The Galapagos are kind of like Pistachios
March 21, 2019
(I found my first beach of the trip in Galapagos.
It never really feels like a real trip until you find the beach.)
My boatmate Lou described the Galapagos like this: They’re kind of like pistachios. It takes a lot of work to get the payoff.
Lou is a hilarious New Yorker, and he might be on to something.
Arriving to Galapagos is an adventure.
You land and the plane u-turns on the runway:
a dog comes out and inspects all the luggage:
then you take a bus to a ferry to another bus:
to finally arrive in the largest city in Galapagos – Santa Cruz.
I arrived one day ahead of the cruise and used my new criteria for finding lodging – do they have lots of plants – and ended up at the Lava House Hostal. They had lots of plants, lots of hammocks and air conditioning! Thank god because Galapagos is hot. Super hot. Really super hot. (Did I mention it’s hot? It’s so hot. Ok I think you get it.)
Santa Cruz is the main stop for most cruise departures as well as day trips between islands. For all the hype that you won’t be able to get a spot on a cruise, the harbor had no shortage of boats.
Santa Cruz has a healthy hustle to it. It is the home of the Darwin Research center (though remember Darwin never actually researched at the center), a statue of Darwin and of course, Darwin Avenue. There’s also a cool bike lane, a mangrove park and some other fun street art (and for a day, me).
And that’s the quick version of Santa Cruz. Next day – the cruise.
Choosing a Galapagos cruise is one of the more complex processes I’ve had to deal with traveling. You have to pick the class of boat, how many people you want to travel with, what islands to visit, how many days, upper deck, lower deck – it just goes on and on. I decided to bypass the headache and go with the first option I found. Maybe not the best idea but it was how the decision got made. The cruise was to be 8 days/7 nights and head west around the islands of Santa Cruz, Santiago, Isabela and Fernandina. Our boat had 8 rooms and a total of 16 passengers: Bettina (my roommate), Lou, Joe, Sue, Melanie, Simon, Ann Marie, Susan, Liz, Mark, Lolita, Beth, the Canadian Couple, the Australian PhD lady and me. As Galapagos groups go, we were an active group and most everyone was really well traveled. Our specific itinerary went like this:
Day 1: Santa Cruz/Darwin Center/town
Day 2: Sombrero Chino & Rabida Island
Day 3: Buccaneer Cove, Espumilla Beach, James Bay
Day 4: Punta Espinoza, Urbina Bay
Day 5: Elizabeth Bay, Punta Moreno
Day 6: Tintores, Sierra Negra Volcano, Tortoise Breeding Center (Isabela)
Day 7: San Cristobal
Day 8: Back to dry land
If I tried to put everything down we’d be here until next week so here are the highlights 🙂
Sunrises:
Sea Lions and Fur Seals:
(this guy’s in a tree in the mangroves)
Turtles (land and sea) (though purists might object to the joint classification):
(this is Lonesome George’s body – above)
A penguin (pic taken by Joe – his GoPro was amazing) – it was swimming with us while we were snorkeling:
Iguanas (land and mar-iguanas (as the guides liked to call them):
Boobies (A+ for cool blue footed factor, F- for hygiene):
Flamingoes:
The Sierra Negra caldera (still active and actually really cool, or maybe hot is more correct?):
Boat Buddies:
(my roomie Bettina, Austrian Neurologist – Go Girl!)
Randomness:
I asked our guide who this was and more importantly what he was pointing at.
He had no idea.
Yep. This is a real sign at the beach.
I think most of us with home printers can agree,
they could use divine help.
Ok, I hate to admit it but our boat needed the extra support.
A brand fit for the aficionado.
No trip is complete without fine banana art, compliments of the chef.
Joe said the inspiration for the characters came from Ecuador.
I don’t know but welcome to Galapagos.
Don’t worry, there’s ping pong at the tsunami meeting point.
And finally, my fav:
This is a stuff tree – to hang your stuff on when you’re at the beach. Installed every 50 feet or so on the public beach. Genius by my standards lol. Why are these not on every beach???
And with that, my journey to Galapagos ends. See you in Cuenca.
Buddha & Boots 