Galapagos part 3 - Tintoreras, Isabela

Last day on Isabela, Paul was sick so Leo and I went to Tintoreras by ourselves. This is very close to the pier. There were pointing out sea lions and penguins and eagle rays. We boated a short distance to lava flow that was covered with marine iguanas and sea lions. We also saw a Great Blue Heron! The iguanas were juveniles and abundant and cute. Penguins too! We then snorkeled, again in cold water so Leo opted out. There was one spot where at least a dozen sea turtles were sleeping. We saw some eagle rays, seahorses, snake,  eel.

Sequence of Great Blue Heron taking off:

This cactus was really cool. The leaves are vertical to avoid overheating at the equator:

I love these marine iguanas. I have endless pictures of them:

It was too cold for Leo to snorkel (he was all snorkeled out by then) so I went alone. the water was old but pretty clear and shallow. There were tons of megafauna:

The beach across from our hotel:

The beach bar:

Sally Light Footed crab (endless pix of these too):

The next day we left Isabela. This is the Isabela airport:

Note the complete lack of:

• windows
• people
• desks/seats/tables
• lighting
• any infrastructure at all!

Instead of taking two speedboat rides we took a super expensive chartered flight to San Cristobal, which was the nicest island we visited. The 40 minute plane ride seated about 8. I got to fly co-pilot, which was cool. I think I have a 40 minute video of it all that I'll never watch.

Our plane:


My seat on the airplane:

View of Isabela's beach. Our hotel is down there: