A collection of volcanic islands in the middle of the pacific ocean with the most extraordinary habitants – the place where Darwin developed his Theory of Evolution and incomparable to any other place on this earth.
Swimming with sea lions, sharks and penguins; observing giant tortoises; wandering around the crater of sleeping volcanoes en enjoying paradise-like beaches….
If it sounds too good to be true, then you’re probably picturing it correctly.
Of all of my travel destinations, Galapagos is the one that has managed to stick with like no other.
This page includes general info & tips about visiting the Galapagos Islands on a budget.
There are three ways to visit Galapagos:
– Cruise (4 days – 1000 euros/1230 dollars; flight not included)
– Land-based Tour (4 days – 800 euros/1000 dollars; flight not included)
– Independently (10 days – 1000 euros/1230 dollars; flight INCLUDED) ==> that’s what I did.
(These prices are just indications of what I found myself, you can possibly find something cheaper, but I’m just talking from my own experiences)
So yeah, I think that speaks for itself.
Some recommendations about what to choose:
– You can not visit the island properly in 3-4 days independently. If you’re gonna spend the money to get there and you only have 4 days or something, book a tour.
– You can not find a 10-day tour cheaper than 3000 dollars. So if you wanna stay longer than a few days, go independently.
– Take your time. Really. I went 10 days and even that was not enough.
– If you hate being on boats for 2 hours, snorkeling or animals: don’t go. Cuz that’s what Galapagos is all about.
– To go independently (and on a budget), you must be prepared to: watch what you spend, go somewhere unprepared, walk around for some time and negotiate about prizes.
If you don’t like either of those things: book a tour.
Tour vs. Independent travel
| TOUR | INDEPENDENT |
| EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED (MEALS, VISITS, SNORKEL EQUIPMENT, SLEEPING PLACE, TRANSPORT); YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIGURE ANYTHING OUT BY YOURSELF | YOU HAVE TO ORGANIZE AND FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING YOURSELF |
| YOU OFTEN GET TO SEE MORE ISLANDS (AS YOU TRAVEL DURING THE NIGHT OR DURING DINNER) | I GOT TO SEE 3 ISLANDS IN 10 DAYS + 1 ONE DAY TOUR |
| YOU GET TO VISIT THE INHABITED ISLANDS | IT IS STILL POSSIBLE TO VISIT INHABITED ISLANDS, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. SOME CAN ONLY BE VISITED ON A CRUISE. I DID NOT FIND THIS A PROBLEM THOUGH, AS THE ONES I VISITED WERE VERY DIVERSE AND ON THE OTHER ONES YOU MOSTLY FIND THE SAME THINGS.} |
| YOU HAVE A GUIDE WHO CAN EXPLAIN YOU A LOT ABOUT THE ISLANDS | I DID NOT HAVE THAT, BUT I MADE FRIENDS EVERYDAY WHO COULD EXPLAIN ME SOME THINGS, |
| THE COST. MAYOR. DISADVANTAGE., | LESS EXPENSIVE THAN A TOUR |
| AS YOU TRAVEL IN GROUP, YOU LIVE WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW, WHICH CAN BE NICE BUT ALSO BAD IF YOU DON’T GET ALONG | YOU TRAVEL ON YOUR OWN OR WITH FRIENDS. FOR ME THIS WAS, NEXT TO THE COST, THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON TO TRAVEL INDEPENDENTLY. IF I’M GOING A PLACE THAT WONDERFUL, I DO NOT WANT TO BE STUCK WITH SOME PEOPLE I DON’T LIKE. |
| CHOICES IN WHAT YOU GET TO VISIT AND HOW ARE LIMITED. I PERSONALLY DID NOT FIND AN ITINERARY ON ANY OF THE TOURS THAT SUITED ME. | YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR OWN ITINERARY |
| YOU HAVE TO STICK TO THE SCHEDULE OF THE GROUP: GETTING UP, EATING, VISITING A PLACE. | YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING ON YOUR OWN TIME. |
| TOURS ARE MOSTLY ORGANIZED IN A WAY THAT REDUCES TRAVELLING TIME. THOUGH THIS CAN BE AN ADVANTAGE IN SOME WAYS (EG WHILE YOU TRAVEL BY BOAT BETWEEN ISLANDS, YOU CAN HAVE DINNER MEANWHILE), IT ALSO POSES DISADVANTAGES. | MORE TIME NEEDED FOR TRAVELLING, BUT FOR ME OFTEN IN A GOOD WAY: MURO DE LAS LAGRIMAS – A WALL MOST TOURS VISIT BY GOING THERE BY CAR. THE WALL IS NOTHING SPECIAL THOUGH – IT’S THE WAY THERE THAT MAKES THE EXPERIENCE WONDERFUL. SOMETHING YOU MISS OUT ON BY GOING BY TOUR (MY GALAPAGOS FRIENDS WHO WORK AS GUIDES CONFIRMED THIS) |
| YOU MEET A LOT OF OTHER FOREIGNERS | YOU GET TO MEET LOCAL PEOPLE (BEST THING EVER!) |
So I spent 1000 euros/1230 dollars on 10 days, flight included. For most people this is not more than what they’d spent on a yearly vacation to Spain or Turkey.
Bus Cuenca-Guayaquil: 16 $
one night in Guayaquil: 25 $
Flight: 400 $
Entrance fee: 25 $
Airport tax: 10 $
Boats: 90 $
Taxis: 10 $
Food: 100 $
Organized Day Tours: 300 $
Hostels: 150 $
souvenirs: 50 $
Other (renting snorkel equipment, bike, watertaxi): 20 $
There are three things that must be taken into account that could make this trip more expensive for someone else:
– As I am living in Cuenca, I could fly directly from Guayaquil. This is the cheapest flight. Flying in from Quito is sometimes a bit more expensive. A flight Europe-Guayaquil costs mostly between 800-1200 euros.
– As I am enrolled as a student in an Ecudorian Educational Institution, I only had to pay a 25 dollar entrance fee. Normally foreigners pay 100 dollars though.
– I flew from Guayaquil to San Cristobal and then from Santa Cruz back to Guayaquil. Flying to (and back) from San Cristobal is cheaper than flying to and from Santa Cruz.
Tips to travel cheaper:
– Hostels: I already booked my hostels in advance, since I was going during the holidays and I didn’t want to risk everything being full, but you can get much better prizes by finding a hostel upon your arrival (10 dollars per night in santa cruz). Also, find one near the Malecon. Mine turned out to be further away, which raises transport costs.
– Breakfast: There a a LOT of restaurants of Galapagos offering continental or american breakfast for 3-5 dollars. Don’t do this. Go find a panaderia (bakery) for some bread (10-20 cents per piece) and a supermarket for some cheese, jam or yoghurt (2 dollars, to be used for several days).
– Lunch/Dinner: Don’t go to the tourist restaurants (mostly on the Malecon). Even though, yes, Galapagos is more expensive than the main land, the cheapest is still to get an ‘almuerzo’ (3-6 dollars) and ‘cena’/’merienda’ (3-6 dollars).
– Tours: For some tours they all charge the same prize (eg in San Cristobal), but for others there can be differences of 30 $ (eg in Santa Cruz). So: negotiate. In San Cristobal I went to ask in 10 different tour agencies about the prize for the Leon Dormido Tour. They all asked 80 $. Only one would offer me the same tour for 75 $ – so I took that one.
Tips for day tours:
ALWAYS ask what is included. This could be: snorkeling equipment, wetsuit (if they don’t include it, ask if it’s necessary), almuerzo (lunch), extra transport (eg. a car to the port), how many people are going, start and ending time
Tour agency Santa Cruz
To book (day) tours from Santa cruz I recommend the tour agency on the main street (calle principal) in front of the airline TAME. Giovanni works there, he’s really nice and will definitely help you out.
Inter-island transport
There are 4 inhabited islands: Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Isabela & Floreana; the first three are the main islands.
