10 Days in the Galápagos Islands

We had heard nothing but positive things about the Galápagos Islands ever since we were in Ecuador last year. Countless people had told us that it was their favorite place they went in Ecuador, and some even in all of South America. Last year, time and money constraints had prevented us from going, but we decided we couldn't come to Ecuador a second time without seeing what all the hype was about...and getting a chance to be up close and personal with some boobies:

A blue-footed booby :)

Brian's brother, Allen, was able to join us for this part of our adventure, and after an all too short night of sleep to recover from our Cotopaxi climb (see last blog post), we set off from Quito to the land of sea lions, sharks, and blue-footed boobies!

The Galápagos Islands, where Charles Darwin came up with his theory of evolution, are made up of 18 major islands, five of which are inhabited. Rather than rush through each island, we decided to visit three of the inhabited islands: Santa Cruz, Isabela, and San Cristóbal. We also opted to do a land based tour of the islands rather than doing a liveaboard boat tour. Much deliberation went into this decision, but ultimately we decided that the liveaboards were more money than we were willing to pay and we would rather see the islands on our time, staying for as long or as little on each as we liked. An added benefit was that by staying on the islands we would be supporting the local economy.

Our first stop was Santa Cruz. We spent the first day exploring the town and getting to know some of the local wildlife. The next day we headed across the island to Las Grietas, a narrow stretch of water where you can snorkel between giant volcanic rock walls, before heading to Tortuga Bay to relax on the beach and swim with some small sharks. The next day, we headed out on a boat tour to Bartolomé Island, one of the "younger" volcanic islands, where we explored both land and sea, getting to swim with some sea lions, sea turtles, and penguins. Since pictures always tell a story best, here's a summary of our time on the island:

The next stop was Isabela island. The main mode of transportation between the islands is by water ferry (although the term “ferry” is very generous since they are basically just small speed boats). We had read numerous accounts of how uncomfortable the ferry rides are from island to island, so I came prepared with plenty of motion sickness medication, and boy did we all need it! Prior to departing, the captain handed out individual plastic barf bags, and during the bumpy, stomach-dropping two hour ride, a few of our fellow passengers put them to good use. After getting our land legs back and finding a place to stay, we set off to explore the island via bikes. The next day, we did a boat tour to a section of the island where lava had created a maze of volcanic rock and tunnels leading out into the sea. We explored the land above, seeing penguins, blue-footed boobies, and other birds, and then were able to snorkel with some very friendly and curious sea turtles and white tip sharks.

Our final stop was San Cristóbal Island. Since there is no ferry that goes directly from Isabela to San Cristóbal, we had to take the morning ferry to Santa Cruz and the afternoon ferry to San Cristóbal. I managed to pick one of the only seats that got pummeled with water on the first boat, but after that 2 ½ hour salty shower and another bumpy two hour ride, we arrived on San Cristóbal Island. The following day was sadly Allen's last day in the Galápagos (he was only able to stay for seven days) so we booked one last boat tour called the 360 tour, which took us on an adventure all around the island. We hiked, snorkeled eight feet above more than 50 white tip sharks, relaxed on the beach, and snorkeled at Kicker Rock (aka León Dormido).

Kicker Rock is a volcanic rock formation that towers 500 ft above the sea, providing an underwater rock wall full of coral and sea creatures. It is also known as a popular hangout spot for hammerhead sharks, but unfortunately we didn't see any while snorkeling. Thus, after saying a sad goodbye to Allen, Brian and I headed out to find a dive shop that would help me check diving with hammerheads off my bucket list!

Brian and I spent the last couple days hiking to various beaches around the island, sun-bathing with sea lions trying to steal our towels :)

Overall, we enjoyed our time in the Galápagos, and it is certainly a fascinating and unique ecosystem; however, we must admit that it did not quite live up to all of the hype (for us). If you are a big animal person, then the Galápagos is for you, however, the Galápagos Islands are EXPENSIVE. We knew this going in, but felt like they went a little overboard nickel-and-diming us at times. Even still, we are really glad we went because we came away with some great memories and we feel very fortunate to have had the experiences we did. This is one of the few places in the world where conservation is a real priority and the wildlife is free to be, well...wild.

Cheers,

Erin and Brian