Isabella

Well, I have decided to finish updating this after my return home. I was just to busy to do it the last few weeks, and figured I would spend my time enjoying the Galapagos rather than sitting in an internet cafe!

So, the third weekend I went to Isabella with another volunteer. We decided to do it independently. I didn't really fancy sleeping on a boat for 3 nights and we didn't want to have to horse ride - I don't like horses, ane everywone we spoke to said that the path was really muddy and at least one person in their group had their horse fall on them. Definitely not for me! We got the boat over on friday afternoon, after having our bags checked to see that we weren't taking anything we shouldn't onto another island - like fruit. Apparently lots of endemic species are being threatened by other plants that have been introduced and there is lots of conservation work being done around this. The main town in Isabella, Puerto Villamil, has sand roads and only about 2,000 inhabitants, coupled with the 200ish people that live in the highlands, it makes for a small population on the largest island in the Galapagos.

We went for a walk along the beach just opposite our accommodation - fantastic long beach, with loads of birds and little sand crabs. The saturday we climbed (on foot) the Volcano. Sierra Negra. It has a crater in the middle (see picture) that is 10km wide (the second largest in the world) and the solid lava is apparently only 1.5m deep, under that it is still molten! The last eruption was about 50 years ago, so it is still definitely active. It was quite a walk and most of it through the clouds, so quite wet. However, when we got round the crater, we went on to another volcano (Volcan Chico) and from there we had one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. The clouds cleared up and we could see all the way up the island (including the other 3 volcano's), and the islands on either side of Isabella (Fernandina to the left and Santiago to the right), we could even see Santa Cruz in the distance.

The volcano itself was pretty impressive, and we learnt quite a bit about volcanos from our guide. Apparently the black lava is new, the older stuff gets oxidised as it ages, if it erupts very violently, then it can create lava bombs which kind of explode on impact but solidify in mid air so they create very interesting structures! Won't bore you with any more volcano facts now.

On the way back we passed a Galapagos Hawk, that was just sat on the roof of the horse shelter whilst everyone took pictures and walked past him.

The next day we wandered around the places near the town. Which was quite relaxing. I got a few photos of birds, we went snorkelling in a lagoon, and saw some lava tunnels. Home on the Monday morning on another choppy boat ride that without the local anti seasickness tablets, I would not have survived!