I woke up early next morning and headed out at around 6 am when the pelicans were feeding. The pelicans fly on the water, rise, then dive down, try to catch something, lay there in the water. at the same time, another 2-3 birds of a different species, fly above the pelican and when they open their mouths to move the fish from the net parts to their throats, these birds try to steal the fish.. when the pelicans land, these birds sit on top of them and wait for an opportune moment . the pelicans fly else where, back and forth and these birds follow them around. incredible.
after the pelican morning feast, we had our good breakfast, went to the pier, enjoyed the iguana's , sea lions and crabs , then hopped the water taxi and then speed boat for 2 hours. we buzzed by tortuga island, witnessed tons of crabs, more sea lions and lots of birds, then reached the largest island of this archipelago, Isabela.
on the water taxi to shore, i already saw one medium sized sting ray , great start. Sea lions and Iguanas welcomed us on shore. we checked in and went to the highlands.
here lies the 2nd largest volcanic crater in the world. sierra Negra. on arrival the rim was covered in cloud, we began hiking upwards for close to an hour on a nice wide path. we passed some wild flowers and a couple of coastal viewpoints till we reached the rim of the caldera. the whole caldera is black, so a fitting name of this mountain. last eruption in 2005, still fresh and no vegetation is seen below. its hotter there and filled of underground lava tunnels, so we chose not to hike it.. we waited for the fog to clear and managed to get view of almost the entire 8 by 10 km crater. I told the guide that i believe i've seen larger craters in island, he corrected that this is the 2nd largest shell crater. ahh, important distinction. the largest of this kind, ngorogo is 3 times larger, an mazing place in tanzania.
almost tripped and fell into the crater, lucky someone was there with a camera.
we hiked back down and rode to the "city". few minutes later were were at the beach where 50 to a 100 iguanas were lumped together on rocks. we seem a bit and played beach volley ball. they also had tight rope walking, way up high, a meter or so off the ground. tried to walk for while, not easy at all, made it half way and more of the top but not to the other side. some locals, jump up and down on the thing, good balance.
Alla had 2 drinks and was a bit tipsy. we took lovely photos of coastal sunset and returned to get ready for dinner at isabela grill. I ordered langoustine risotto. Garlic bread came first, yummy, followed by the main dish. very good risotto, except some evil mushroom i had to remove - luckily in large pieces. as i am enjoying the dish immensely, i notice that this lobster tastes like chicken, that was so since it really was chicken. someone else ordered chicken risotto and the waiter was confused, and now was very apologetic.
once again we turned in early for the night.
6:30 we were out the door for a morning stroll, we reached the harbor, passed some crabs, we don't pay attention to them any more and examine the water. just as alla concludes that there is nothing to see here, a Pinguin passes below, so adorable and swims away. we circle the harbor and see two more very close to us, but they are scared and disappear. we keep waling the beach in and around the mangroves, passing many Marine iguanas waiting for the sun to rise.
we reached the main pier where the cute seals were waiting. we saw seal breastfeeding, so cute. we noticed a little boardwalk path and followed it. 3 seals , one at a time were blocking our path by napping on it. one was played out across, I climbed the fence a bit to not wake the poor things. at the end was a beautiful cove. crystal clear waters, crabs up close, fish below and also a swimming marine iguana. wow. that thing can swim, they almost walk on the water. we decided that this is a great place to snorkel , but no gear with us. we returned to the hotel for breakfast and to rejoin the group. bathing suit on, we returned to the pier and began kayaking. we passed by seals, sea turtles, we saw a couple of blue feet boobies and another pinguin get up, stretch and for a few minutes refuse to dive in, he was in a diving position but not going for it with all cameras pointing at it.
at the end of the tour, a family of 3 seals just waited next to us playing around, the papa seal keeps directing the baby seal what not to do.
then we went snorkeling , lucky at the very same cove from this morning. i dove in quickly. wow, lots of fish species. i seem around the cove , seeings more and more fish and then passed the center where its 7 meters deep and no rocks below, only a handful of fish here and then i see 6 of them. white spotted Eagle rays. these ray are flying underwater in formation. their spots, especially of the young are glowing, their wings flow effortlessly and their tails are a bit longer then their body. they swim slowly and i am easily able to keep up and watch these graceful fish.
at the ramp, the entrance to the cove, a couple of seal are having fun. they come to us snorkelers , "charge" then dive down quickly, they just sit in the water, up side down, head pointing below and stare at us, getting closer, making loopy loops, jump up and down and being adorable. our group also swims below making bubble which we hear they love. most of the group does this the whole time we are there, i join the fun on occasion, since i have yet to see a giant squid of blue sperm whale in this tiny cove. i see the rays again, same family and follow then again. finally it comes, the marine iguana swims from the far side along the edge. i spot it first :) and alert the group, i was warming up a bit , and quickly put the mask on and few of us seem to meet and greet the iguana, but we were not alone, the seal also came. i managed to see the iguana swimming from underneath, so cool. and then the seal comes and tries to nibble at it's tail. we heard later that seals like to do that. i thought it was just annoyed the Iguana took all the attention.
sadly we departed paradise, headed for lunch. I would never go to this sea food place on the beach or ordered what they planned for us. never. but lucky we went there and had a soup of everything- squid, tuna fish, corn and even Yuka and plantain amongst other unknowns. i was cold and the warm soup hit the spot. get orange juice, freshly squeezed came with it , and fish for main course.
on the walk back to the hotel, Alla spotted crepe place, the crepe was wrapped around a whole banana with chocolate… mmm.
we changed and went back to the highlands, hopped on mountain bikes and rode down the hill, the 1st part was fun and fairly steep , the rest fairly flat but down. we stopped by a pond filled with beautiful flamingos and learn about them a bit, then reach the giant tortoise breading center. this place produces 150 Tortoises a year. they collect the buried eggs and place them in incubators. if you change the legs angle you kill the egg, very gentle things. we saw Giant tortoises of all ages, younger was a cuddly 5 months old. we even saw embryos , 1,2,3,4 months old. (they hatch at 5 months) then spend 4 months in the ground, eating the egg yolk and breathing from the shaft dug for them.
we returned to town, bakery stop for cinnamon rolls, back to the volley ball beach, but no one was plain today. i walked the beach and saw a big heron. another water bird was looking for food in the shallow water and found something and some other small birds were lurking nearby waiting for a chance to grab the loot. life is awesome here.
Alla was in an internet cafe at the time, supposedly, i went looking for here and found here in … the crepe place, where the wifi was good. we had to have crepes again, before dinner. dinner this time was so so for alla, rice and crabs, i had a good borrito and fish. we considered going for deserts…
and now i sit here at the hotel, breakfast soon, need to go pack, we are going snorkeling later and today return to Santa cruz. hope to see more awesomeness today.
cheers from Isabela
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