Reasons to travel to Isabela

Overall, Isabela was great. We have both discussed why we prefer Santa Cruz but for 3 days it is possible to experience the highlights of the island and really get to tick off everything you should do while there so we definitely recommend the island hop if you don’t get sea sick…and even if you do – suck it up and take some meds as it’s worth it.

Listed below are a few of our loves, dislikes and recommendations:
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LOVES:

• El Tuneles day trip – great wildlife experience - $110USD pp
• La Tintoreras – another wildlife immersion - $40USD PP
• Concha la Perla – swimming with sealions, turtles and marine iguanas - FREE
• $5USD pp lunches or $8USD pp dinners making it affordable (look for the white boards)
• ‘The Pink Iguana’ – must do bar for sunsets and great happy hour specials
• ‘The BJ Beach bar’ – great spot to chill on the beach and free popcorn with all drinks
• ‘Wall of tears/ lookout’ – great walk if you are up to hiking in the heat – FREE
• ‘Cielo Azul’ – Our accommodation. Amazing, $40USD per night and Jackson our host is the most humble, generous man around. He is also in the process of building a games hall and swimming pool at the hostel so if you go next year your experience will be even better than ours!
• The wildlife!! The main reason to travel to Galapagos. Isabela boasts the highest diversity of both land and marine life.
• Sierra Negra – The Volcano. We were unable to climb due to time and weather but from other travels they have said it is a must do!

​NEEDS SOME WORK:

• The service in some bars and restaurants, even in off-peak season the lack of care and customer service needs some attention as you will be ignored so just be prepared to ask and go find your waiter.
• The litter on the island – really bad! The education is there and the radio’s blast it everyday but the locals haven’t quite understood that they live in complete paradise and they have to keep it tidy so there is a lot of litter on the streets. This was the biggest downfall about the full weekend.
• The laid-back island life attitude of opening shops, bars and restaurants when it suits. We were looking forward to breakfast at 7am at a nice restaurant we had been told by the owner opened at 7am…8.20am…still waiting.
• The infrastructure is on the up but still needs a lot of work. Aesthetics wise the town looks half finished, which is essentially is as all the buildings are still being built or have been started then money ran out, so they are abandoned. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Travel in May time, the weather is amazing (HOT, BUT SUNNY 90% OF THE TIME) and there are next to no tourists. As much as it makes it a ghost town, for wildlife spotting you have the best chance and nowhere we traveled was busy or overcrowded.
• If saving money, only buy in supermarkets and the bakeries for breakfast and lunch and eat out for dinner as then you could easily spend between $10-12USD pp per day.
• Book all your tours after arriving on the island!! So much cheaper than on Santa Cruz and we have been told by many sources that the Isabela day trip from Santa Cruz is not worth it so if you have the time spend a few days and explore yourself.
• The ferry across. Book last minute for $25USD pp each way instead of $30USD. We traveled on ‘Cally 1’ and ‘Blue Fantasy’. ‘Blue Fantasy’ was the best by far. If on ‘Cally 1’, sit outside or at the back to prevent sea sickness. Do not try and read or look at your phone – you will be sick, believe me!
• Carry small change as you will need it for the eater taxi’s to and from each boat. This will cost 50c pp from Santa Cruz and $1 getting into Isabela (this may change but at time of writing it is accurate). This cost us $6USD overall for the weekend.