On Day 13 of my trip to Ecuador, Sierra and I took a snorkeling tour to Los Tuneles.
Puerto Villamil
We started our day with a walk to the flamingo ponds and breakfast in Puerto Villamil, near our hotel. But, the highlight of our day, and one of the highlights of our trip so far, was a day-trip to Los Tuneles.
Los Tuneles
Los Tuneles means "the tunnels" in Spanish and it's a must-see when visiting Isla Isabela. Los Tuneles is one of the many protected areas in the Galápagos Islands and the only way to see it is to book a guided tour.
Sierra and I booked the 11am tour at one of the many tour shops in Puerto Villamil. After fitting us with snorkeling equipment, they shuttled us to our boat at the dock.
On our way to Los Tuneles, about 45 minutes after leaving the dock, our boat circled a rock outcroppings to view the many birds perched on it. Most were blue footed boobies.
Soon after circling the rocks, we arrive at Los Tuneles. Our boat navigated the lava outcroppings then stopped for us to walk around and enjoy the beauty by land. We passed a sea lion resting on one of the ledges. As we walked along the rocky trail we watched sea turtles and penguins playing in the beautiful pools of clear water. And, near the trail, was a blue footed boobie waiting for its eggs to hatch.
This would have been an amazing area to explore by water. But, snorkeling is not allowed. Instead, we reboarded our boat to snorkel, nearby, at Cabo Rosa. On the way, we passed more beautiful rock outcroppings with boobies and penguins.
Cabo Rosa
We arrived at Cabo Rosa, donned our snorkeling gear and jumped in. It was magical from our first glimpse under water. Giant, but graceful, sea turtles swam in every direction. We explored underwater caves with white tip sharks and swam past black tip sharks. Our guide pointed out an octopus hiding in a hole and several hard to find seahorses along the sea floor. All the animals were amazing to see upclose. The sea turtles were the least challenging to find but still my favorite.
Slideshow
Here are pictures from Day 13 of our trip to Ecuador.
Expenses
I'm doing my best to track expenses in this spreadsheet for anyone that's interested in a similar, relatively low-budget trip.
Ecuador Fun Fact
Tortoises are turtles but not all turtles are tortoises. Say that three times fast!
The most common turtle in the Galápagos archipelago is the green sea turtle. The least common and most famous was Lonesome George.
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