There are NO direct boat connections between San Cristobal & Isabela – you’ll always have to go through Santa Cruz. Getting to Floreana is only possible by day tour from Santa Cruz. There is an airline company called EMETEBE that has flights from San Cristobal to Isabela, but cost about 100-130 $ one way and don’t fly regular. Don’t know for sure how this works, but you can mostly make reservations when you get there.
San Cristobal – Santa Cruz (or back): 2 daily; 2 hours
Santa Cruz – Isabela (or back): 2 daily; 2 hours
Itinerary
Note: there are a few details I would have done differently. So I will also write what I’d change.
For an extensive description of what every activity included, you can find the Tour Info below.
Part I: San Cristobal
day 1
– departure from Guayaquil: you’ll have to pay 10 $ tax and have your hand luggage checked before checking in.
– arrival in San Cristobal (Puerto Baquerizo Moreno):
the arriving passengers are divided into two groups: nationals & foreigners. Here you have to pay your entrance fee and your hand luggage is checked again.
– walk from the airport to the center, it’s maybe 5-10 minutes and not worth the taxi ride.
– visit Playa Mann, a 10-min walk from the center
– visit the interpretation center, 2 min from Playa Mann
– go book a tour to Leon Dormido for the next day (75-80$)
Hotel: Hostal Leon Dormido
price: 25 $/night, private room
facilities: private bathroom, hot shower, airco, wifi, possibility to book tours
location: perfect, right in the center, near the malecon and port
Recommend? Yes! There are definitely cheaper options though, but I liked this one very much.
day 2
– day tour to Leon Dormido
– book a land tour for the next day (Laguna, Puerto Chino, Galapaguera) (60$): this is a fixed price, so it’s best to go with a few people to share the cost. You basically just pay for the car that takes you to these 3 places.
– buy boat ticket to Isabela (60$) for the 4th day
day 3
– land tour
– visit La Loberia, taxi 3 $
Part II: Isabela
day 4
– departure from San Cristobal
– arrival at Santa Cruz
– visit las grietas
I left my backpack at the tourist office; they were really nice and gave me a map and an explanation how to get to Las Grietas. Tourist Office is on the Malecon, almost at the end of the street on the right.
– departure from Santa Cruz
– arrival at Isabela
– go inform or book a tour.
Important:
_DEFINITELY do Los Tuneles (70-80 $). it’s the most expensive one, but it was the best tour I did! We booked at the tour agency that’s located kind of accross Hotel Coral Blanco
_Don’t do Las Tintoreras (40 $). you can see thee same things in the port and it’s not worth the money.
_ You can do Los Volcanos (35 $), but check the weather first!! I didn’t go because it had been cloudy all week and it turned out it wasn’t worth going.
Hostel: La Posada del Caminante
price: 15 $ private room
facilities: hot shower, wifi, refrigerator, private cooking facilities, shared kitchen, no airco only the thing that blows air (not sure what’s it called in english), possibility to book tours and rent bikes.
location: a bit “far” from the center (5 min walk, but yes that’s far on Isabela)
Recommend: depends. it was cheap and had all the necessary facilities, but for only 5 dollars more you can get a room in a hotel in front of the beach and more in the centre.
NOTE: I would do this differently. I would take a boat to Santa Cruz on day 3, at 15h (if you start the land tour at 8h, you have more than enough time). Then stay the night in Santa Cruz and leave on day 4 in the morning to Isabela. This way you have half a day extra on Isabela.
day 5
– rent a bike to go to Muro de Las Lagrimas. Take your time to visit all the stops on the way and the beach
day 6
– rent snorkeling equipment (2,5 $ for mask and tube; 5 $ if you want the things to swim too) & go snorkeling in the port bay. I rented mine at the same tour agency I bought the tour to los tuneles; kinda across Hotel Coral Blanco.
– rent a bike or walk (it’s a nice walk) to the tortoise breeding centre & visit the flamingo lagoon
day 7
– day tour to Los Tuneles
Part III: Santa Cruz
day 8:
– arrival at Santa Cruz
– visit Tortuga Bay, It’s a 30-45 min walk to the beach and that’s the only option to get there so be prepared.
