Wednesday 28th January 2026: Isabela

Isabela is one of the youngest of Galapagos Islands and boasts no less than five active volcanoes.  But we  only have three days here and a trip to see the volcanoes would take up two.  So we settled on a trip to see the local wildlife that cost $120 each.

We got up at 5 am (Galapagos time) for a 6.10 start. Vicente collected us and drove us the short way to the pier.  There were hundreds of people there.  Somehow people knew we were on the boat Destiny and we were pointed to a pier to await a water taxi.   The taxis cost $1 and ferry you to the awaiting larger craft, moored in the bay.

One of the things we have noticed is that a lot of young people communicate in English though it is clearly not their first language.  Maybe it's our own fault as a ntion, but a lot of them were were using the F-word in place of a more expressive adjective.  One young man was particularly loud and Kevin asked him to stop.  He seemed quite shocked and explained he was Dutch and it was Ok to swear.  To his credit, we didn't hear him use the F-word again in our company.

We transferred onto the boat, Destiny.  It was packed and there was only one seat left.   A lady tried to ignore Joan as she had taken the outside seat and put her bags on the seat next to her.  When Joan asked to sit down, she said these were her daughters bags, which wasn't really an explanation.  A member of crew came along and removed the bags but the lady wasn't happy and chuntered away.  It reminded Joan of her train journeys with work, when she reserved seats and getting on board, she would find people in them, who pretended to be asleep, had put their bags on the reserved seat or who pretended the weren't aware the seat was reserved despite very clear signs it was.

The journey to Isabela took about 2 hours and for the most part, there wasn't much to see.  At the other end there was another water taxi ($1) and then a $10 port fee.

On Isabela, large seals sunbathed on the jetties and seemed unphased by humans walking by.  We were told to wait by our guide.  There seemed to be a lot of waiting around.  It turned out that two people booked on our tour had disappeared.   

Eventually we got into a minibus and were taken to a very small laguna with a handful of flamencos.  The issue with the missing couple was till being resolved, so we had to wait around in the blazing sun whilst our guide continued to sort things out.  Tempers started to fray.

Next we went to visit the tortoise breeding centre, where Joan's work colleague used to work.  There were tortoises from the just hatched to those about to be dispatched into the wild.

Next stop was lunch on an idyllic white beach.  Food was eaten all on one long table, mess style.  This is when we both realise that we are quite anti-social and would prefer to have own our table so we can chatter between ourselves, rather than be forced to listen to some alpha male talking about his trip to Bali.

It was lovely though seeing the iguanas heading in and out the water.

Back on the bus. we transferred to a smaller boat and did a trip round the bay in Isabela.  We walked through lava fields on one island, saw Blue Boobies who were incredibly tame and saw seals, rays, sharks and other sea life.   Frigate birds swooped above us.

Next was snorkelling which we passed on.  The people that did it seemed to enjoy it.

Then another transfer to the pier and a water taxi ($1) back to Destiny.  We headed back.  On reflection, perhaps we would have been happier hiring a driver for the day to do our own tailored tour but, being an island, the Galapagos is not cheap.  90% of the population work in the tourist industry, depending on it for their living.

The evening's are close but without the overhead sun.  We walked the main strip looking for food but vegan food is less prevalent than the mainland, which is surprising.  We stopped at one place that had 8- 10 dishes labelled as 100% plant, but when we quizzed the waiter, only one, a salad, was actually vegan.  Another which was on TripAdvisor as doing veggie and vegan had no dishes whatsoever.

We finally settled for a meal at Lemon and Coffee. Kevin had quesadillas with Guacamole and Joan ordered the vegan burger with tofu cheese, which once arrived at the table, came with non-vegan mayo.  It's been a feature of the trip that Joan has had scrutinise everything for eggs and lactose.   Still, when corrected, the meal was tasty and Joan had a Blue Boobie cocktail to wash it down with.  She also bought a  blue  Boobie apron.