Once we stepped ashore, we didn’t really know what to expect from these islands, but neither of us quite expected what we found!
At just a ‘heady’ few feet above sea level, Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz (our first port of call) allowed us to breath more easily; at least out of the water.
The town mainly consists of a high street, running along the shore, choc full of bars, tacky (but expensive) souvenir shops, restaurants and tour agencies, all wrapped up in gaudy neon lights; as a designated wildlife sanctuary, National Park and UNESCO World Heritage site, it’s not what we where expecting from the islands at all.
But seeing the wildlife up close has been a real treat:
A recommendation was the Darwin Research Station, just a short walk down the road from our digs, which turned out to be a great visit. Since 1959, the institute has been addressing invasive species, climate change, habitat loss and overfishing in an attempt to preserve this unique area.
Something that irks me somewhat though, is that while I applaud this conservation work, I wonder how much of the money we pay to visit these islands (around $120 each, rising to $220 each in August 2024) gets to help the local populations living here?
The tourist areas are clearly all nice and glossy:
And yet, only a couple of streets back, the poverty of the people who live and work here is only too apparent:
Anyway, enough of my high (sea)horse, and onto fun! We saw our first turtles in Puerto Ayora while hanging out at Nymph’s Lagoon; no swimming with them as yet but hey, the lagoon was filthy!
Our first taste of a ‘wild’ Galapagos beach was our hike to Playa Tortuga.
A stunningly beautiful beach where we snorkeled for the first time on our adventure, that’s Rebecca below drowning…bless!
Despite what I’ve said about Santa Cruz’s commercialism we really enjoyed it here and were really looking forward to the other two islands we were going be visiting, Isabela and San Cristobal.
Here’s to a smooth and none-lunch-returning crossing to them both.
Sloth Journeys 