– Go book a day tour for the next day.
Hostel: Galapagos Best Home Stay
price: 17 $/night, shared room
facilities: shared bathroom in the room, kitchen in the room, lockers (bring your own lock), laundry service next to the hostel
location: a bit far. 20min walk to the Malecon or 1 $ taxi.
recommend? The hostel itself: yes. The location: no.
day 9
– day tour Isla Daphne, Isla Pinzon, Beach (110 $)
NOTE: I actually wanted to go to Bartolomé, but that one was fully booked and more expensive (160 $). I recommend Bartolomé over Isla Pinzon though.
day 10
– departure from Santa Cruz
– arrival at Guayaquil and going back to Cuenca by bus
Galapagos – Tour Info
- San Cristobal
- Snorkeling at Leon Dormido
- Landtour: La Galapaguera, Puerto Chino, Laguna El Junco, El Progreso
- Las Grietas: Stop-Over at Santa Cruz & arrival at Isabela
- Muro de Las Lagrimas
- Snorkeling at the harbour of Isabela
- Los Tuneles
- Isla Pinzon
Arrival at San Cristobal
First impression when arriving in San Cristóbal: I was not aware that so many Brazilian girls dye their hair blonde. Also, I think I was about the only one at the airport who didn’t get picked up for a tour. So I went on my way to find the hotel I booked. The airport is located a 10 minute walk from the main town Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Fortunately, it was exactly the opposite of what I expected it to be: Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is small, tranquil, Ecuadorian and NOT filled with hundreds of tourists. Once I arrived at my hotel, I found out my reservation hadn’t come through. Fortunately there was still a room available, so no problem. I went to buy some food and got my first ‘Galapagos-is-expensive’ wake-up call: 3 dollar for a sandwich, where as in Cuenca I pay 1,5 for the same thing. Still cheaper than Europe though. Then I went to the information center to visit an exposition about the origins and history of the islands. On my way there, I came by a small beach, when I suddenly saw that there were dozens of sea lions lying around. I had no idea they would be so easy to access! They were lying, swimming and walking around between the people and I just sat there for about an hour watching them and not believing my eyes. It was a first of many incredible experiences. I then went to look for a tour I could go on. After passing by about 10 tour agencies that charged the same price, I found one that gave me a 5 dollar discount so I took it.
Snorkeling at Leon Dormido
On Saturday I was ready to go snorkeling at Leon Dormido. Well.. no.. that’s a lie. I definitely was NOT ready. Leon Dormido is a huge rock in the middle of the ocean, which has been split into two because of erosion. In the cannel between the rocks you can go snorkeling and see many sea animals. For those who didn’t know: I have some kind of irrational fear of waves and being in water where I can’t see the bottom. Even more when there’s no land in sight. So I was not ready – I was so nervous I almost couldn’t eat anything. But I overcame my stupid fear and I did it. To get to the Leon Dormido it’s a 40-minute boat ride. The waters are so blue, so clear,.. it felt like I was in a movie. The group I went with was really cool; there was a Spanish couple, 2 Russian girls and 3 German girls, one of whom is also studying in Cuenca and I have mutual friends with. When we arrived at Leon Dormido, we were the only one’s there. That’s something really great about Galapagos: everything is organized in such a way that there can only be one or two boats at the same time at a visiting place, so you’re never surrounded by dozens of tourists. So then we arrived at Leon Dormido and went snorkeling. After 5 minutes we already had to change directions because of the currents. It’s about 20 meters deep between the rocks and a lot more around them, so you definitely don’t want to be caught in the current. All of my fears disappeared instantly when I got to look under water: a world of corals, fishes in so many different colors, sea turtles, not even half a meter away from me, sea lions that swam around and under us and finally: two Galapagos Sharks. It was unbelievable; I had never seen something like that before. I am not used to swimming. I’ve swum in pools.. but that’s like 5 meters and you’re done. But I’ve never swum in oceans and definitely not where there’s no chance to stand upright or get to land in less than 10 seconds. After about 20 minutes of snorkeling in the cannel of Leon Dormido, the current suddenly changed and I felt that for every meter I went forward, I got pulled back two and had to hang on to the buoy the guide had with him to rest a minute. The guide told us to go back to the boat and even though I was shaking of the effort I had had to put into the swimming and felt kind of sick, I was overly happy and astonished by everything I had seen. Second day on Galapagos and already I had fallen head over heels in love with it.
