Isabela Island Part 2
Deep water snorkeling and another tender excursion
Our morning excursion into the mangroves returned about 9:30 so we had 5 hours before our other planned activities for the day - deep water snorkeling followed by a tender ride along the coast and ending with a short walk.
We mostly relaxed for the morning and joined friends for lunch. Mid afternoon we did a deep water snorkel along the cliffs of Isabela Island’s west coast. It was advertised as an excursion for experienced snorkelers. It may have been difficult snorkeling if the water was rougher but we found it pretty easy drifting along the cliffs. The experience was nothing short of spectacular. We tendered out to some rock cliffs not far from the ship and snorkeled with the current for about a mile where the tender picked us up. Along the way we were excited to see our first chocolate chip star fish but saw so many we stopped looking for them. The flightless cormorants were everywhere divining in among the snorkelers. We saw many different fish, sea lions, and sea turtles, and also some developing coral. It was quite an experience.
As if the day wasn’t full enough, we had another tender excursion along a different cliff on Isabela Island followed by a ‘short walk’ to View Darwin’s Lake. The tender ride took us past more pelican breeding grounds and cliffs and caves where we saw more flightless Galapagos cormorants, blue footed boobies, marine iguana and Galápagos penguins. The trip far surpassed our expectations. As we ended the ride and headed to the drop off location for the Darwin’s Lake walk it started to rain. So far this trip we have seen almost no rain, and being the end of the rainy season we expected more.
The ‘short hike’ was a rather rocky and difficult hike over wet rocks and steep rock formations to a wooden staircase of 150 steps. At the top was a view of Darwin’s Lake, a fresh/brackish water lake that feeds from the ocean but is higher than the ocean. The views were lovely but would have been better in sunlight. Everyone made it back safely so we chalked it up to extra aerobic exercise for the day.
We ended the day with dinner on the top deck with our friends. The rain had stopped and the stars started coming out. As we ended dinner the ship’s captain and chief engineer stopped by to say hello.
One could not ask for a better day.
