The Galapagos Islands were another dream destination on our list, and a once in a lifetime trip. We were expecting it to be expensive and had figured it would cost around $5,000 in total for about 5 or 6 days, so we were prepared to fork out a lot of cash to see this amazing place.
The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands around the equator, over 900km west of Ecuador (which they are a part of). There are 14 main islands and 3 smaller islands, as well as over a hundred rocks and islets. However, for the sake of tourism there are 3 main islands that people visit or stay on - San Cristobal, Santa Cruz and Isabela. It's possible to visit some of the other smaller islands on cruises etc, but boats are prohibited to enter some areas of the Galapagos. This is a good thing as it helps to protect the more than 7,000 identified species in the Islands. So as you can imagine, it was almost impossible to turn a corner without seeing something new and different, and amazingly cool.
When we arrived in Quito we went to a few agencies to get an idea of the cruises they offered, prices and possible dates to leave. The average price of a 4 day boat cruise (mid-level in terms of quality) was about $1,200 dollars per person, not including flights and the entry fee to the Islands. So all up it was looking like it would cost around the two grand mark each. About what we were expecting. However, we hate organised tours because you never know what you're going to get in terms of quality, and there's nothing worse than being stuck on a boat with a bunch of people you can't stand. We also hate being told what to do and when to do it - that's not our idea of fun. For this reason we were very unsure about what to do, as we wanted to have the best experience possible. Obviously. And it's not like you can just pop back over again if it doesn't work out how you want it. So, after briefly talking to a guy at our hostel who had recently volunteered on the Islands and highly recommended we just do the whole trip ourselves, our minds were made up. We didn't really need much convincing.
We hadn't really thought it would be possible to visit the Islands independently and still see and do everything we wanted, so to hear that it was not only possible but recommended by many people, we were stoked. After deciding which islands we wanted to go to and how long for, we booked our flights directly from the airline. It couldn't have been easier, and cost us $934 for return flights for both of us to the airport on Baltra Island, which is above Santa Cruz Island. At Quito airport we had to pay $10 each for a 'visa' for the Galapagos, then upon arrival in Galapagos there's a $100 park entrance fee per person. The flight was about 2.5 hours, then we had to get a bus to a small channel to get a boat across to Santa Cruz Island. Then it was a 45min bus ride to Puerto Ayora which is the main town on the island and is the most populated town in the archipelago. We were totally surprised at how many people actually live in the Galapagos - somewhere between 19,000 and 25,000, depending on where you get your information from. Luckily there weren't many tourists staying on the islands when were were there, otherwise it would have felt way too crowded.
We spent 3 nights on Santa Cruz, and while it was more expensive than what we're used to, it wasn't ridiculously over-priced. We paid $30 a night for our room, but that included a really good breakfast. And because we're not ignorant tourists, we ate where the locals ate which saved us a LOT of money. We could get a set menu lunch for $2.50 which included soup, a main and a glass of juice. Who knew that would be possible in an isolated place 900kms from the mainland? And for dinner the most we paid was $8 each, but that was for prawns in coconut sauce and rice. Bloody delicious.
There was actually quite a lot to see and do on Santa Cruz, so we had no problems filling in our time there. We visited a tortoise breeding centre where we could see tiny little babies up to ridiculously huge adults which would have been at least 100kg. There were also iguanas there, but yellow ones which I'd never seen before.
One day we hired bikes and rode more than 7kms out of town, pretty much all uphill, to a lava tunnel known as the 'Tunnel of Love' because of the heart-shaped hole in the ceiling of the tunnel. It was a scenic ride, but who wants to ride over 7kms uphill on a scorching hot day? Needless to say, the return journey was a lot easier, but we were feeling the pain quite intensely for a day or two.
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| The heart shaped hole |
One of the most beautiful and unique places we visited on Santa Cruz was called Las Grietas, which is two giant walls formed by volcanic rock with crystal clear blue-green water in between. It's a popular spot for snorkelling, however there wasn't much to see when we were there. It was still an amazing place to be though. And Kurt couldn't resist climbing up then jumping off the rocks from about 10 metres, but the hard landing was a bit painful on the old kidneys. It looked impressive though.
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| Las Grietas |
That same day we walked out to Tortuga Bay, which is a stunning beach with the softest, finest white sand we've ever walked on. It continued all the way into the crystal clear water too, not a single shell or sharp object in sight. It was gorgeous.
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| Tortuga Bay |
We also did a half day tour of the bays, but it was a bit disappointing. The only reason we did it was to visit a small islet where you can swim and snorkel with sea lions anytime of the year. But when we got out there we hung around for a few photos then the boat just took off again. Apparently the current was too strong so we weren't allowed in the water. We were both so pissed off because that was the whole point of the tour for us. We then got off the boat and walked around to a beach where there were shitloads of marine iguanas crawling all over the place and each other. It was pretty cool because it took a while to spot them as they blended into the dark rocks, but once we saw them they were everywhere. After that we had time for some snorkelling, spotting heaps of cool fish, including huge schools of them that would cruise by. I was just hoping a shark wouldn't come along for a feed and get us as well. Me, paranoid? Perish the thought.
After 3 nights on Santa Cruz we got the ferry over to Isabela Island. Now, I don't know what everyone's idea of a ferry is, but to us it's a large boat that holds about 100 people or more and moves pretty slowly. That is not what we got on. Not even close. It was a speedboat that held about 20 people, with three 300 horsepower engines. So instead of a nice leisurely cruise across to Isabela, we hammered across the water at ridiculous speeds, regardless of how choppy the waves were. We were sitting up the front so were getting absolutely smashed everytime we slammed into a wave, so much so that Kurt had to stand up for the last half hour or so to ease the pain on his back and tailbone. Under those circumstances I was very surprised I didn't get seasick, but others weren't so lucky. One poor woman across from us was spewing into plastic bags and looking very pale and sweaty. Not a fun way to spend 2 hours. It was one of those situations where you secretly think, rather you than me.
Isabela is the largest island of the Galapagos and is shaped like a seahorse, formed by six volcanoes merging into a single land mass. Five out of the six volcanoes are still active, making it one of the most volcanically active places on earth. While this island is bigger than Santa Cruz, the main town of Puerto Villamil is much smaller than Puerto Ayora. As a result there's not as much choice in terms of food. We paid $25 for our room (with air-con this time) but it didn't include breakfast, so it ended up about the same price as on Santa Cruz. We stayed for 4 nights on Isabela and it was awesome. We explored the island a bit, hiring bikes again (gluttons for punishment) to ride out to an area where there are a few things to see. However, after about 30mins Kurt got a puncture so we stashed our bikes in the bushes and walked the rest of the way up to the Wall of Tears. On the way up we saw a pretty big land turtle on the side of the road, which freaked the fuck out of me when it kind of hissed at me as we walked past. It was cool to see one in the wild though, and we might not have spotted it if we'd still been on the bikes.
We finally arrived at the Wall of Tears which is so named because it was built by prisoners when there was a Penal Colony on the island from 1946 to 1959. As punishment the prisoners were forced to build this wall with huge blocks of lava, and it measures about 100m long by 7m high. You can climb up to the top of the wall which has a spectacular panoramic view of the place.
On the way back down we checked out a little cove that was beautiful and had a marine iguana just chilling in the incoming tide, and back down at the bottom we had a quick look at a tunnel that was formed by volcanic eruptions and leads under the sea.
Then Kurt spotted a tourist truck which had a space on the back where a bike would fit. So I went and asked if he could take me and Kurt's bike back to town while Kurt rode my bike back. Thankfully the guy was nice enough to agree, so one of us didn't have to make the long walk back. We went straight to get the tyre fixed so we could explore another area of the island. We'd read about a little bay down by the port which was supposed to be good for snorkelling, so we headed out there. But on the wooden walkway out there we came across a blockade - a cute little sealion just hanging out.
