After spending the night on the rooftop of Hotel Iguana, I headed back up to check out the view at dawn. I ran into Brian and we took photos against the backdrop of the town before heading over to the breakfast area to fill up for the day ahead!
From the hotel, we walked over to spend some time at the beach. There were sea lions and iguanas littered across the entire beach just lounging about. The iguanas stayed sprawled out and didn’t move much, but some of the sea lions seemed to enjoy showing off! Our Galapagos guide, Cristian, split us into 2 groups. One group went snorkeling while the other group went kayaking and then we swapped activities a little later.
I was in the group with Melissa, Sarah S, Cristiana, Gina, Alicia, Sara A, Elliot, Molly, and Kevin who went snorkeling first. We walked along a wooden bridge out to the end of a pier passing many sea lions lounging along the way. At the end, we were given a 5min crash course on how to snorkel and the do’s and don’t’s of swimming through the area! I brought my own pair of prescription goggles I bought before the trip so I could see the sights, the animals, and where I was swimming. We put on flippers, goggles, and snorkels and hopped into the water to immerse ourselves in the subaquatic world of the Galapagos!
Led by Cristian, we began swimming around the open area in a single file line practicing our snorkeling until we came across a group of sting rays swimming along under the surface! Some of us dove down to get a better view and came up quickly gasping for air! The sting rays were massive and glided around gracefully below our feet. As we continued along, we came across a sea turtle resting on the rocks below. The water there was shallow enough we could see the turtle clearly by simply sticking our heads in the water. As a few colorful fish darted by, we made our way to a narrow channel where we could see crabs lining the rocky wall beside us and many more shimmering fish passing by! We emerged out into the open water again, several sea lions passed by in front of us. We made our way back to the pier where we hopped out and took off our gear.
The whole snorkeling experience was filled with so many amazing animals, uncontained excitement, and no small amount of unintended butt photos!
Our half of the group then walked back to the beach where we awaited our tandem kayaks. We paired up and climbed into our kayaks to take off for a view of the bay from above the surface! My kayak buddy was Elliot.
As we made our way around the bay, navigating between boats, birds, and sharp rocks sticking out above the waters surface, Cristian explained about some of the history of Isla Isabela and the animals we saw. Along the way we came across several great blue herons, some much anticipated blue-footed boobies, and a penguin! Fun fact: the Galapagos Penguin is the only species of penguin whose natural habitat is above the equator! We watched the penguin glide around for a bit and saw some baby sharks swimming around on our way back to the beach where we started. The song Baby Shark was stuck in my head for the rest of the day… Back at the beach, we met up with the other group and relaxed by the shore under the blazing sun until lunchtime.
It was just after lunch as we walked back to the hotel when I realized my feet were beginning to swell up from an intense sunburn. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but while we were kayaking, my feet were each resting in a little pool of water in the grooves of the kayak. The water was shallow enough to radiate the intensified effects of the sun while washing away the sunscreen I had been so careful to remember to reapply (I have a long history of forgetting to reapply sunscreen).
From the hotel, we took a quick bus ride to a breeding center for Giant Tortoises and learned about the story of Lonesome George, the last of a subspecies of tortoises who was unfortunately unable to produce fertile offspring before he died at 100 years old in 2012. A sad tale but one that serves an important lesson for conservation efforts in the Galapagos!
While the rest of the group walked from the breeding center to the Endemic Turtle Restaurant where we ended our day, I made a quick detour to a nearby pharmacy. I managed to communicate with the storekeeper using what little vocab I could piece together from College Spanish 101 and Unit 1 on Duolingo a month before the trip. After successfully acquiring the last two bottles of aloe vera, I navigated my way to the restaurant for a nice hearty steak and fries. The restaurant closed at 9:30pm but we stuck around chatting about our first full day in the Galapagos until we were kicked out at 11:00pm!
Back at the hotel just before midnight, I propped my legs up, slathered them with aloe vera, and popped a Benadryl as I settled in for an early night…
No Regrets: The Only Way To Live 