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<\/a> The ocean water is the blue-green.<\/p>\nAs we were waiting for our luggage to be unloaded, we watched several Gal\u00e1pagos Penguins chasing fish adjacent to the dock.\u00a0 A nice welcome to the island.\u00a0 Several Lava Gulls and lots of Blue-footed Boobies added some variety.<\/p>\n
After getting settled in our hotel, we returned to the dock for a short boat ride to a large marine iguana colony.\u00a0 Large males were aggressively warding off other males with distinctive head bobs.\u00a0 We also saw many Gal\u00e1pagos sea lions, including many quite young ones.\u00a0 We then motored to a protected embayment for snorkeling.\u00a0 Sightings included several white-tip sharks, sting rays, black sea turtles, an octopus and a variety of bony fishes.<\/p>\n After a late lunch at the Oasis Restaurant, we boarded a bus to a local tortoise rearing facility.\u00a0 This institution is important in maintaining the populations of the five distinctive tortoises on Isabela.\u00a0 High mortality of tortoise eggs and their young occurs on Isabela, primarily because of the impact of introduced species (ants, rats, dogs, pigs and goats).\u00a0 At this breeding institution, eggs are incubated until hatching and the young tortoises are raised to the age of 10 years before being reintroduced to the part of the island where they were from.<\/p>\n From the breeding facility, we took a walk through some wooded areas and alongside a saltwater pond system.\u00a0 We walked all the way back to the hotel, gathering again at 7:30 at the Oasis Restaurant for a hearty meal of\u00a0 a vegetable soup followed by a main course of swordfish, rice and fried plaintains, finished off with flan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We left Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz at 7:30 this morning for a 2.5-hour cruise to Isabela.\u00a0 The seas were relatively calm and no one experienced any seasickness. The south end of Isabela has a quite different appearance than the … Continue reading <\/a>We saw Gal\u00e1pagos Penguins and Blue-footed Boobies as well.<\/p>\n<\/a>Three American Flamingos were spectacular.\u00a0 Other birds seen included a couple of Common Moorhens, several Whimbrels and a couple of White-cheeked Pintails.\u00a0 Fiddler crabs were common in sandy areas with males waving their one out-sized claw to attract a female.<\/p>\n