We are now anchored at the island of Isabella, Galapagos. Isabella is the largest island of the archipelago and has one settlement/village with about 2000 people living here, doing mostly fishing or tourism.....or hanging around.

On Monday we went on a very nice excursion. You have to use a local guide for any excursions on the island, so when Joseph approached us with a decent deal, we snapped it up. We met him on the beach at 7.00am (really, Claude did get up!..ok he wasn't all there...but he tagged along - good sport) and climbed into the back of a Mexican-type truck with high wooden sides and two rows of benches to sit on. We travelled on a dirt road for about an hour and it was amazing how the landscape changed every few miles, from flat volcanic rocks and desert, complete with cactus and shrubs to a higher land with tropical forest. Here they have agricultural lands and fields and things seem to grow profusely. We saw lemon trees, passion fruit, vegetable gardens, fields with cows.... The landscape changed once more and we found ourselves on a plateau near the summit (hahahah .. so we thought!) shrouded in mist.

Here we got off the truck..and met our new transport.....6 horses! We were each allocated a horse and off we went. They were good
horses....walking very sedately with us and, believe it or not, Rochelle leading the rest of us along a narrow mountain footpath, up and up and up, through the mist and tree ferns surrounded us for miles and miles. Coming up over the top of a small hill, we suddenly saw the rim of the
crater exposed! This crater is the second largest crater in the world, the one in Tanzania being the largest. The trail led us around the crater and we followed the path along the edge of the crater with the land falling away hundreds of feet on either side of the path. We could see right down into the crater's bottom which seemed flat and smooth and the lava flow looked like a brown river (obviously now cold) down in the crater.

On reaching the far end of the crater, we climbed off our horses and could not believe our ears...and eyes...when he showed us the foot path that led down the mountain, into the pit of the crater....where we still had to go! The footpath snaked down the mountainside, through tree ferns and later just lava rock and then up a landslide in the middle of the crater (from where smoke was bellowing out with a rumble and a hiss) ...our destination! Now bear in mind that the last eruption was in 1988...!

Standing over the pit, one foot away from where the steam was coming out..... sorry, let me backtrack a moment..... I have neglected to tell you that this rise in the middle of the crater, that we have just climbed down into, is bright yellow and orange. These are the old Galapagos sulpher "mines". The glare was so bright we could hardly look at it. So, now to put you into the picture, instead of red or black spewing lava
oozing out from earth, we had bright yellow and orange sulpher pouring out and forming crystals on the surrounding earth. The heat was quite severe.

Worse however, was the smell. Coming out of the earth was pure S02 gas. We covered our noses and I could not stop filming and taking photos.

It was now late in the day and reluctantly we followed our guide back. Now it was UP and UP and UP the mountain..... pheeeew! Back to the
..horses (which also did not sound or feel like such a great idea anymore!). The horses smelled home and this time, there was no docile walking... but cantering and galloping home to the bottom of Galapagos! Ahhhh! is all I can say... we have severe aches and pains.. the Voltaren Gel is working overtime on shoulders, necks, backs, bums and legs...we suffer! But regardless of the pain, this trip was one of the highlights!

We also spent a lovely day walking one of the trials on the reefs enclosing the anchorage. The foot path lead us through volcano rocks to a gully where White Tipped Reef sharks were clearly visible in the clear, shallow water. We saw the marine Iguanas, blue legged Boobies, Frigates and sea lions. It was very hot and the sun shining down on the black rocks had us quickly seeking escape in a nice clear pool of water... no sharks visible!

Isabella is a small town with dirt roads and everything closes from 12pm to 2 pm. Then it is time to have lunch, almuerzo and for only $2.50 we had a lovely meal consisting of a soup and a choice of either fish, chicken or beef as the main course.

The anchorage has been very busy, yachts arrive and leave daily and all departing yachties were sent off on the long trip with horns blowing, waving arms, whistles and shrieking by those of us still enjoying the island. We have had our fair share of mechanical breakdowns and we are atttended to those jobs. Some days it feels as if we are just not making any progress! But I guess that is just part of cruising!

We are now ready to depart the Galapagos islands and our next passage is 3000 miles away to the Marqueses Islands, French Polynesia. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our experiences in the Galapagos.