Seven Nights in the Galápagos - Santa Cruz

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Monday 14 - Monday 21 Nov 2022

Being part of Ecuador, visiting the Galápagos Islands, with all its legendary beauty and unique wildlife, seemed like a no brainer when planning this trip, and boy are we glad we made it! It is beautiful and magical.

It is also mega expensive, so let’s start with that. Firstly, you have to fly in and out of the Galapagos from Ecuador (Quito or Guayaquil) so with no other option that is around 500 straight up; make sure you’ve got your return flight out booked as proof is needed when entering. Then there is the 20USD tourist tax to pay at the mainland airport (in a booth by the airport entrance before even checking in!) followed by the 100USD entrance fee at the airport on the other side (to help conserve the national parks of the Galapagos). We flew, like many, onto Baltra Island where you then pay 5USD to get a 10minute bus from the airport to the water channel, and 1USD for a little 5minute ferry (first real glimpse of turquoise water and blue footed boobies already!) to the main island of Santa Cruz. You then pay another 5USD for the next 45minute bus from this side of the island to the other; because of course the main town of Puerto Ayora, is at the opposite end to the airport. There is an alternative to this bit of the journey at least, but it is more expensive, being the white pick up truck taxis (a legal requirement that all taxis on the islands are registered white pick up trucks) that are there ready to take you and your money to the town.

A lot of people then do varying length cruises, (so much cheaper to book direct on the island rather then ahead online, if you can be flexible) which maybe, if this was not part of a bigger trip for us already, we would have considered more, but aware of our time and money we decided to stay on the one Island (Santa Cruz) for our 7nights and see what we could do from here ourselves on a budget. Unfortunately, it was clear, everything here is more expensive then you’d like; accommodation, food, alcohol, shorter trips, day trips, national park zones and centres that insist you require a guide, entrance fees, extra tourist taxes added on for foreigners and even a sneaky extra dollar for ‘use of the pier’ when walking from the land to a boat for a tour.

By no means is it any more expensive then some places at home, and is obviously needed to look after the protected land and animals and to support the locals, but it definitely has a ‘here, take my money’ vibe for pretty much everything. Also, just to note that it’s almost always cash only here so be mindful that your dollars can disappear quickly and with cash points charging a lot for withdrawals, make it worth it when you use them.

Having said all that (and oh there’s hardly any working WiFi or decent signal anywhere and no postal system so no sending those postcards you buy - rant over!), if you’re aware of the above and can budget for it, the Galápagos Islands (or the little bit we saw at least) are amazing! Clear turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, (even during our mostly cloudy week) and awesome wildlife everywhere make it a special place to be. With seals stealing all the benches, pelicans swooping up the fallen fish from the market, and camouflaged black iguanas and the more obvious bright red crabs creeping along the volcanic rocky shore front of Puerto Aroya, you are immediately swept into the Galápagos life.

So, having checked into our quirky home stay apartment (Cozy Hostings), explored a little of the towns main front street (vibrant, cool, quirky, tourist based with matching prices) and later meeting our equally unique but super friendly, informative and helpful host Graciela, we suddenly found ourselves with a rough plan for the week, including now being booked onto a snorkelling tour for the next day!; cue panic stations. Me… the sea… sharks… But what can I say, Graciela was persuasive. Like many locals here, she works freelance for all the tours and happened to be doing the Daphne island tour with two spare spaces the next day and with a discounted rate for us as her guests, we couldn’t say no; jump straight into the deep end right?!

So the following day, we literally did just that. A bus and a boat ride later and we had two deep sea snorkel spots by a small and a big rock (pretty rough sea with strong currents I might add!) and then a much preferred empty beach snorkel. I was pretty terrified, but after an initial shock of what am I doing with the first jump in, made sure I was always by Graciela and the group and managed pretty well. Although rough and a little cloudy, we saw loads of fish, starfish, a turtle and then a shark! Another minor freak on the inside, I kept myself looking cool, as we saw another shark and later in the second spot, another big one! Thankfully we saw no sharks on the beach spot but did see loads of turtles, a few rays and even got to swim along with a turtle for quite a while; maybe I am ok with snorkelling…maybe I can enjoy it.

With that in mind, we visited the area called Grietas the next day and swam in the small canyon crack there (early with no one else around, again thanks to Graciela working there that day) and then enjoyed a walk to Tortuga bay (actually free!) where we relaxed watching all the little finches and iguanas on the beach and then rented a kayak, where we saw so many turtles bobbing up and down, rays and fish and, alongside the mangroves, you guessed it, sharks! 6 white tips just sleeping in the shallows as well as an enormous sting ray which was super cool to see.

Heading inland the next day, we, saving money and being independent travellers, caught a bus to Santa Rosa, where we then walked an hour along farmers fields down to one of the three giant tortoise ranches and lava tunnels. We then enjoyed an informative tour around the ranch, and through the three short lava tunnels here before spending a good hour or so just watching these massive, ancient creatures munching away and occasionally moving; with Paul being called a hero after alerting staff one of the tortoises was munching down on some wire fence! After a steep climb back up and then the bus back into town, we wondered around, finding the Charles Darwin centre for a little look and later trying to work out where the locals go and found slightly cheaper places off the main street, as well as some tasty icecream.

Wanting to explore a little further without breaking the bank of a two day tour, we then managed to book onto a day ferry over to Isabela island (thanks Graciela). Whilst it only gave us a short time on the island, it did mean we could walk along boardwalks through the estuaries and mangroves (pretty dry!) and managed to see 4 flamingos! We also snorkelled at ‘Concha Perla’ there which was maybe our best snorkel, as despite no bigger animals, and not seeing any penguins, it was clearer and calmer with so many different fish including a puffer! We also got to relax on the beach there with more seals and iguanas. The ferry ride over and back though, was perhaps the key part of that day! When we say ferry, we mean a small boat and when we say ride, we mean rollercoaster ride; it really was very rough with one girl on the way back being sick (thank you travel sick tablets!)

Back on dry land, we decided to venture back inland the following day. After a lazy morning we hopped back on a bus to Bellavista this time where we began to hike up to the highest point on the island; Cerro Crocker at 864m high. A route with some old signs, whilst still a clear path, is clearly not used much any more; or at least at this time of year. Seeing only a couple of farmers, 4 kids biking and sliding down (with increasingly thick cloud and misty rain, it got very muddy) and one other family it actually felt pretty remote. Especially as, nearer the top, as it became more of a ridge, the cloud, mist and wind picked up. The random, what felt abandoned, cell towers at the top eerily appeared and rattled as we reached them, and with the wet green landscape surviving on old volcanic rock, and high pitched little birds you couldn’t see in the under growth, it really did feel like we could have been in a Jurassic park film. Cool but creepy, it was not what we expected from the Galápagos Islands, as we slipped our way down, now pretty soaked in our waterproof gear.

Whilst staying on one island means you can’t get as far out as the cruises, to the more remote islands, and so restrict what wildlife you can see in some ways, we really enjoyed having a base. It meant we could relax a little more and give time to just enjoying this area and the still very varied and abundant wildlife that we did see. We also feel it allowed us to see a little more of local life, relaxing at the dock spotting rays and sharks, walking through a street fair one evening with dance groups raising money and joining the cheers of Ecuador winning their World Cup match one morning. Even with the fairly constant cloud and a rainy last day, the Galapagos, Santa Cruz Island and it’s people gave a warm, fun, friendly, interesting and relaxed place to be for a week, filled with the sights of very cool creatures.

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