Sunday, April 9, 2023

The Galapagos Islands ~ Day 7

We had another early morning as we had to be on the pier by 6:20am for our 7am "ferry" to Isabela. It was much more chaotic getting onto the right ferry this time - just large masses of people and very little direction. 

First it was like the March of the Penguins....people walking towards the pier.....


...then we took the water taxi to our "ferry," which had much more comfortable seats than the last one, even though there was no juice box and no cookie! 😄 We even slept a bit on the ride.

There was no luggage x-ray leaving Santa Cruz nor entering Isabela, nor passport check (which makes sense) upon entering Isabela, but we did have to pay $10 upon arrival. Again, it makes one wonder why each island changes some random amount of money when we already paid $100....... 


We had to side step this guy on our way to the hotel shuttle.....


...which picked us up and drove us to our hotel, Hotel La Laguna, about a mile away. (We forgot to get a picture of the room.)

Once we were settled at the hotel, we went for breakfast and had the typical eggs, toast, fruit, butter (which was really always margarine), and this time freshly-squeezed passion fruit juice - it was excellent! Immediately after breakfast, Brad started looking for a place for lunch! 😂 (He does this a lot!)


We then walked to Concha de Perla, a snorkeling spot about 15-minutes from town. It was down a boardwalk....


...to a small dock area with steps - and people were simply heading into the water, which was much clearer than the other two islands to see the sea life.

Of course, we had to get by this guy first! 


We got a few decent shots of some fish.....



Brad again!


People were snorkeling among the marine iguanas.....


When we were planning this trip, we thought that the Concha de Perla would take about half-a-day, but not so much - we think we spent maybe 30 - 45 minutes here. So we walked through the town and to the local beach, which was beautiful and expansive, and spent some time lounging in the water as the tide rolled in.....



There were marine iguanas swimming here as well.....


Eventually we headed back to the hotel to shower and relax until it was time for dinner at a nearby restaurant overlooking the ocean while we watched local families swim in the ocean. As we ate dinner we talked about how different cultures and people spend their free time, whether it be in front of the television, scrolling through social media, playing sports, or spending time with with friends and family swimming and playing in the ocean. 

We needed to walk down a steep set of stairs from the restaurant and were seen off by these guys.....


We headed back to the hotel and after getting up early and spending a day in the water and sun, we fell asleep early and slept great!





No comments:

Blog Archive