Our day started with another speedboat trip. This one was 2 hours and 45 minutes to Isabella. Nobody visited the rail on this transfer.
Isabela Island is the largest of the Galápagos Islands, with an area of 1,771 square miles. It is larger than all the other islands in the chain combined and population is approx. 2000. The island straddles the equator.
Yes, there are penguins in the tropics. Apparently, they made their way to the Galapagos and never left. They must have liked the tropics better than Antarctica.
Bully! Pick on someone your own size.
- We had a few options after lunch
- Relax at the hotel, yeah right
- Spend 2 hours on another speedboat to go snorkeling, hell no
- Visit the Sierra Negra Volcano for a hike: winner, winner, chicken dinner
View from the rim of the Sierra Negra Volcano
Hard to tell but the first part of the hike was steep.
You can see the steam venting in the middle of the picture.
The bright yellow is Sulfur.
Sulfur, also called brimstone which means burning stone.
Back in town, Leann and I decided to go for a walk before dinner.
We headed to the beach: lots and lots of Boobies, the blue kind
The invasion forces have landed
This was typical transport for us while in the islands. It is not as comfortable as it looks.
The next morning, we took a quick boat ride to Tintoreras for snorkeling and a hike.
White Tipped Reef Shark, picture was taken from shore
Christmas Iguanas, they change colors to red and green during mating season.
Besties
Snorkeling was really good here, lots of turtles and numerous fish species.
Pat, one of the guests was able to get this picture. A Penguin swam right by me, they are fast.
After a quick shower we were back on the speedboat for a 2 hour ride to Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz has an area of 195 square miles and the population is over 5,000. We were not here very long. We checked into our hotel, walked to dinner and visited a few shops. Then back to the hotel for a morning departure to the mainland
- Required steps to go from Santa Cruz to our hotel in Papallacta
- 45 minute boat ride
- 20 minute ferry ride
- 20 minute bus ride
- 3 hour flight with layover
- 45 minute bus ride
- Why am I tired?
Bus ride to the ferry.
Short ferry ride to Baltra
We said goodbye to Raul at the airport before heading back to the mainland.
Hotel Termas in Papallacta is known for its hot springs and spa. The Whyte’s don’t do spas or hot springs but the rooms were nice, food was good and we did some nice walks.
http://www.termaspapallacta.com/
Lobby of the hotel, this is the nicest place we stayed on the entire trip.
Our room for 2 nights
One of the hot springs by our front door
Turquoise Jay
One of our walks was into the town of Papallacta,
Alpaca
We hiked Sendero de la Isla that starts near the hot springs. It was a very lush trail that paralleled the Papallacta River.
Leann really liked this tapestry hanging in the dining room
BACK WITH MILTON FOR ANOTHER DAY OF BIRDING
Milton picked us up at the hotel, took us birding, out to another awesome lunch. After more birding, he took us to the airport.
Andean Ibis
Hard to see but this is an Andean Condor, we saw several of them soaring over the ridgeline.
This is where we had lunch. We saw a Giant Hummingbird that is the size of a Cardinal.
We don’t have the camera equipment to take great bird pictures. We talked about upgrading and decided against it. We enjoy the moment of looking at birds and prefer not worrying about taking a picture.
I would like to know the history behind this structure. Milton took us to a neighborhood close to the airport for some last minute birding.
Last picture of the trip.
Milton took us to the airport where we cleaned up changed clothes and had dinner while waiting for our 11:55 PM flight. We arrived back home safely but very tired.
We really enjoyed the trip even with all of the transfers. I suggested spending at least 2 nights on every island in my trip review for G Adventures. Some days we spent more time on transfers than we did enjoying the islands. It was still a great trip. The islands are beautiful and filled with incredible animals and not many people. That is our kind of place.
Leann added over 90 birds to her life list.
A couple of weeks to catch up on things at home and then we are off on a van trip. Sammy and Blaze missed us.
HAPPY TRAILS, STEVE