After breakfast you will depart for Isla Tortuga for 2 dives where you will have a chance to see Mantas, Stingrays, Sea Turtles, White-Tipped Reef Sharks, Hammerheads, King Angelfish, Yellowtail Surgeonfish, Barber fish, Blue-Chin Parrotfish, Bump head Parrotfish, Galapagos Groupers, Galapagos Sheep head, Harlequin Wrasse, Grey Grunts, Tuna, Barracuda, Corals, Tubes and more. Possibility of Sunfish and Orcas.
We begin with a drive out of town along the most beautiful, white sand, palm-lined beach in the whole of the Galapagos, Long Beach. This stretches on for 3 kilometers before we hit the National Park and begin with a stop to walk up the stairs for astounding vistas from the top of Cerro Orchilla. As you drive down the road, you will very likely see the largest of the Galapagos marine iguanas sunning by the side of the road. And don't be surprised if you have to wait for a Galapagos tortoise to cross the road in front of you. You will visit the Muro de Las Lagrimas (Wall of Tears), which was built with backbreaking effort by prisoners of a local penal colony by carrying jagged volcanic rock long distances.
The path to the Wall of Tears is abundant with lava lizards. The males are larger and striped and the females red-throated. If you visit during breeding season, be careful not to step on or disturb the many nests along this trail. They appear as holes that a gopher might have dug, but in fact are nests.
Birds are also incredibly abundant and your Naturalist Guide will assist you with identification. Isabela has more tortoises in the wild than any other island with several sub-species, since lava fields created a barrier that limited their mobility to freely roam.
On your way back to town, you will visit the Interpretation Center, a breeding center for the giant Galapagos Tortoises and the only place to view the rare, remaining flat-backed (so-called 'tabletop' shells) Galapagos tortoises, many of which still bear the scars of volcanic activity from Sierra Negra. Dinner in the Lodge at 7:00pm