Galápagos - a week in Paradise

It took us a long time to decide whether to visit the Galápagos archipelago, mainly due to the limitations of our backpacker budget. We knew that a week in the islands would cost us roughly the same as a month in Colombia. However, we also knew that it was highly unlikely that we would return to this corner of the world anytime soon, specially to Quito after the most recent events. 

As it turned out, the trip and the expense were totally worth it.

San Cristóbal

Our flight from Quito via Guayaquil landed on San Cristóbal just before midday on the first Tuesday of December. This was one of the tiniest airports we had ever seen and after the 120$ entrance fee and only a 10 minutes stroll, we were in front of our Airbnb. Galápagos is a place where you can feel your time ticking away, so after cooking some quick pasta we were on our way to La Loberia. 

At only 40 minutes walking distance, this was the first place on the islands that captivated our senses. Here we encountered many breeding sea lions (called lobos de mar in Spanish, where the name of the beach comes from) lazily lying on the sand. The rule is to keep a 2 meter distance with any living animal on the islands. While Elise busied herself with her camera, I ventured in the water to swim with these playful creatures. I also managed to get close to a sea turtle and watched many different fish swirl around me. It was an incredible experience for our first day, one that luckily wouldn't end there.

We headed back to our base camp to refill our bottles and marched towards Punta Carola or Lovers Beach hoping for a romantic sunset next to the lighthouse. We walked through Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, with approximately 10,000 inhabitants, the capital city of the archipelago. Very much like London! Here we saw many more sea lions lying around on the beach, rocks, benches and even some house entrances!

Once we got to the lighthouse, we sat down on the rocks and watched the red crabs hide away from us, only to return back on sight moments after. The waves were pretty good and a few surfers were riding them alongside many blue-footed boobies (piquero de patas azules) looking for dinner. Suddendly and all at the same time, Élise jumped, gave a sharp cry and pointed at something in front of us. I couldn't see anything at first but soon, directly ahead of us, the silhouette of a small dragon became clear to me. Its colour melting with the volcanic rocks, the marine iguana had been there all the time!

The horizon was somewhat cloudy so we were not expecting the best sunset ever but we decided to stay a little bit longer to observe this extraordinary reptile. Soon enough though, another lovely surprise would land very closely: a blue-footed booby! We couldn't believe our luck, so many different encounters in just one afternoon, and all for free! 

The following day wasn't going to be that cheap. After some bargaining, we managed to book a 90 dollar pp snorkel tour to Kicker Rock which included a visit to Cerro Brujo and the Paradise like white sand beach next to it. Amazing landscape and wildlife! We got to watch a couple of red breasted frigatebirds resting on the sand. However, after what we saw the previous day, the snorkelling was somewhat disappointing. I did see some more turtles in the distance, but we didn't get to see the famous hammerhead sharks. I believe they forgot mentioning that the chances to see them substantially improve if you choose to dive rather than snorkel, at a cost that wasn't in our budget. Once back on land, we paid a visit to the Interpretation Centre and tried to bargain a flight to Isabela the next morning. This didn't turn out to be that easy this time so we opted for travelling to Santa Cruz by boat the following afternoon instead. 

Playa Baquerizo was our choice of destination for the morning. An hour long self guided hike to a lovely beach full of iguanas, crabs, sea lions and some grey pelicans. The walk itself was very interesting too, we had a great view of the beautiful coastline from Cerro Tijeretas and watched some of the birds that give this hill its name flying around and resting on nearby trees.

Coming back to town we had our first moment of panic. When we called our contact asking for seats on the afternoon boat, they told us that it was fully booked... We wasted some time trying to see if any other boat had space but all the agencies operate with the same two/three boats so it was a futile try. Quickly, we changed strategy and we booked tickets for the following morning together with a tour to the Galapaguera (a giant tortoise breeding centre), Puerto Chino and Juncos (the only sweet water lagoon in all the archipelago). It was definitely worth it to stay another afternoon! 

Santa Cruz

The following morning and after a 2 hour boat ride to Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz, we found accommodation and quickly went to Tortuga Bay. Kayaking here is recommended if you want to be with the sea turtles. We didn't and only saw one of them swimming away from the beach... However, when we got close to the mangroves on the right hand side we got to share the water with a couple of eagle rays and many tintoreras or white tip sharks! Such an incredible moment! 

Once we were content with our time at Tortuga Bay, we went all the way back where we came from and after crossing Puerto Ayora (twice the size as Puerto Baquerizo Moreno) we got to the The Charles Darwin Research Station. Here we saw many more giant tortoises, land iguanas and even the dissected body of Lonesome George, the last of his species. We ended the day chilling at La Ratonera beach next to the station.

