We came through Santa Cruz on our way to Isabella and now it was time to spend a couple of nights in the heart/tourist/commercial center of the Galápagos Islands. It was a chance for us to catch up with our Irish travelling amigos Alan and Clare, who had set us up in the delightful Hostel Plantario which Alan had aptly named “Cesar’s palace”, partly because the owner was called Cesar and also because it was epic. We had our own roof terrace, huge kitchen, lounge and dining room table which was fit for a beer pong tournament.
A big shout out to Clare Collins who kindly shared the photo set below of the animals we saw whilst in the Galapagos. We did not manage to get them in front of the lens and wanted to show them in all their glory none the less.
As the sun set we headed down to the harbour to do a bit of shark spotting and we were not disappointed. With at least 15 baby black tip reef sharks, schools of golden Rays, fish and a hunting sea lion there was too much to look at in one go. We had to keep one eye guarding the pier as there was an angry bull sea lion who seemed to enjoy charging at the tourists for a good laugh and also had a go at Alan.
After an enjoyable trip across the harbour to Las Grietas for an early morning swim, cliff jump and a delicious fresh fruit salad for breakfast (much to V’s delight!) it was time for us to explore some inland sites. Even though the Galapagos was an ocean based extravaganza there was a lot to see on land. Our gracious and legendary host Cesar had an afternoon planned for us: we were just expecting him to drop us of at different places but instead he took to his role as a tour guide like a seasoned veteran explaining every bit of history to us. Our first stop was the sunken volcanic craters that had been formed from lava flows when the volcanoes on the island have erupted. We then headed to the largest lava tunnel on the island which was 600m long and over 5m high in places, not forgetting to mention the very narrow part we had to crawl through on all fours which didn’t impress the girls too much.
Last stop on the tour was the Reserva de Tortugas Gigantes “Rancho Primicias”, a working farm that had a several wild giant tortoises living on its grounds. It turned out that Cesar was not only a great tour guide but a giant tortoise whisperer. Whispering words we will never know and making a hissing noise with his mouth he got the giant tortoises to stick their long necks out and look towards the camera showing off their best smirk. These were the largest tortoises we had seen, some were over 150 years old and many were cooling themselves down in the small lakes / mud baths dotted around the ranch. In order to see what carrying around a shell with you feels like, we crawled into 2 empty tortoise shells and did a few push ups. Difficult but great fun.
Returning to the Cesar’s palace it was time to make the most of the roof terrace and BBQ. Earlier in the day we had bought some fresh fish from the market on the seafront (with begging sea lion “Henry” and various hungry Pelicans around) hunted down some fresh veg and got our hands on some cold beers. I wouldn’t say it was the best fish we had ever eaten but I would put that down not really having a clue how to cook it best. The experience counts though and we had ourselves a fab evening.
With the early ferry booked to San Cristobal and the promise of surf we snuck off to bed just before midnight to try and get a few ours sleep in. V was asleep in a matter of seconds, probably thanks to the bottle of wine in her belly. 🙂
In total we spent 10 days in the Galapagos, by far the best tour was Los Tuneles on Isabela followed by numerous different special experiences. No matter how you plan it it will cost a lot of money and try not to get to hung up on what other people have seen and told you about. There is always more you can see but it all depends on your time and budget. We were lucky enough to experience numerous different creatures on land as well as sea. We saw things we may never get to see again and they will stay engrained in our memories forever.
Just incase you are interested here is a quick breakdown of our costs during our 10 day trip and are only a rough guide as we haven’t listed every single item. In total we did 2 paid tours each and then a bunch of others things ourself. Getting between Islands is costly so you can save a bit if you plan your flights correctly. You can do the Galapagos on a budget but that is obviously relative: compared to the cost of cruises which range anywhere from $600 for 2days – $2000 for 4-day tours depending on where you shop, our expenses were more in the “budget”region. Compared to the rest of our trip these were by far the most expensive 10 days, hands down. It really is up to you and what you want to see and how you want to do it. We worked around the surf and scored it both ends of our trip:
| Accommodation ($40pn) | $400 |
| Entering Island ($120pp) | $240 |
| Food (circa $30pd) | $300 |
| Surf and land Taxi ($10 per surf pp) | $60 |
| Transfers between island ($30pp per island) | $240 |
| Tours (Circa $100pp per tour) | $400 |
| Extra Spending money | $200 |
| Total | $1840 |
Jamie & Verena 