10/11/23 : San Cristobel to Isabela island, then hitting the ground running and touring the beach and the wetlands with our guide  Erika
We left our hotel in San Cristobel early and caught a 6 seater plane to Isabela Island. The plane was small and the inflight meal was a granola bar handed out before we took off by the ground staff ! The plane was too small to eat the bar however without digging your neighbour in the ribs, so it stayed in my rucksack!
The flight took about 40 mins and was loud so we wore ear protectors all the way, chatting was not an option. As we approached Isabela it became clear that this island was very different to San Cristobel. In geological terms Isabela is a much younger island, and is still volcanically active with five volcanos, because of this the whole feel to the island was different. As you approach the island from the air you can see vast lava fields around the edge of the island, they look as if they were flowing yesterday but are in fact 3000 years old. Cactus and other scrub is growing among the lava now but much less than in San Cristobel, however when you glimpse the highland you see that by contrast this area is full on rain forest. We were arriving at 9am and the mist was clearing around the coast but still present in the highlands.
Isabela is the largest of the the Galapagos islands, but only a very small proportion is open to the tourist and there is only one town of Puerto Villamil, We were staying in the highlands on the edge of the Sierra Negra volcano, 15 mins away by car from the town. This volcano is still active, last erupting in 2017 and thankfully not predicted to be live again anytime soon.
The whole island is covered by the National Park, and so as in all the islands you need a guide, we were meeting ours at the airport, and she would guide us for the next three days. Despite having only 5% of the island open to us there was a lot to see and explore and we hit the ground running. We landed and were taken to our our accommodation by taxi with Erika pointing out everything we could see, we were staying at a tented lodge in a Banana plantation / rain forest. The tents were on a large raised decking area and were wooden floored with a double bed and a shower room, this was glamping Galapagos style. 
We had been warned that we might be sharing with large banana spiders but not to worry about them, Tracey didn't look convinced! We didn't however have much time to explore the accommodation as we quickly deposited our bags and headed off for the first half of todays tour.
We headed off with Erika for the coast and a walk around the wetland lagoons and beach. We hadn't arrived at the beach when Erika stopped the car at an old gravel quarry because she had seen something earlier she thought we might like. Looking over the edge into the quarry we were greeted by the wonderful sight of two American Flamingos and one Juvenile, this was another species to tick of the list and they were great to watch, we even got a glimpse of a few White Cheeked Pintails on the lake as well.
The road into the town quickly changed from tarmac to sand and we entered what I can only describe as the perfect beach town. Sandy roads, small shops, cafes , bars and bakeries on each side and directly behind the main road was the most perfect white sanded beach. This is a small town and there was hardly anyone around, those that were we all on the beach, but even with that we felt like we had the area pretty much to ourself.
From the beach we watched the Brown pelicans diving for fish, and then noticed the Galapagos Penguins swimming and diving with them. Blue Footed Boobies & Frigate Birds were flying overhead, Whimbrels on the beach and Franklins Gulls everywhere. We had to watch our feet as we explored further as the Marine Iguanas were everywhere, on the rocks, in the sea and even on the steps to the pier and viewing platform.
We wandered around for a couple of hours, stopped at the bakery and ate our pastries as we watched the wildlife do its thing on the beach, what a place this was! All too soon our taxi arrived and we headed off to the lodge for lunch, then another quick turnaround and out again for the afternoon.
This afternoon we visited a Galapagos Tortoise breeding centre, a large operation that was breeding hundreds of the Giant Tortoises, that would be helicoptered all around the island for release. Like the other islands, Isabela had a population of endemic Tortoises that had been hunted to near extinction of the years by sailors using them as an easy source of meat. The centre was doing a superb job and the islands numbers are well on the way to returning to good levels, but its a long term endless job to achieve this and one the locals take very seriously.
After the Tortoise centre we walked along duck boarding through the inland wetlands towards the beach. The wetlands are a series of brackish ponds and salt marsh, refilled at high tide and they are the home to a good selection of birdlife. We were lucky enough to see plenty of Darwins Finches, Galapagos Warblers, Galapagos Flycatchers ( another tick off the list ) , Smooth billed Anis, White Cheeked Pintails and a Blue Heron. Just as we were about to leave the wetlands we spotted two more endemic birds the Lesser Yellowlegs and the Black Necked Stilts, I was going to have to get a bigger tick list at this rate.
Back onto the beach once more to sit and watch the sunset while eating Empanadas from a beach side cafe hut, what a perfect way to finish the day, before heading back to the lodge for a night in our rainforest tent !