Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz island, has a very different vibe than Isabela. Isabela's town, Puerto Villamil, is a kind of funky cross between a small beach resort and a frontier town. The roads are unpaved. People applaud the sunset. There are many bars. There is one ATM, and it doesn't work, and everything is done with cash.
Puerto Ayora, on the other hand, is full of people. It seems to be 95% tourist offices, 3% minimarkets, and 2% restaurants. We arrived at our fabulous cottage -- 3 stories, 3 bathrooms, a pool -- and set off shortly afterward for Tortuga Bay, which turned out to be a 6 mile walk along a nice paved path (though HOT) past woody cactuses and various fruit trees to a gorgeous beach where swimming is prohibited because of giant waves and dangerous currents, then more walking to a cove, Playa Mansa. There we saw marine iguanas and a blue heron, and many people including us swam in the gentle waters before heading back. We dined at a charming bistro with excellent food and crashed early. I was both sunburned and blistered, but a good sleep with AC revived me for the 6:30 wakeup required for our tour to North Seymour island.
We met our small group, consisting of some French people, some Dutch people, some Los Angelenos, and us, and boarded a bus that took us to a rubber dinghy that took us to a large sailboat. Sadly, we didn't sail, but we motored to the island, where we took another dinghy (scary, dangerous clambering in and out) and then walked a mile and a half with our park guide. He was great, very informative.
We saw scads of birds. There were frigate birds (not magnificent, just great -- I call them hetty frigate birds), many of them with their red puffy throat thingies puffed out, as it is mating season. There were brown pelicans.
There were many blue-footed boobies, so called because they are really silly. They were doing their mating dances, which were ridiculous. There were numerous land iguanas, babies and grown-ups. Two of them got into it over territory, hissing at each other and clicking with their throats.
After North Seymour, we motored (after more dinghy excitement) to a beach. During the ride, we were served a marvelous lunch of fresh grilled tuna and beers. On the beach some of us snorkeled -- Ben saw a ray, and we all saw lots of big striped turquoise fish and littler fish. Phil, on land, saw huge red Sally Lightfoot crabs. There were many, many biting flies -- painful bites that raised welts but quickly subsided. On the return, we had a champagne toast with snacks. Just wonderful.
When we got back, we rested briefly, then headed out to what has become Our Bar, the Rock. We had cocktails and then went to dinner at a designer hotel restaurant on the beach -- great food. Later Ben and I had a beer at the Rock and watched the entire town gather for a musical extravaganza at a park on the harbor, featuring music of all kinds (some very bad) and dancing, And then to bed — with no wake up time planned, tg.
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