I’ve spent the last five days just wandering around staring at things with my mouth wide open. We arrived by plane on Sunday evening and after a bus-boat-bus journey we got to the main town of Santa Cruz. After finding a cheap place to stay and grabbing some dinner we went to a tour agency to plan out the next few days which would involve getting a boat at 7.30am the next morning to the neighbouring island of Isabella. The boat ride was two hours with a heavy swell so there were some green faces from a few fellow passengers! We found a place to stay on Isabella and rented bikes to explore a bit for the rest of the morning. 

Later we went on a boat trip to visit a small island which was covered in marine iguanas and saw loads of white tipped reef sharks resting in a small crack in the rock. 

Then we went snorkeling and saw turtles, rays and sealions. Outrageous. My go pro died mid snorkel but the photo below sums up my feelings about the things I saw. 

The hotel, Cerro Azul, had hot water which was welcomed as I tend to freeze after snorkeling and diving. Nap time then out for rice and veg and back to bed stupidly early. The next day, Tuesday, we were collected at 7am and driven up to the national park surrounding the volcanos. We hiked 16km in total and the views and the landscape were out of this world. The last volcanic eruption on Isabella was in 2005 and you can see the most recent lava flows because they’re much darker than the rest.

During the hike I ate passion fruit and guava from the trees which cover the side of the main volcano and we were joined for lunch by lots of finches who live up there feasting on the fruit trees. 

We tool the boat back to the main island that afternoon and on Wednesday we were collected again at 7am and driven to the north of the island to get on a really beautiful boat to an island called North Seymour which is uninhabited. 

There we saw land iguanas, blue footed boobies, frigitte birds and loads of crabs.

After a very good lunch on board we went to a beach on the main island to snorkel and chill out. 

Thursday we dived and saw so many fish.  The conditions were very choppy so visibility wasn’t great and any glimpse I got of sharks was fleeting as they swam away into the murky blue but it was a rush to see them at all! There were loads of sting rays and I saw one huge manta ray – they’re so beautiful! At the end of my second dive I came across this guy just hanging out on the sea bed:

Today is Friday and we’re leaving for the mainland to catch a bus tonight to Peru. Everything I’ve seen this week has been beautiful and really special and I’ve loved every second on these islands.