Playa Tortuga

This morning Helen and hiked off to Playa Tortuga leaving John to get on with Internet catch up. We walked about ½ a mile through town to where the made path to the beach began. This made path was an impressive effort as it ran for about a mile or so over and around piles of lava covered with cactus and other flora.

At the end of this path we were rewarded a fine white sanded beach with crashing waves (reminding us much of South Africa) which stretched on for nearly another mile.

We kicked off our shoes and walked the length of the beach enjoying the crash of the waves and the feel of the sand in our toes.

At the end of the beach we came upon a small clump of mangroves where we caught sight of our first set of iguanas of the day. Soon we were seeing more and more iguanas lying around in the shade from the sun, sometimes in piles.

The terrain soon became more rugged and more unlike anywhere we’ve been before.

There was a popular public beach at the end of the walk which we didn’t hang around. We headed back the way we came feeling as though we’d really had a ‘Galapagos Experience’ on this hike. We’d recommend it to anyone coming this way.

Back in town we had a look around for John so we could have lunch together. We weren’t successful so we went shopping to top up our provisions and headed back to the boat for lunch. After lunch I had a brief nap then headed over to Scott Free in the dinghy to settle up for the fuel from the previous day’s efforts.

I’m now back in town uploading pictures and finishing my own internet bits and pieces. We’ve decided to head off to Isabella at first light tomorrow. We’ve heard that others have had to motor to get there. I’d rather have all day to minimise fuel use. We’ll spend a couple of days there doing some boat work and mostly relaxing. We’re exhausted.