1-28-20 - Straight outta Jurassic Park!

 5:15 am alarm.  Sun just raising through the clouds.  For yet another early wake up call. We think Galapagos is competing with Peru on which interest can get tourists up earlier - Incas vs Darwin? 

We arranged takeaway breakfast and walk to Puente Aroya where we will take speed boat from to Isla Isabella.  When we arrive, the line is out the wazoo and is moving incredibly slowly.  We figure out that everyone has to take a water taxi out to the bigger speed boats which slows things down.  But when we finally get to the front, we immediately realize the reason.  There are long tables where we have to put all our bag and open them up while the police search each and every bag and sure enough, the anti-bio-terrorist trained dogs are unleashed on our bags.  They are just as strict on ensuring there is no cross-contamination between islands. Kyle is thinking that someone could have a pound of cocaine in their suitcase and the police and dogs would gloss right over it in search of the more threatening plants and fruits. 

People are packed like sardines on the speed boat for the 2.5 hour ride.  Given our taxi was late, we are the last ones on the boat. Five of us sit down but Kyle and Ashlynn are left standing with no seats remaining.  There was about ¾ of a seat next to Leanne so she kindly asked a woman if she can shift over just a little so Kyle could get a seat. “I’m NOT moving,” came out a distinguishable French accent. Her tone was snobby and curt. Did she just say that? In that tone? With children around? On vacation? A look of shock hits our faces.  Our French friends are nice! It was the American white haired lady from Asia reincarnated with dyed black hair and a French accent.  

“Well, I’m not standing for two hours,” Kyle shoots back and sits in a guy’s lap across on the other side forcing everyone to shift over as Kyle forcibly squeezes in.  That leaves the ¾ seat next to the angry French woman as the only option but Ashlynn has no desire sit next to her.  Sarcastically, Leanne pipes up, “please come sit here, this woman is very nice.” Ashlynn squeezes in as the angry French reincarnated white haired American lady glares at us.   

The boat starts cruising.  We all grab our phones to settle in. This might be the longest 2.5 hour ride of our lives.  Kyle at one point even pulls out his laptop to work on the blog. The motors are loud but the speed is exciting. It looks like we are almost parallel racing the other boats taking other tourists this morning. The boat hits a huge bump, and we are reminded that every journey we take is risky. 

We are met at the dock on Isla Isabella by a very happy guy in dreads.  He leads us into a wooden open air bus with no door — yes a wooden bus — that takes us to the Hotel Isamar where we are greeted by a woman that could have been a super model.   Then Juan the manager comes out to tell us this is his home and the hotel is down the street on the ocean. We later learn that Juan and his wife are the part owners of the hotel and he is working on slowly buy out the other owners so he can eventually be the sole owner. 

Our day excursion requires us to take an hour speedboat to another part of Isla Isabella that part of the National Park. We are dropped off at the docks where we find the path down to the marina covered with iguanas. When we get down to the dock, there are about 15 sea lions just lounging about on the deck.  There are so many that we literally have to step over them.  As we are passing by, one sea life quickly picks his head up and proceeds to emit and long, guttural bark that scares the bejesus out of us. 

We are heading to Los Tuneles which is considered the most beautiful place to do snorkeling off Isabela. The lava flows that passed through this area has formed unique geological formation and that is shaped like tunnels. The water is clear and calm and the boat takes off looking for marine life on the small rock islands we see on the way to our destination. The boat is a nice speed boat and there is a nice couple from the US and a woman from Norway traveling solo.  We have been running into a lot of solo travelers recently. 

First up, our guide finds us the first three Galápagos penguins back for the rainy season.  Kyle jumps up and starts yelling “Los penguinos! Los penguinos!”  Unlike yesterday when the penguins turned out to be tourists, this time Kyle is correct.  One of the 17 species of penguins in the world do in fact live here. They are the only species of penguin found in the northern hemisphere.  Leanne jokes that these penguins must the retired ones who can’t take the winters down south anymore.  Leanne is not quite sure what is driving Kyle’s “Los penguinos” fascination as he talks about getting one as a pet and needing to look up whether a Galapagos penguin could survive the Manhattan Beach weather.

When we arrive at the black volcanic mini islands we notice there is no indication of where we are. No sign.  No trash can. No indication any other human has ever come here in fact.  We hike and climb over these leftovers from a volcanos dinner like we are kids in a park. It’s like walking on the moon and no one else has tread this path.  We end up seeing the famous blue-footed boobie, the bird Justin is excited to see. The birds aren’t scared one bit of us — in fact they ignore our presence completely. 

We spend the next two hours snorkeling nearby and get the works. Sea turtles. Not just one sea turtle like we saw scuba diving, but sea turtles every 5 meters we swim, we must have seen twenty of them. Sea horses, Eagle rays and eels. And let’s not forget about Sharks.  Our guide finds a cave with about 15 white tip reef sharks (called locally Tintorerras) resting on the ocean floor.  Kyle swims to the bottom and settles down next to them.  Apparently they are not thrilled as they swim off into the water but Kyle gives chase after them.  Apparently, Kyle is even more fascinated with chasing sharks than with his beloved “Los penguinos!”  

Leanne has been snorkeling in another area and hasn’t see the sharks yet.  She is just about to give up looking when assistant snorkel instructor, Luis, jumps from the boat and swims up to her. “Do you want to see sharks?” Luis asks. “Yes,” she answers. Her interest in seeing sharks has absolutely nothing to do with the fact Luis has a six-pack stomach.  Actually she didn’t even notice that, as that would be male objectification or something, right? She thinks that she must have just absolutely looked pathetic just waddling there looking to the sky with her leaky Mask, obviously toying with the idea of finishing up early. 

Luis grabs a snorkel, mask and an orange lifesaver ring and dives right In. “Hold onto the ring” he says. Luis swims so fast he could challenge Michael Phelps … maybe after a late night out. He guides Leanne right to the sharks. She sees half dozen sharks resting under a large volcanic rock to get out of the sun — several are bigger than her — and they are just hanging just a few meters away. Swimming with the sharks. Unlike Kyle, Leanne is most interested in saying “Bucket List Check, let’s go” and in swimming the OTHER way, away from the sharks.

A beautiful siting. It was another awesome day in the Galápagos.  

We are dropped off and head back to the hotel. Leanne and Kyle then walk down to the beach. The sun is setting and the water feels a little to could to go in but we notice and two story beachy-looking place out on a jetty into the water.  We walk over to investigate and discover it’s an open air beach bar on the second story.  We settle into a table for sunset and have happy hour drinks. It was perfect bliss in the Galapagos!

After sunset, we collect the kids and walk into town for dinner.  Isla Isabella is much less developed than Santa Cruz but we find a restaurant called the Endemic Turtle.  Good food but we are a little disappointed not to get an indoor table.  After dinner, walking home, the six of us walk right past the turnoff for our street but luckily Ashley points the way and saves us from getting lost.