Brendon and I spent the countries leading up to Ecuador debating whether or not we could afford to go to the Galapagos Islands. Okay, okay – so maybe it was more that I spent that time building a case to Bren about why we had to go. If you know anything about these islands, you will understand why.
It wasn’t until we met another traveller who told us about Isla de la Plata, that the decision became a little more clear. Isla de la Plata is a hosting site to seabird colonies, including the blue-footed booby, and is commonly known to travellers as the “Poor Man’s Galapagos.” Bren looked at me, eyes bright, and said, “that’s my kind of place!” …. and it wasn’t because of the seabirds. A compromise was built that day and one I was happy to make because deep down I knew that we wouldn’t get to experience the real Galapagos on our current budget anyway. It will be a much better experience if we save it for a time where we have a little more money to invest into it.
With our decision made, we made our way to Puerto Lopez to get ourselves on a boat. This specific tour, which we booked with a company called Cercapez, was made up of three parts: whale watching, snorkelling, and a visit to Isla de la Plata.
Whale season is from June to September in Ecuador and our guide set our expectations by reminding us that we were at the end of it. After a brief explanation of the itinerary for the day, we settled in for the quiet, one hour long ride to the island. We were only about 3 nautical kilometres from shore when we spotted a trio of humpback whales. As they swam the whales kept diving down, and just as the hope of another sight was fading they would resurface. We were amazed with how close the whales were to the boat. The largest one was massive, and looked like a submarine coming out of the water.
As we were watching them come and go, completely content in that, the large male unexpectedly came thundering straight up into the air, almost clearing its entire body out of the water. For a second the whale seemed to freeze, suspending in midair. At fifty feet away, we could see the full detail of its massive 30-tonne, barnacle-speckled body. Then, as fast as it came, the giant fell back into his domain, sending a tidal wave of sea water towards the boat. Knowing it couldn’t really get much better than that, the captain brought the engine to life and we jetted off towards the island to begin the second portion of the excursion. Our group was energetic now, the exhilaration of this close encounter now pulsating throughout the boat.
As we neared the island we could see dozens of sea turtles and fish swimming around the fishing boats, collecting any fish waste the fisherman were tossing back in. On land, hundreds of seabirds flew around the dry, barren hilltops. The hike took us up one of them, to the centre of the island, and looped down the North side and back. The highlight of the day, in terms of seabirds, was hands-down the blue-footed booby. We saw dozens of them, in every phase of life, and even witnessed a few courtship dances between mates.
There was an amazing number of frigate birds. Normally we’ve only seen these birds high in the sky riding on thermals, but here we were able to see them a little closer. The males have a red breast, and during mating season they blow up like a balloon. Mating season had just ended but we were fortunate enough to see a handful of them still inflated.
Our day ended with a one hour snorkel along the west shore of the island. As soon we jumped in a large school of small silver fish surrounded our bodies. As we swam through the water, they moved with us, like synchronised swimmers. We saw sting rays, yellowtail surgeonfish, trumpet fish, guinea fowl puffer, king angelfish and many more species. The waters were teaming with life. The snorkelling was some of the best we have ever experienced.
At the end of the day, our trip to Isla de la Plata felt less like a consolation prize than it did going into it. If you are visiting Ecuador, we would highly recommend this as a tour, especially if you can’t get yourself to the Galapagos.