Sea Lion Greetings from Isabela Island Galapagos

Two and a half hours later.. after what I would call the worst boat ride of my life, we arrived on Isabela Island! Our tour guide took forever to meet with us, so instead we were warmly greeted by sea lions that hung out along the shore. Pin
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I was particularly obsessed with these two hanging out on the couch and took way too many photos of them.
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Galapagos sea lions are so playful! We stopped to watch them doing jumps in the water!
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This was our first blue footed booby sighting! It wasn’t the best lighting, but we were so excited to see these birds for the first time!
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All photos above were taken with a Canon 5D Mark III, 35mm/1.4L and 70-200mm/2.8L lens. If you’re not sure what camera or lenses to bring, I recommend you renting and trying them out from BorrowLenses first.

Tips for the Bay on Isabela Island:

I saw that some of the male sea lions were more aggressive and had a much different temperament as those we saw on Santa Cruz Island. They didn’t like that people were trying to take photos with them, and we even saw some charging at the tourists. But others allowed you go right up to them and didn’t mind. I would just use caution and observe their behavior before approaching. :)
Bring motion sickness medication for your boat ride. They say “enjoy the local experience being with up to 20 passengers on their way to Isabela”, but it was a pretty horrific experience. It was 2-3 hours in poor ventilation, choppy waters, and the smell of other people’s vomit. Not an exaggeration… a third of the passengers threw up, while others were in rotation to get fresh air so that they wouldn’t. If you can afford it, and it works within your schedule, I highly recommend you fly!

Last but not least, we’re doing a group giveaway ($230 in amazon & etsy giftcards!) with Melyssa & these lovely ladies: