I had booked a trip to Isla de la Plata for Wednesday morning leaving at 9:00 a.m., a guided boat tour from Puerto Lopez is the only way of seeing this island. It is often called 'poor mans Galapagos because it is an accurate duplicate of an island there. I went because I really want to see the Galapagos but just cannot spend the money this time however having been to Isla de la Plata I now want to go to the Galapagos even more, seeing and being on the island is a teaser for the real thing. There were eight of us on the tour plus the guide and two boat drivers.
The island is about 40 km offshore from Puerto Lopez, taking about an hour to get there. It is home to nesting colonies of sea birds like frigate and pelicans and large numbers of blue footed boobies, masked boobies, the island and the Galapagos are the only places in the world where the boobies live. Albatross are migratory and can only be seen between April and October. There is a small colony of sea lions, and snorkeling in the coral reefs around the island.
It was a steep climb from where the boat landing is to the two trails that loop the island. Some of the trail is rough and there are 200 stairs on the way up. It is hot and there is no shade. I seen the boobies and the sea lions and after hiking the loop snorkeling is offered where I seen schools of beautiful tropical fish and sea turtles. We had a picnic on the boat and were back in Puerto Lopez at 5:00 p.m.. On the way we were lucky enough to see dolphins jumping and diving. The guide was informative and the others on the tour really nice people, it was a perfect day in a beautiful location.
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