It had big gorgeous eyes and didn't seem too phased by our presence, so we took a few photos before quietly sneaking past. At the jetty there were a couple more sealions, much larger, sleeping on the warm wooden boards under the shade. Again, they weren't bothered by us being around them, but we didn't want to get too close. So we kitted up with snorkels and fins and jumped into the water. We saw heaps of cool fish and almost immediately a couple of sealions came to check us out. They were swimming with us and around us pretty much the whole time we were snorkelling, and they'd come so close we could have touched them. It was such a cool experience to see them playing around, moving through the water so quickly and gracefully right in front of and under us. They really are curious and beautiful creatures. It was one of the things we both really wanted to do during our time in the Galapagos, and it was one of the highlights.
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| Our private snorkelling spot |
Because Isabela has so many volcanoes, we couldn't leave without climbing at least one. Most of the volcanoes are located in the National Park and can't be visited without a guide, so we had to do a tour. We visited Volcan Sierra Negra and Volcan Chico, which was about a 5 hour round trip walking over varied landscapes. We arrived at Sierra Negra first, which is an active volcano, last erupting in 2005. It's also the second largest caldera in the world at 70 square kilometres. However, because it was still quite early the view of the caldera was completely obliterated by fog/clouds. Our guide assured us that we'd be able to see it on our return back down, so we continued on to Volcan Chico, which is a collection of smaller cones on the slopes of Sierra Negra. There was a pretty dramatic change in landscape at this point as we left any form of vegetation behind and clambered over black boulders and rocks, which came up against a solidified ocean of lava.
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| Solidified lava |
Some of these rocks were so sharp and brittle like glass, so we had to walk carefully. The landscape was unlike anything we've ever seen, it was like being on another planet. We walked up to the top of one cone which had a breathtaking view out over the island to the water.
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| Volcan Chico |
Like I said, we were constantly amazed by the things we saw every single day. On our way back we came across the lookout point for Sierra Negra and, sure enough, it was clear enough to see the enormity of it. It was a massive black crater, with fissures and cracks all over it, some so big they looked like roads. To know it's still active is quite scary, as there's not really anywhere the locals can evacuate to if there's another eruption.
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| Volcan Sierra Negra |
Because the volcano tour was so good we decided to do another tour with the same company, but just a short 2.5 hour one this time. We went out in a boat to a snorkelling spot, where we saw plenty of fish again, a small ray and another big fuck-off ray. We weren't expecting to see that so it was an awesome surprise. There was also a group of sealions there, so they were swimming and playing around us again. It hadn't lost its magic the second time around.
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| Small ray |
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| Electric blue fish |
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| Massive ray |
After that we visited an islet called Las Tintoreras, which is a lava canal where white fin sharks (called tintoreras) often rest. Unfortunately we could only spot the shadow of one shark sleeping at the bottom. But there were plenty of other things to see, as on the islet there were also heaps of birds, marine iguanas and sealions. We also spotted our first sea tortoise out in the bay, which was one thing we sadly didn't get to see whilst snorkelling. On the way back to shore we went past an outcrop of rocks with a bunch of penguins and blue-footed boobies. Not a bad way to end the day.
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| Blue-footed boobie |
After 4 nights on Isabela we had to get the early 'ferry' back to Santa Cruz to catch our flight. Fortunately we'd learnt from the hellish ride over, so we made sure we were first on the boat to get the prime seats at the back of the boat, in front of the motors. Although it was uncovered and we got rained on for a while, it was a million times better as the ride was much smoother. It was so much more enjoyable when we weren't getting slammed around every time we went over a wave. This time we got to watch the people sitting inside wincing with pain and discomfort instead.
As with nearly all trips, however long you have is never enough, and this was the case with our time on the Galapagos Islands. We could easily have spent weeks there seeing and doing new things every day, but it was just too expensive. But, because we did it ourselves it cost only a fraction of doing a cruise. In total, we spent just under $2,000 for the two of us for a week, and that included everything - flights, visas, entrance fees and everything we spent on the islands. And we got to do everything our way which made it so much better for us. The Galapagos lived up to our expectations 100%, and we left totally blown away by what we'd seen and done. It truly is a magical place on earth.
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