Firefly - Firefly on Isabela 25/02

Firefly has been anchored at Puerto Vilamil, Isabela for 6 nights. We have been unable to move anywhere else as explained in earlier blogs, however, the anchorage was so beautiful it was a great place to be based for numerous shore based excursions. The highlight for the crew was a 'special' day trip by Panga (fast motor boat with a small cabin) to the west of the island. Local tour organiser, Paco, had come up with this new tour to satisfy the yachting folk that visit Isabela - the reason being that generally they want to and are prepared to go on longer trips, despite the discomfort of the small fast boats.

We ventured into real 'David Attenborough' territory with our guide telling us that very few tourists ever get to see this particular area. To the west of the island there is the Cerro Azul (may be the wrong spelling) very close to the coast. This is an area of recent volcanic activity so there are numerous lava flows reaching the sea. Here, the cold currents form the South and West coincide to make an environment where wildlife thrives. Marine iguanas, flightless comorants, sealions were all seen in large numbers.

As we reached the furthest destination we slowed down and the crew of 3 set the fishing lines. 20 minutes later we had 3 grouper and a small barracuda. We then entered a small lagoon with just enough depth to get in and had the first snorkeling session seeing turtles, sting rays and penguins. Back at the boat the crew were preparing the fish and we were served with a superb cervichi (the fish marinated in lime and orange with onions etc). The second snorkeling session we called 'turtle soup' due to the number seen and the final session at Los Tunelles was the highlight of our time in Galapagos.

After a high adrenalin entry into the lagoon through breaking surf and avoiding volcanic rocky outcrops we entered an area that was out of this world. An aquamarine lagoon with numerous volcanic rock islets, all reasonably evenly spaced so that the boat could motor between then at slow speed. Several of the outcrops were joined by bridges of rock, hence the name 'tunelles'. Growing on the rocks were numerous cacti, giving the place a 'wild west' appearance. On the land and in the air we saw numerous blue footed booby's. Having tied up to one of the rocky islets at an improvised jetty we ventured ashore and managed to get very close to Booby's doing their courtship dances - the male whistling, then lifting its feet in turn, sticking up its tail and flapping its wings. The female was clearly impressed as she allowed the male to get closer and responded with a wing flap and they touched their beaks together. Our guide explained that males with the bluest feet are the most successful with the females. We then stood on top of the volcanic rock bridges and watched as literally 50 to 100 turtles entered the inner area the lagoon in a ongoing convoy (we were about 2 metres above the water level which was also about 2 metres deep.

Finally as the light was fading we had our final snorkelling session. In the very clear water it was interesting to dive through the tunnels and especially due to the time we were expecting to see white tip sharks. The sharks did not show but our guide had promised us that he would find seahorses, having seen them several days before. He sent us away for a while during his searching and eventually we were called back over to dive closely to the most bizarre looking creature - at about 10cm long it was about twice as big as we had expected.

Today is Tuesday 25th Feb and we are on our way back to Santa Cruz to prepare for the longest passage of the World ARC to the Marquesas. Its another beautiful day and we are motor sailing due to limited wind, a current flowing in the wrong direction and a need to get into Puerto Ayora in time for the WARC supper.