We had already packed many activities in a very short time, so we decided to take the following day easy. In the morning, we rented some snorkelling gear and visited Las Grietas. We got there by watertaxi and after a lovely walk by a few salt ponds and Playa de los Alemanes. Las Grietas is an impressive rift connected to the sea below sea level so it benefits from very clear and calm water where you can observe the sea life. There are three sections and you can only get to the last two by climbing on the slippery rocks or through an underwater tunnel that some local kids pointed at us. Guess which one we chose? 

We loved the snorkelling on the third pond, almost on our own. After a couple of hours there we decided to use our kit somewhere different and stopped by Playa de los Alemanes. Here we swam with a couple of eagle rays, colourful shiny big fish, marine iguanas, a huge school of little fish surrounding us and even a medium sized shark passing by. We were getting used to having these bad boys around us frighteningly quickly!

When we felt we had enough sun and our stomachs were empty, we went back home for lunch and some rest. 

A couple of hours before dusk, we headed to La Estación beach to see if we had any more luck with our snorkelling kit. Élise was very keen to swim with turtles before leaving the islands but not so much to get in the water again for nothing, so I went in on my own and agreed to wave my hands in case I spotted one of them. The entrance to the sea wasn't the easiest with many rocks scattered around. The water was a bit murky too and a substantial amount of boat oil waste was floating on it, so the visibility wasn't great. However, after a few minutes swimming I spotted a turtle munching some seaweed. I quickly started making signs for Élise to come whilst keeping an eye on this natural marvel. Soon enough though, I realised that Élise was having problems in getting to the point where I was. Her mask had broken and she was panicking. She couldn't touch the bottom and was struggling with the waves, so I quickly went to help and lost sight of the turtle. Unfortunately it wasn't going to be the day for her to swim with these animals. To end up the night on a more positive note though, we went into town for our first dinner out: grilled lobster with garlic sauce. Delicious! 

Isabela

Our boat to Isabela was leaving at 7am the following morning, so we woke up early and got to the docks by 6:30am. After complying with the usual bag checking boarded the Angy II by watertaxi. In only two hours we were anchored in Puerto Villamil, where another watertaxi took us to the docks so we each could pay the 10 dollar access fee. Without hesitation, we walked to the affordable hotel we had preselected (Brisas del Mar - $30), checked in and went to the tour agency just in front. In a few minutes we booked three different activities. That afternoon we got on rental bikes and cycled to the Wall of Tears, a futile construction built by the prisoners sent to this island back in the day, many of whom perished under the tough conditions. On the way there, we saw several giant tortoises, lovely beaches, a lava tunnel and the impressive landscape from the top of a hill.

After the 3 hour cycling ($18), we put on some wetsuits, grabbed the snorkelling gear and joined a small group led by our guide Omar to the Tintoreras islets. We kayaked for a few minutes while Omar was telling us the story of these recent volcanic formations and pointed at different creatures such as iguanas, sea lions and blue-footed boobies. When the time for snorkelling arrived, Omar did an outstanding job. Élise told him that she really wanted to swim with turtles and within minutes her dream came true!

We spent a long time observing these animals and having fun, just until I saw a 3 meter lonely black tip shark crossing in front of us... My heart started racing and I quickly told our guide. Omar had also seen it seconds earlier and after my confession, he started getting nervous and asked us to climb back on our kayaks so we could move to more shallow waters. After some more snorkelling we kayaked back to Isabela and spotted on our way some local penguins posing on the rocks alongside the boobies. It felt that we had managed to see all the animals on our list! We finished the day with some more self guided snorkel in Concha Perla.

The following morning we were climbing up to the Sierra Negra volcano, a tour that started at 7am. As we needed to get on the 3pm boat to Santa Cruz, we decided to wake up even earlier to watch the pink flamingos at the estuary. It was definitely worth the extra effort to see these original birds wake up from their sleep and have their breakfast.

The subsequent tour took us to the summit of the volcano where we could enjoy wonderful views over the 10km impressive caldera. We also visited Volcán Chico, part of the same volcanic range and a very arid area with a nice view over Elizabeth Bay.

Once back in Santa Cruz, we treated ourselves to our second dinner out and tried the local fish Brujo. A well deserved feast after having eaten sandwiches, pasta and rice for a week. It was also an excellent way to say goodbye to the archipelago. The following morning we would take another boat to San Cristóbal where our flight back to the continent awaited us.

Overall it had been a magical week full of natural encounters. We had also initially considered taking a cruise but looking back, island hopping is definitely cheaper and you get to see more; there are many free/self-guided activities to help with the budget, all of them great!