Our week
long trip to the Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz was finally here.
I’ve decided to write two posts as we did so
much and took too many pictures. Part 1 is of our flight and things we did on
Isla Santa Cruz.
We had spent
the night in Guayaquil as our flight was leaving early in the morning because
according to the TAME airline representative, we should be at the airport two
hours ahead of flight time.
Before you
go to your airline counter, you have to go to the ‘Control de Transito de Galapagos’
counter to pay for ($10) and get a Tarjeta – present either your passport or
your Cedula if you have one. Then they check your luggage through the x-ray
machine to make sure you are not taking anything to the islands that would
interfere with their unique environment. A zip lock is then put on your luggage
and off you can finally go to the airline counter to get your boarding pass.
Thus the two hour time at the airport as you have to line up at each.
The flight
from Guayaquil is relatively painless- less than two hours. The airport for
Isla Santa Cruz is actually located on Isla Baltra separated by a short
straight of water from our final destination. On arrival at the terminal, make
sure you go into the entrance labeled ‘Residents’ if you have your Cedula. The
airport staff will try to direct you into the visitor line but just flash your
Cedula and insist on the resident entrance. And you will be glad you did! Not
only is the line much shorter but instead of paying a $100 environmental fee
you will only pay $6 ($3 if you are 65 or older).
The modern
Airport on Baltra Island
Buses
waiting to take you to the Ferry dock for the short trip to Santa Cruz Island
The Ferry
Dock
Off we go to
the other side
The map of
our Island
The Island
of Santa Cruz actually has three different climate zones. On the north end (near
the airport) it looks a lot like the desert in Arizona. Lots of cacti and
shrubs that resemble the Palo Verde tree and lots of sunshine. Then you head
south into the highlands and slowly the scenery changes.
First, trees
bare at this time of the year but full of foliage during rainy season, so we
were told.
Then almost
like a rain forest and,yes, it was raining every time we passed this way
As we went
down the other side we passed some huge trees covered in moss and lots of meadow
land.
And finally
the small town of Puerto Ayora, our final destination.
In town we
first went to the dock to get a water taxi to take us to our hotel.
The taxis
waiting for customers. Cost is 60 cents or $1 after 7PM per person
Arriving at
the beautiful Angermeyer Waterfront Inn
Our
beautiful room
Our views
out over the bay
Our
breakfast or dinner area overlooking the water
Our room
included a wonderful breakfast buffet
This hotel
is in gorgeous surroundings. Our friend Elsie is the manager and part owner and
made us feel very welcome. This is a perfect place to stay if you prefer, like
us, staying on land rather than a boat
cruise. We had opted for day boat trips instead. This way we could also explore
the many sights on this island.
First we
decided to take a walk to Las Grietas located a fair walk from our hotel. The
first part was great, a good path, good footing leading to the closest beach.
After the
beach, the path became a little more difficult. We passed many huge cacti that
had trucks almost like trees and as tall. These are called Opuntias and seem to
develop tree like trunks once they reach 10’ plus.
We also saw
our first sea lion. This seems to be their normal state- sleeping
The last 800
metres were nasty. Luckily we had good hiking shoes as the path- what there was
of it- consisted of volcanic rocks – some boulder size. It took us a good 45
minutes to negotiate this hike but the end result was definitely worth it. Too
bad we didn’t bring our bathing suits.
The end
leading down to the water
Beautiful
scenery
The kids did
bring their bathing suits and had a great time jumping from the cliffs- oh, to
be young again!
We took
several trips into the town of Puerto Ayora to shop, sight see and eat. We
found a great Pizza joint that actually had craft brewed beer- Uwe was in
heaven.
The streets
in town were exceptionally clean and easy to navigate. No sudden drops or doggy
poop. And lots of art galleries with some pretty hefty priced but beautiful items. And of course, lots of souvenir shops.
The best
place in town was the fish market for entertainment. There were many scroungers
of both the winged and flipper variety.
Near the far
end of town was the Charles Darwin Center where the babies of giant tortoises
are raised and then released back to their island of origin once they are 5-6
years old.
The path around the complex is easy to hike
and gave us the opportunity to see both fully grown tortugas and the baby hatchlings.
On yet
another day we hiked to Tortuga Bay Beach. Along the path we again saw the
giant cacti called Opuntias. Very weird- trunks like trees with cactus on top.
Though the
path is easy walking the distance is 2.5 kilometers to the beach and another
kilometer at least along the beach sand to where we saw many of the sea
iguanas.
The beach
stretching far into the distance
Sea turtles
come to lay eggs here
A sea Iguana
actually swimming into the beach
To give you
an idea how large they are beside my 6’ husband- LOL
And there
were many many
The very
tranquil beach surrounded by mangrove trees at the very far end
And a lazy
beach visitor
On our way
back to town we took a little side trip through the Ninfas Lagoon- this is
where the sea water meets the river water. It is a very tranquil place to
visit, very quiet, with only the birds singing and fish splashing in the water.
Our final
Island trip was into the highlands of Santa Cruz. For this, we hired a taxi. All
the taxis in town are white 4 wheel drive pickup trucks and we soon found out
why. Though most people in town speak some English, taxi drivers do not. We
found a driver, Andres, near the pier and after negotiating a price of $30 to
$35 for the 3-4 hours, we took off to our first destination.
This was at
the very top of the highlands where it’s always misty and rainy. There were
walking paths along the many scenic cliffs which had been formed by the land
sinking down into the lava tunnels.
Beautiful
scenery
Next we were
off to the Tortoise Reserve where there were many many large tortugas living in
the wild. Here we had to pay a $3/ person entrance fee. At the parking lot were
several souvenir shops and places to grab a quick snack. This was probably my
least favorite place as we had already seen so many of these tortoises
everywhere.
The path was
easy and pleasant
You could
get quite close
There were
many
Our last
destination along yet another bumpy, dirt road was to the Lava tunnel. This
tunnel was walkable and had an entrance at each end with around several hundred
meters between.
Down a
staircase we went. Our driver stayed behind and was to meet us at the other
end.
Though there
were lights all along, it was still difficult to see where you were stepping.
As we
progressed, the footing became worse and worse until finally we were climbing
hand over hand along boulders. Not for the faint of heart- LOL. OK, so we
finally got close to the end and came to an area that I refused to navigate!
Those of you that know us well know that I’m reasonably adventurous but…..
This next
section was only 1 meter high ( 3’ for my USA friends) and you had to crawl
under this for about 5 meters. And it was muddy!! That of course was the final
straw for me- crawl under miles of rock with only 3’ of room PLUS mud- no way.
So we walked all the way back the way we had come. Our taxi driver was of
course waiting for us at the other end. Other people who had passed us told him
that the crazy gringa and her husband had turned back so he did come back
laughing to pick us up.
Our last
night on the island, we were invited to our friend Elsie’s house in town. She has
a cute rental an easy walking distance from the pier. We had many good wines ,
lots of pizza and good conversations in English as well as our broken Spanish
with her other guests, Teppy, the owner of Angermeyer Inn and his friend, Alex.
So finishes
Part 1 of our fantastic week on Santa Cruz Island. Stay tuned for Part 2, our
boat trip to see all the animals along with their babies on North Seymour
Island.
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