Galapagos, Day 2

Day 2 on the Galapagos was exciting for sure. Our journey began by boarding a water taxi in Santa Cruz to take us to the larger boat that awaited us.

Leaving Santa Cruz

Our boat for the day.

We boarded the boat and set out on a 2 hour ride to Isabela Island. We were greeted upon our arrival to the island by sea lions.

Sea lions resting on the dock

After a quick stop on shore, we boarded another water taxi to take us to a small nearby island called Isolte Tintoreras. This small island island is covered in lava rock and iguanas! You can also find beaches, mangroves, sally lightfoot crabs, and white tipped reef sharks.

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Just a few of the Iguanas found on this small island.

Hard to see but there are like 6 white tipped reef sharks in this canal.

A sea lion joining the iguanas on the beach.

More iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs...the iguanas were everywhere!

Blue footed boobies on volcanic rock.

Water taxi waiting to pick us up.

It was pretty neat to walk along the trail and be so close to the iguanas. There were times when I wasn't sure if I should walk around an iguana or just stop and let them pass on their own. Iguanas were everywhere! 

Picture of my shadow at about noon time. Can you tell that I was near the equator?

One of the coolest things that took place this day was my first attempt at snorkeling. After we completed our jaunt around the island, we boarded the water taxi again to don our snorkeling equipment and jump in for a swim. I am not really big into swimming and I had never snorkeled before. However, with the support of my travel-mates I was able to take the plunge and go snorkeling. While snorkeling I was able to see some pretty cool fish, but the best was when a sea lion swam under me!

After snorkeling we headed back to Isabela for lunch at local establishment steps away from the beach. After enjoying a wonderful meal, we were able to spend some on the beach. A few us elected to take a walk down the beach and enjoy the scenery. 

Later in the afternoon we boarded our boat for the ride back to Puerto Ayora. We had a chance to clean up before dinner. After dinner we had time to stroll around the community and check out the local shops. We also got to see the local fish market in action. Here the daily catch is cleaned before your eyes and some is then cooked up on spot and served. It was cool to check out.