Landtour: La Galapaguera, Puerto Chino, Laguna El Junco, El Progreso
On Sunday, I went on another day tour with the Spanish couple I had met on the Leon Dormido tour. First stop was La Galapaguera, where giant Galapagos tortoises live in a semi-natural environment. We could walk and stand next to them and it was amazing to see these animals in real life: they look and move like I imagine prehistoric animals did. We then went to the beach Puerto China: crystal clear and sky blue water, white sand en another sea lion colony that was lying around. The only one you have to be careful of is the male. If you come to close or provoke them, they can sometimes bite and they’re surprisingly fast, even on the land. Next stop was Laguna El Junco, a wonderful crater lake. Unfortunately there was a lot of fog, so we only got to see the lake when it cleared up for about 5 minutes. Finally we drove to El Progreso, the only other town there is at San Cristóbal, and visited an amazing tree house, built in the oldest and biggest tree of Galapagos. Since we had then some time left, we took a taxi to La Lobería. This is another beach with a sea lion colony: the baby sea lions are so incredibly cute! With the burning Ecuadorian sun, we thought we were lucky when we found a shadowy place under some bushes, but we didn’t count on the sea lions: after 15 minutes the male and one of the females of the group decided our place was really nice and just came walking in. You really don’t want to mess with a 2 meter male sea lion, so we quickly grabbed our stuff and made sure we got out of there. Yeah.. that’s what Galapagos is about… if there’s a sea lion sitting in your spot, you have to accept it. If there’s an iguana in the middle of the road, well, you’ll just have to wait until it’s gone.
Stop-over at Santa Cruz & arrival at Isabela
At 7h my boat left to Santa Cruz. There are no direct boat connections between San Cristobal and Isabela, so you always have to go to Santa Cruz first. I arrived in Santa Cruz at 9h and met up with the Spanish couple, who had arrived there a day before. I then went to the Tourist Office to leave my luggage there and got some information about what I could do during the next 4 hours. (My boat to Isabela wasn’t until 14h). They recommended me to go to Las Grietas, so I did. I first had to take a watertaxi to get to the other side of the bay, then had to walk for about half an hour to finally arrive at Las Grietas: “Directly translated, “grieta” means crevasse or crack. Las Grietas is a place to swim in cool ocean water between two tall cliffs, where the earth has opened like a “crack” or “crevasse”.” (Source: galapagosislands.com). I have to be honest: it’s a good thing I was just passing time, because it was not that spectacular. Or maybe I was already spoiled because of everything I’d seen the day before. It also didn’t help that there were A LOT of tourists there, which kind of ruined the feeling. I know I am a traveller myself, but if there’s one thing I really can’t stand it’s tourist crowds. Fortunately the walk there was really nice, with cacti and a salt mine on the way. At 14h I took the boat to Isabela and got to meet William, a Galapagueño from Santa Cruz who was starting a hotel on Isabela. He offered to take a taxi with me to bring me to my hostel and I was happy I arrived that easily. From the first moment I arrived on Isabela, I fell completely in love with it and knew this was gonna be my favorite place in the world. It’s the biggest island of Galapagos, but only a few parts are accessible and there are only 2 small villages. The one I was staying is Puerto Villamil: it’s (as the name says) the port town, only 6 blocks wide with no asphalt streets, a ‘plaza central’, a street with restaurants, lots of hotels, palm trees and a 2 km long beach with white sand and clear, blue water. That same night I already met my roommates and neighbour from the hostel. Initially the main reason I wanted to go to Isabela was because it’s one of the few islands where the Galapagos Penguin can be seen and I had promised my boyfriend I’d find them for us. For those who don’t know the story: I met him in June 2013 on a party when he came up to me and just said “penguin”. Note: Don’t try this at home. It normally doesn’t work. Unless you’re me and you’re weird and fall in love with guys who use penguins as a pick-up line. Anyway, that first night at Isabela I told my Italian/Colombian neighbour the story and we went to look for penguins at the dock. We didn’t find them that evening, but that was just the beginning of my “I want to see the penguins”-obsession that drove everyone crazy. I also had to figure out which tours I wanted to go on. Mostly there were 3 tours offered: Las Tintoreras, a place to snorkel with many animals; The Volcanos; Los Tuneles, another snorkelling place. I decided not to do the Volcano Tour, as it had been very clouded the last days and everyone said it was impossible to see anything because of the fog, so not worth it. I had been told Los Tuneles was the best one so we went to the centre to some tour agencies. We quickly found out that everything was sold out for the rest of the week.
