Las Tintoreras

This afternoon we went on a boat trip to a nearby set of small islands, called Las Tintoreras. These lava islands were formed by the end of a lava flow from a long ago volcano.

Our first stop was to snorkel. Our guide went with us and he led us to different underwater sites to see various sea creatures. We saw a manta ray, head of a sea snake, sea cucumbers, octopus, and lots of brightly colored fish that swam in big schools. We swam with some marine turtles. It was pretty neat. We could get up pretty close to them. The current was pretty strong and as we swam forward a few strokes we were pushed back by the current. We spent about an hour snorkeling.

Our guide was stung by a Jellyfish

Then we went to another lava island which was home to a huge marine iguana colony. They have a walking trail around the island.

There is a canal between the islands where we saw white tipped reef sharks. They come here to rest in the warm waters. The guide told us that the eggs of the shark are kept inside the mother's body where they hatch. When they hatch they are ready to be on their own.

There were marine turtles swimming through the canal over the sharks.

The lava rock island is also home to several sea lion colonies, blue footed boobies, and Galápagos Penguins. We only saw one penguin as the colony had moved to the western end of Isla Isabela where the water is cooler this time of year.

Blue Footed Boobie

Sally Light-foot Crab

Penguin On the Rocks 

The red mangrove plant absorbs sea water and then takes the salt out of the water to use for growing. The leaves grow vertically.


We ended the day by running into Huffy and a person he had just met. This man was from Spain but had been in the islands several months working on a video. We sat in the tables out front of the Caleta Iguana Bar and had some interesting conversations about what everyone has been doing and where they were traveling or had been traveling and drinking some beer. Later, we listened listen to the live music and hung out there.

Another end to a great day.