Isabella – Isla Tintorera & Snorkeling with Sea Lions (Galapagos Islands)

7. February 2015Categories: Travel reports, South America, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

After our excursion in the morning to the volcanic area of the Sierra Negra and volcano Chico, today another excursion to Isla Tintorera was on the program. We had about half an hour to move to the hotel before we were picked up again.

Day

of our trip around the world

Table of contents

The port of Puerto Villamil

After we arrived at the port of Puerto Villamil, the first thing we saw was a lot of sea lions, who took possession of the beach, some boats and even the park benches especially in the afternoon. In addition, a few marine iguanas 🙂

Sea lions at the port of Puerto Villamil

Sea Lion & Iguana at the Port

The Galapagos Penguins

From the port it took us only about 10 minutes by boat to Isla Tintorera. It didn’t take long for us to discover the first Galapagos penguins on the small islands upstream. These penguins are – as the name suggests – only here on the Galapagos Islands, which are very close to the equator and thus form the northernmost habitat of penguins on Earth.

Our boat for the excursion

Galapagos Penguins

The Isla Tintorera

When we arrived on Isla Tintorera, we first took a short walk across the island. This consists mainly of jagged, partly white coated volcanic stones.

Here you can find, among other things, many of the marine iguanas. Some of them can be found in dozens of side-by-side and above each other. But also pelicans, the red cliff crabs and other animals can be seen here up close.

Isla Tintorera off isabella island

The circular route over the island

Marine iguanas on the beach

Marine iguanas

Red cliff crabs

Red Cliff Crab

A Pelican

A group of blue-footed bolls

Mariner Iguana

Marine iguanas on the beach

Snorkeling with Sea Lions & Turtles

From the Isla Tintorera we went a bit further by boat until we reached our snorkeling spot. The underwater world was really great at this point: turtles, rays, sea lions and lots of fish. We had about an hour to snorkel before we went back to the harbour. Especially the swimming with the sea lions (and which smells they give under water) we found super interesting and funny 🙂

After the exhausting but really great day, we were just having something to eat and then fell into bed.

All travelogues from Ecuador & Galapagos-Island

Our 10 days on the Galapagos Islands are definitely one of the highlights of our world tour. We enjoyed the magnificent Nataur and the fascinating animal world incredibly well. No matter if San Cristobal, Santa Cruz, Isabella, Floreana or North Seymour - every island is completely unique and there is always something new to discover.