Iguanas and Tortoises – an amazing bike ride to Muro de las Lagrimas
I didn’t want to give up on the Los Tuneles Tour, so in the morning I went on my way to some more tour agencies. First I went to buy my boat ticket to return to Santa Cruz. I had planned to leave Isabela on the first of January, but everything was already sold out for that day. So I bought a ticket for the 2nd and it turns out this was the best thing that could’ve happened. Not that much later I found a tour agency that had places left to Los Tuneles on the 1st of January! I immediately booked for my hostel-neighbour and me and was so happy that I was going to be able to do the tour. I then rented a bike at the hostel to go to the ‘Wall of Tears’. I didn’t actually make it to the wall, but the way there was the reason I went. The first part was a road next to Isabela’s beautiful beach, later through the wetlands and Mangroves and finally through a desert-like landscape with cacti. On my way there I came across A LOT of iguanas, birds and giant tortoises. It was an amazing experience to see these animals from so close and in their natural environment. 
Snorkeling at the harbour & New year’s Eve
On Wednesday I got up early because I wanted to go snorkelling at Concha de Perla, a bay near the harbour. It turned out that the road was closed for maintenance, but fortunately it was possible to snorkel in the harbour. Another day swimming with sea lions, mantas AND I even saw a penguin! In the afternoon I went to the breeding centre for giant tortoises and a lagoon with flamingos! I didn’t have a lot of expectations for my New Year’s Eve; I just thought I’d be going to bed at 22h. But first I would treat myself a New Year’s meal: rice with coconut milk and garlic chicken – the best thing I had eaten in months! In the morning, during snorkelling, I somehow had gotten into a conversation with one of the guides, a Galapagueño from Isabela, who was there with a group of tourists; when I arrived at the breeding centre, I ran into him again and since Isabela is so small, we saw each other again that night at the plaza central. We went to a bar, where my hostel-roommates would be, and he introduced to his friends and fellow guide-colleagues – all of them where really nice. It was 23h when he had to leave and I stayed behind with one of his friends – another Galapagueño from the island Santa Cruz, who was also working at the moment and therefore a bit sad that he couldn’t be with his family and friends on New Year’s. As we both didn’t know anyone else there, we went back to the plaza central for the countdown. Fireworks, music, lanterns, wooden puppets that were burned, it was a great spectacle! After that we went to the beach to a place where we could look out over the ocean, the beach and the town and had an even more amazing view of the fireworks. So yeah… my New Year’s Countdown? 25 degrees at midnight, on an island, with a random person I just met an hour before and a night at the beach. I had an amazing time and it was great to start 2015 like this – even though, of course, I missed my boyfriend and my family a lot.
