A day of transport for the most part. We leave the beautiful island of Isabela for Santa Cruz, the most populated of the Galapagos.
March 11 2020
Goodbye Isabela
The alarm goes off very early this morning, at 5am. Pablo has to pick us up to take us to the boat ("Speed Boat") to Santa Cruz Island. Pablo, our driver, is on time as usual and takes us to the port. Once there, we quickly realize that we're not the only ones taking the boat. The queue is long. Everyone has to have their luggage checked to make sure no one is leaving with animals or plants from the island or that could harm the other islands.
If you have hiking boots, they too need to be checked, so keep them handy and be sure to clean them before taking the boat.
Once through the checkpoint, we pick up our tickets (in fact, Pablo does it for us). Then we wait for the water cab to arrive. For the modest sum of 1$, it takes us to the main boat on which we'll make the crossing. It's going to be a hectic 2 hours... We'd been warned, and the seasickness tablets don't go amiss. With the big waves, there's a lot of tossing and turning in the boat, a real rollercoaster ride. The blows are violent, make us jump out of our seats and are not very pleasant, but we make the best of it. To compensate, we're treated to a beautiful sunrise. After 2 hours, it's good to be back on solid ground. Marie wonders how we're going to survive 2 more crossings like this.
Santa Cruz
We arrive in Santa Cruz. We take a small cab boat (0.50$) from the main boat to the quay and town of Puerto Ayora. Our new driver, Javier, is waiting for us. Before setting off on our adventure, as we haven't had breakfast, we make a quick stop at a bakery to grab a pain au chocolat each. A cheap lunch costing 1.50 US for the 2 of us. We save where we can!
Our driver is friendly and more talkative than the last one, despite the high language barrier. He tries to teach us the Spanish words of what we see on the road. The funny thing is that, at first glance, people don't smile at us. But as soon as we say a word in Spanish and force ourselves a little, they really like it! In this respect, our very limited Spanish is a big disadvantage when it comes to making contact with the locals, and we regret this aspect.
El Chato Ranch
We then hit the road, crossing a good part of the island to reach the ranch. El chato. The ranch is actually open to turtles, who are free-living in the area and can come and go as they please. In contrast to previous centers, where the turtles were in captivity, giant tortoises can be seen in the wild.
We walk along the paths in search of them. Eventually, we spot one walking (at turtle speed) close to a path. It doesn't look easy getting around with their big shells on their backs and their big clawed paws. It's great to be able to observe these unique specimens up close! Following the paths, we also pass through a lava tunnel in the middle of the rock. It really looks like caves formed in the ground, and is quite impressive.
We continue along the various paths and come across several turtles of varying sizes. From a distance, it's sometimes difficult to distinguish their shells from the rocks. It's probably their best defence.
We also come across the first examples of people who don't respect the rules, getting too close to the turtles and going off the marked trails. Normally, you have to stay at least 3 meters away from the turtles and not leave the trails, so as not to disturb them. They do just the opposite, leaving the paths to take selfies glued to a turtle... A turtle near them has its head tucked into its shell, indicating that it's frightened.
It's their best defense, given the speed with which they can flee. Poor thing, she seems frightened... Marie would like to see a selection made on arrival on the islands, so as not to allow big idiots like that access to these magical and fragile places. Natural selection should also be applied to the human race, to limit disasters!
After a short detour to the ranch's main building to observe the gigantic empty shells, suggesting the age of their former occupants, we head back towards town.
Preparing for tomorrow
Javier drops us off at the dive center to try out our equipment for the following day. We can't wait to see what the Galapagos have to offer in terms of depth. Once we've finished, Javier finally drops us off at our hotel, El Descanso Del Guia. A beautiful hotel with a swimming pool. Its only fault is that it's a bit far from the city center, requiring us to take a cab to get there.
We rest a bit before taking a cab into town to grab a bite to eat at the "Galapagos Deli"(pizza + sandwich). We take advantage of the wifi to plan our next few days and, above all, start looking at what we want to do in Quito.
We return to the hotel to try out the pool and deckchairs. We get a refresher on diving, as a beginner's course like the one we took two years ago is held here.
A disappointing meal in town
Then back to town for a stroll. We did a bit of sightseeing, hanging out on the shopping street without finding much of interest. Then we decide to go and eat at the "Rock café". In the end, it was a more than average experience... We'd been told that the food was much better and cheaper on this island than on Isabela... we were really disappointed. We hope to find something better the next day.
It's time to go home and find a cab. It's actually quite easy in Santa Cruz, all the cabs are big white pickups (mostly Toyotas), like our driver Javier's, and all you have to do is stop them on the street. There really are a lot of them going around, so it's easy to get one. It's also inexpensive compared to other services on the islands. A 10-minute ride costs around 3 US. An amusing detail is that some have a name written in huge letters on their windscreen (Romeo in the case of our Javier), which makes them fairly easy to identify. But I didn't ask how they chose their name.
We head back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. We have to get up early for the dive tomorrow!
For the rest of our adventures, follow our Galapagos Diary:
Day1
Day2
Day3
Day4
Day5
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