We booked a package trip at one of the many tour companies in Puerto Ayor for three days and two nights on the largest island Isabella. Including meals, ferry round trip, accommodations, and two day long excursions.
We woke up super early to catch the ferry to the island. Jess and I paid a deposit for the trip but owed the final amount at the dock. We found all three ATMs in that area were out of service. We tour our packs off and sprinted to the other side of town for another ATM we'd seen. We knew from the previous day that the boats are are willing to leave without you leaving you with a paid in full, but not usable package.
An important note while speaking of ATMs is that many of the islands dont have them and your MasterCard/Visa/Diners Club/Amex is useless because cash is king. Stock up with more cash than you'd normally travel with.
We managed to make it back in the nick of time but had to have our bags searched again by the environment police in order to enter the pier. We paid the departure tax of one dollar and the boat taxi fare of fifty cents and we were off.
We expected the boat to be a ship comparable to the ferries we have previously taken and seen in the states. We found that each company runs their own speedboat for the two-hour trip. Ours was loaded up with 20 or so people. Two and a half choppy hours later we arrived.
We were immediately taken by chiva, a truck fitted with seats on the flatbed, to the flamingo pond. There were four flamingos, four, what a bust. Next we went to the tortuga breeding center where we saw hundreds of tortugas of ages ranging from 1 week to greater than two hundred years old. The older the turtles breed better according to the staff of the factory. We were sad that they had so many pinned up in a zoo like fashion. They said they rotate the turtles in and out of captivity to promote their health as well as ensure gene differentiation.
The chiva returned to the dock where we began our three-hour tour (insert Gilligan's theme song). The boat never left the harbor but was able to show us boobies, I mean hundreds of them they sat perched on the lava rock pruning in between fishing trips. We pulled right beside them and watched them come and go. Massive groups would rise up at once to start the hunt.
Slowly they patrol the skies 20 feet off of the water surface. They will bank sharply, tuck their wings back and plunge like a missile into the water. There are stories of boobies reaching a depth of 36 feet chasing prey. Sometimes they all go for the same fish at once, similar to throwing a handful of darts.
Finally, we went to iguana island. It feels like you're on a foreign planet with all of the lava spires. The world's only marine iguana nests here in the rocks. They show zero concern for us humans and fully grown males have no predators on the island which probably inflates their ego.
The island is currently only females who fight for nesting ground. The males took off after they got their ladies knocked up. After months of mating with anybody they could, they've lost considerable weight and the fishing around the island is depleted.
Our second day we woke early to snorkel. Lava tunnels cover some of the island's coasts. After many years, the tunnels have collapsed leaving a maze of lagoons and arches. The water was crystal clear and a striking contrast to the black coral covered lava rock.
On our way to the second snorkel spot of the day, we saw what we thought to be fins. We cheered with delight when the fins turned into the wings of a 10-15 foot wide manta ray which vaulted itself from the water into the air and crashed with a great splash back into the sea. We had wondered into a flock of rays who were using the vaults to clean the parasites off of their backs.
The second snorkel spot had bad visibility but was fun due to the gigantic sea turtles munching seaweed and the reef sharks sleeping beneath a rock reef cavern.
