March 13 2020
Our time on Santa Cruz was short. We're already off to another island: San Cristobal.
Transfer from Santa Cruz to San Cristobal
It's still very early in the morning and we're treated to another beautiful sunrise over Puerto Ayora. Javier picks us up to take us on the El Mangle boat to San Cristobal. As on our departure from Isabela, our bags are searched and we take a cab boat before boarding our speed boat. This trip is calmer than the last. We don't know whether the sea was less rough, or whether the bigger boat could take the waves more easily. In any case, the trip went more smoothly and we even fell asleep at times.
We arrive 2.5 hours later in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the only town in San Cristobal. We pass all the controls with flying colors and meet up with our guide. In fact, she's the owner of our hotel, who goes by the name of Cabanas Pimampiro.
We drop our stuff in our ready-to-go room and head back into town to find a cafe where we can eat and watch what we want to do while we wait for the sun to drop a little. The town is much quieter, an in-between 2 between Puerto Villamil and Puerto Ayora. We end up at the Zayapa Caféthe best free wifi in town according to Lonely Planet. A disappointing burger and an omelette for lunch.
San Cristobal Interpretation Centre
Despite a still high sun, we set off around 1:30 p.m. in the direction of the island's interpretation center. No animals on the program, but a dive into Galapagos history. Along the way, we even came across Darwin (or rather, his statue).
We're one of the only people in the center, and we wander through the various rooms, which first talk about the formation of the islands. The exhibition then goes on to talk a little more about the first attempts at colonization and the importance of the Galapagos Islands for Darwin. Darwin spent 5 weeks on the islands in 1835. His experiences proved decisive in the development of his theory of evolution. Later, the islands were used as penal colonies, the last one on Isabela Island closing in 1959. And this takes us right up to the present day, addressing the issues facing the archipelago (mass tourism, economic fallout, ecology, animal protection, etc.). It makes you think about our impact as tourists. We really enjoyed this informative tour, which was also free of charge.
La Loberia
Once the tour is over, we find a cab and head for the Loberia (4$ for the journey), a beach known for its surfing and sea lion colony. It's also possible to get there on foot, a 30-minute walk from town. We'll spend about 2 hours there, swimming, watching the surfers (of the highest calibre!) and, of course, seeing the animals!
We see many marine iguanas on the way to the beach. They're as steadfast as ever. We then spotted several sea lions right next to us on the beach, including several cute babies.
We then take a cab back to the hotel to change and rest. A refreshing dip in the hotel pool.
Dinner at Calypso
At suppertime, we go to the Calypsorecommended in the lonely planet guide. We eat pizza and fish with pisco sour, stronger than usual. Here, we don't fool around with the amount of alcohol. They're not "cheap" like in Quebec. During the meal, we hear sea lion noises, sometimes similar to the sound of goats or sheep. We find them particularly noisy this evening.
After lunch, we're off to see where these sounds are coming from. We were amazed to see hundreds of them on the beach !!!! It must be noisy. There's a huge colony resting on the beach near the port and the main avenue. The young seem to be looking for their mothers, screaming and jumping on the larger specimens. We watch them for at least 20 minutes. Fascinating. They are very talkative. They're all roped together. Some go back to the water, others come to rest. There's a lot of movement. We leave them with great sadness and head back to the hotel. Tomorrow, it's the turn of the island, with several snorkeling dives.
For the rest of our adventures, follow our Galapagos Diary:
Day1
Day2
Day3
Day4
Day5
Day6
Day7
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