Los Tuneles: Manta rays, Penguins, sharks and so much more
What better way to start the year than with the most amazing tour ever: day trip to Los Túneles. With the group of people from the hostel where I was staying, a dutch couple and an Ecuadorian couple, we left on the 1st of January on a 40-minute boat ride to Los Tuneles. These are lava formations that have formed tunnels in the water. It was a mysterious environment with a very unique landscape. The fact that we were the only one’s there definitely contributed to the authenticity of the place. Truly amazing! On our way there we saw manta rays with a width of at least 5 meters! The guys didn’t hesitate and jumped into the water to snorkel with these giant fish – I was happy though to stay in the boat. I wasn’t very fond of going swimming with some sea creatures three times my size. But wow… what an amazing experience to see these animals! We then went to snorkel near Los Tuneles with a group of penguins. They are SO cute and it was really cool to be able to take pictures with actual real life penguins in their natural environment. I was also really glad that by now I had mostly gotten over my fear of deep waters – it was all just too beautiful as we swam with sea lions, penguins and sea horses. We then went on to the next snorkeling place: giant sea turtles (and I mean, really enormous! Like almost as big as a person!), more sea horses, tropical fish AND: sharks! A LOT of sharks! Weirdly enough I used to be afraid of being in water, but the sharks didn’t scare me at all. Although, when I cut my knee on a rock and started bleeding, I must say that the guide managed to scare me by saying the sharks would smell the blood and eat my knee. Don’t tell me things like that – I will believe all of it! I managed to cut my knee even a second time, but fortunately the sharks were nice enough to not eat my legs. Sharks do look creepy. The way they move when they swim.. even though I wasn’t actually scared, I still wouldn’t want to be surrounded by them – just because of their creepy way of swimming. During this trip I also got to know Julio and Natalia, the Ecuadorian couple. I found out that Julio had been the director of Outward Bound in Quito – an organization that specializes in leadership and teambuilding training. He now works for a program “Agents of Change” that provides leadership training for young people at the Galapagos islands. We spent a half an hour talking about these subjects and he told me he could bring me in contact with the directors of these organizations so I could apply for a job if I wanted to. VERY tempting! I spent my evening at the beach with my new Galapagos-friends and was really sad that it was my last day on Isabela.
Arrival at Santa Cruz & Tortuga Bay
Since the boat from Isabela left at 6am, the first thing I did when I arrived at my hostel in Santa Cruz was sleep for 2 hours. I then went on my way to Tortuga Bay – said to be the best beach of Galapagos. It’s a half an hour walk, as there are no streets, and to be honest not worth my time. It was beautiful – yes – but the difference with Isabela or San Cristobal is that Santa Cruz is very touristic. An if there’s one thing I don’t like it’s a beach full of tourists. I didn’t stay there very long, instead I went to look for a tour I could go on the next day. I really wanted to go to Bartolomé, but it was very expensive (160 dollars) and by the time I was done overthinking it, everything was sold out. So I decided to do another tour, to the island Pinzón, and I somehow befriended the guy working at the tour agency, Giovanni, who told me about this amazing pizza restaurant. Turned out, one of the guys I spent New Year’s Eve with, Santiago, was one of his oldest friends. Islands are so small… My nights at Santa Cruz were great: Santiago works as a tour guide for a hotel and was able to get me a bike there for free. This way we visited the whole town of Puerto Ayora and I got to see the island in another way.
Isla Pinzón Early in the morning the bus left to the other side of the island. From there we’d get on a boat for our day tour. In comparison to the other tours I had done, I personally found this one too expensive for what it was and the people were not that much fun. It was beautiful though. Our first stop was Isla Daphne Mayor, where we got to see a lot of different species of birds. Then we went on to Isla Pinzón to snorkel. The water was clearer than a pool is and we got to see a lot of bright colored fish, more sharks and got to swim with sea lions one more time. We did get the advice to stay away from the rocks as there were very poisonous scorpions hiding there. The last stop was a beautiful beach where we got to see some sea turtles. And mosquitos or some kind of annoying flies. I got bitten so many times. I spent my last evening hanging out at the agency where Giovanni worked and later getting to know some more of Puerto Ayora with Santiago. I’m guessing they’re used to this, hanging out with ‘extranjeras’, but for me it was really nice to get to know some Galapagueños.