Santa Cruz Island on your own
SOLEQMASTER
10 days on the Galapagos Islands sounds like a dream! For me this dream became reality in 2023. For 10 days I independently organized my trip to the popular archipelago. You can already read all the information about planning and arriving on Santa Cruz Island in the first blog article and gain helpful tips. The blog article is helpful if you also want to plan your Galapagos trip on your own or want to make sure about procedures and prices.
After my flight from Quito to Baltra, I arrived at my hotel “Galapagos Dreams” on Santa Cruz around 11am. There I was welcomed with a refreshing drink. The location of the hotel is good, relatively central but rather quiet, which means you are not in the middle of the action but not too far away either. The hotel is large and clean and is equipped with family, twin, triple, and quadruple rooms. It is about an 8-minute walk to the port of Puerto Ayora.
After checking into the hotel, dropping off my luggage and changing into light clothes, I took a $1 bus from Puerto Ayora to the town of Santa Rosa. My goal was to visit “El Chato”, the Galapagos Giant Tortoise Ranch and the lava tubes. In Santa Rosa I rented a bicycle for 3 US dollars per hour and rode towards “El Chato”. The road was not paved, but with the mountain bike I could ride the route without any problems. Already on the way I saw giant turtles crossing the way or eating the leaves from the bushes at the roadside. Due to the many stops I made to take pictures of the animals, the way there took about 40 minutes by bike.
The entrance fee for “El Chato” was 10 US dollars. Included was a small tour of the area and through lava tunnels. It was great to see the animals again and to get information from the guide, but in my opinion 10 US dollars was overpriced, because the tour lasted only about 30 minutes. Besides, I had already seen the giant turtles on my way to “El Chato”. Despite that it was nice to see the turtles again in different environments on the ranch. Also walking through the lava tunnels was impressive and fascinating.
More than one time I would not go to “El Chato” because of the price-performance ratio. In Santa Rosa there is also the reserve “Rancho Primicias”, which also has lava tunnels on the area. I have not visited this place but have heard from other tourists that it is worth seeing. The price should be about the same.
The way back from “El Chato” also took 40 minutes due to the slope. In total, I borrowed the bike for two hours and paid 6 US dollars. For 1 US dollar I went again with the bus from Santa Rosa back to Puerto Ayora.
In the evening I booked my boat trips to Isabela Island and San Cristóbal Island at an agency. In total I paid 90 US dollars for the ways (30 US dollars each way). Here’s another tip: book your boats well in advance, preferably at least two days in advance, so you can be sure of getting a seat and make your trip happen as planned. After reserving my boats, I let my first evening in the Galapagos end at the Muelle of Puerto Ayora.
Snorkeling with sharks
On day two I visited the beach “Tortuga Bay”. This is accessible for free and about 40 minutes’ walk from Puerto Ayora. I knew that to the right of “Tortuga Bay” was another small beach where there are small sharks, called “Tintoreras”. I wanted to snorkel with these sharks, which are considered harmless to humans.
The beach “Tortuga Bay”, which I reached first, impressed me very much. Crystal clear sea water crashed in waves on the white beach, where sea lizards were sunbathing and sleeping. Also, pelicans, which were just looking for prey, I could discover. Fascinated by “Tortuga Bay” I walked on to the next beach, where the baby sharks were already waiting for me. Now I used my snorkeling equipment for the first time. I swam off and got the tip from other snorkelers to dive closer to the mangroves. This paid off directly, because suddenly I saw an incredible number of sharks.
And although they are considered harmless because of their size, the excitement and fear rose in me. After a while I got used to the small sharks and watched them closely while they dived under me. In addition, during my snorkeling tour, various colorful fish caught my attention. After snorkeling I sunbathed on the white sandy beach and then walked back to my hotel “Galapagos Dreams”.
The afternoon was spent at the beach “Playa los Alemanes”. To get there, I had to take a boat cab, which costs $1 per person. For this you can just walk down the jetty at the Muelle. Then one of the boat cabs will come and take you to your destination.
At the “German beach” I went snorkeling again and discovered more fish, then I walked on to “Las Grietas”. Las Grietas are rock walls, with a gap filled with sea water. This natural formation is very impressive. I joined the last guided tour of the day, which started around 4:30 pm and lasted an hour. The entrance fee for “Las Grietas” is 10 US dollars per person. During the tour you get the opportunity to snorkel between the rock walls where small sharks and various fish can be seen. For me, the visit to “Las Grietas” was very nice and a good program to end the day on Santa Cruz.
After my visit to “Las Grietas” I booked a snorkeling tour in Seymour for the next day at the travel agency “Albatros”. The tour cost $140 and included all transportation, snorkeling equipment, guides, snacks, a lunch, and photos from the tour.
Snorkeling with hammerhead sharks and rainbow fishes
The third and last day on Santa Cruz started at 7:30 in the morning with my snorkeling tour in Seymour. Together with other tourists I went by cab to Baltra and from there by boat to Seymour, where we were let into the water. In fact, we saw a variety of fish, including the Galapagos shark, hammerhead sharks and great white sharks.
We could also clearly see various rays from the surface of the sea. Quite unexpectedly, but still my highlight, were fish with incredibly colorful scales. I was probably so fascinated because I didn’t know that such colorful fish, which I only knew from children’s stories, existed. After two snorkeling trips, both of which lasted about 45 minutes, we drove back to Puerto Ayora and had lunch together. The tour ended at 3pm in the afternoon.
The same day I went to see the “Charles Darwin Research Station”. I highly recommend planning a visit here because the research station provides a lot of interesting information about Charles Darwin’s discoveries. The entrance is free of charge. If you would like to take a guided tour of Galapagos giant tortoises in the area of the research station, it costs $10 per person. However, I did not take this tour because I had already seen the Galapagos tortoises in “El Chato”. In the Charles Darwin Research Center there is a store where you can buy printed shirts, caps, hats, jackets etc. So, if you are interested in buying items, you can buy products between about 10 US dollars and 200 US dollars.
I watched the sunset from the beach “Playa de la Estacion”, which is located near the research station and ended my last evening on Santa Cruz Island. Because the next morning it went for me on the island Isabela, the most beautiful of the three islands, as it should turn out soon for me.
The Galapagos Islands inspire young and old! Visit the archipelago with your family and let us advise you. In addition to cruises and island hopping, we also regularly offer last minute deals. No matter what appeals to you, we will be happy to advise you and make your Galapagos experience perfect.
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