt on Isabela in 2005. After driving up through about 3 different vegetational zones we arrived at the end of the road, covered in cloud, to find about 30 horses hanging around waiting for the day trippers.
The horse ride was fun, but painful! Certainly felt it once getting off at the top and wasn’t particularly looking forward to having to bounce back down (it wasn’t that bad in the end). We had wondered about the trip as we hadn’t seen the volcano from the town the entire time we’d been there as it was always covered in clouds, however the clouds cleared as we approached the top and were awarded with stunning views over Isabela and the crater – one of the largest in the world. From there we walked over to Volcan Chico, were you can still the heat from the volcano at som fumaroles. All in all a good day out (not sure the bottom agreed though!)
Luckily the boat back to Santa Cruz wasn’t as bad as the way there, a better boat and calmer waves, phew.
Tags: Costa Rica, Ecuador, Fiji, Galapagos, Nicaragua, Tintoreras, Travel
Jenni
Leave a Reply