Day 1: Snorkeling at Las Tintoreras

After arriving in the early morning by the cross-island ferry from Santa Cruz, we took a taxi to our hostel because I was a bit unwell from the seasick (or else it was a walkable distance). After settling down and resting, we headed out to find an afternoon tour of the islets Las Tintoreras. It’s a place that requires a naturalist guide, most famous for spotting the white-tip sharks resting in the tunnel. There are snorkeling tours and kayak tours. Near the main streets, we randomly asked for two shops and as one of them was full already we decided to go with another one.

As there was still quite some time, we had lunch at Isabela Grill and took a rest at the hostel. For the first time during our stay, a heavy shower lasted for less than an hour. The sky cleared up a lot after the rain but we were worried about the visibility, so much so that we almost decided to change the date.

Starting at around 2 pm, our guide was very passionate about ecology and thus very knowledgeable. Firstly, we started with a walk around the volcanic rock formation around Las Tintoreras, we saw a lot of iguanas and their nest area and finally saw the Galapagos sharks resting in the tunnel. It was very clear and it was wonderful to see so many of them resting together.

Afterward, we couldn’t wait to get into the water to explore this area. The guide was very good at spotting animals. A lot of fish, large spotted rays, and sea turtles. At the last stop, when we snorkeled through a tunnel carefully, there were the white-tip sharks swimming right below us. Some are within hand-reach distance. This is the coolest snorkel ever!

Day 2: A day snorkeling with Giant Sea Turtles and visiting Los Tuneles

Another highlight of the whole trip in the Galapagos — swimming with the sea turtles near the mangroves where dozens of them were munching on the algae. Those spotted here in Isabel are larger up to almost 1.5 m long. The guide also showed us a cave of sharks resting and where the sea horses clinging to the roots of the mangroves. They are covered in mud but when there’s a strong wave washing off the mud, we can see the patterns on them when they momentarily swam for seconds. Be patient and try not to use your fins too much, or else the water and the sea horses will be covered in the mud.

On the way, we passed by the Union Rock in the middle of the sea full of seagulls and Nazca boobies.

Before visiting the Los Tuneles on land, we stopped for another snorkeling spot in the sea near the rocks, but we were quite satisfied and feeling cold from the previous snorkeling. We see some penguins and sea lions swimming nearby.

You can find some snorkeling footage here on this Instagram reel, the first 3 are taken in Isabela:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5I8vI0gaQs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Finally, the Los Tuneles! Despite seeing the pictures many times during research, I still find it very fascinating and unique when standing on it myself. Perhaps it was due to the cloudy weather or the timing, but there wasn’t a lot of wildlife spotted here, saw a manta ray swimming by and one blue-footed boobie was resting far away.

As we still have time after coming back from the tour, we search for some fresh groceries to cook a healthy meal. After visiting 3 shops, we love this Minimarket La Churonita the most with the most variations and with the best quality. As it’s a remote island, most of the produce is imported from other Islands or from Ecuador inland by sea, which is highly dependent on the weather. Surprisingly it seems hard to find fresh fish here most of them are frozen, probably due to the heat. We couldn’t check the local market as it’s closed afternoon.

Day 3: The aliveness of the islands: Sierra Negra Sulfur Mines tour

Despite our preference towards the sea more than the mountains, this part of Isabela must also be seen to fully experience the island, and it was so right to do this.

Note that most tours go to the Sierra Negra but on the other side of the crater, only some tours go to the Sulfur Mines. I personally was more interested in this landscape, it has fewer tourists, and visitors are allowed to go closer to the sulfur mines, according to our guide.

After taking the 4x4 to the trailhead in a small group of 4, we need to hike around 40 minutes. The hike was downhill to the crater and then up a bit to the sulfur mine viewpoint, the journey was beautiful and every angle was enchanting seeing the smoke from the spot.

Yes, we were told that the smokes were spotted from far away by the people who discovered these islands and were the reason for naming the Galapagos the Enchanted Islands. There may be several sayings about the origin, but I love this one too.

The part near the sulfur mines was full of various sizes of rocks and stones in different colors due to the minerals that erupted from the volcano, it was like being on a different planet. The wind and smoke also brought us a strong smell of sulfur like rotten eggs. As residents of Japan, we are quite used to this smell and volcanoes, but this is the closest I have ever been to one, which is very cool. This is definitely a highlight of this trip!

A volcano in Fernandina, the most active and the youngest island in the Galapagos, just erupted a few days ago at night. Luckily no casualty was reported, but it’s indeed a compelling reminder of how alive these islands are, continuously shaping the geography and ecosystem of this place.

Day 4: Completing our wildlife spotting

We were told that Pearl Shell Beach (Concha de Perla) was great, but we couldn’t see much when we were there around 10 am. Instead, Isabela Beach (Playa Isabela) right next to the pier was more dynamic. The second we arrived we saw the Galapagos penguins busy diving with the Pelicans hunting for fish presumably. Some sea lions and sea turtles are swimming from time to time. Finally, we got the chance to see the agile tropical penguins at a close distance! The beach disappeared in the tides and it was easy to walk into the further parts of the sea.

After checking out the flamingos in the pond, we head to the observation tower on the left side of Port Villamil Beach (looking from the beach) to see if we can have the luck to take a closer look at the Blue-footed boobies. The time was around 1 pm. Right on the rocks behind the observation tower full of iguanas, we found them finally! The boobies are all resting right there so peacefully within hand-reach distance, we can observe clearly their variants of blue to purple-ish foot, pooping, landing, or flying out occasionally. It was also a lot bigger than I thought and their patterns are so adorable like a cartoon in life. This is certainly one of the highlights in Isabela as it’s so hard to find throughout our trip and we finally got to see them, without the need to travel far and pay for an expensive tour.

Satisfied with our sightseeing, we treated ourselves to a sunset meal at Don Sanduchito and had a last walk around Puerto Villamil. It is a very quiet and peaceful island with very few tourists spotted especially compared to the other islands. Even during the evening time when most visitors come to the beachside for a drink or dinner, it’s still very peaceful like a small camping group.

Last day: exhausting transit day from Isabela to Quito

After a traumatic experience with our fake ferry booking in the early morning, we arrived at the pier of Santa Cruz with a tired heart. As the ferry was a bit late and we didn’t want to take a taxi, we immediately started heading to the bus for the airport.

This ferry-bus-ferry-bus-flight connection on the same day was quite exhausting:

[Ferry] Isabela → Santa Cruz
[walk / taxi] From Pier → Bus Terminal
*tips: other than a taxi, you can book a shared taxi as well, ask your hostel about it.
[Bus] Bus terminal → Pier
[Ferry] Pier from Santa Cruz → Airport island
[Bus] Airport Island pier → Airport

As ferries have a lot of uncertainties, we both agree that we should have separated the morning cross-island ferry and flights to not do them on the same day, or at least leave more time buffer in between.

It advised to start to head to the airport 3 hours before the departure time, especially if you take the bus route instead of taking a taxi. We were able to have some buffer after arriving at the airport and do some last-minute shopping.

The airport is very Galapagos — we still see iguanas on the last path to the plane!

Travel Expense Breakdown

Isabela (9–13th March 2024)
Total Cost in Isabela for 4 full days (for 2 people): $826

Read here for an overview of the expenses for our whole trip in the Galapagos Islands and other tips for planning

A Hidden Gem within the Hidden Gem: Isabela in the Galapagos was originally published in Adventures Outside the Box on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Santa Cruz is an island in the Galapagos Islands with the most touristy vibes of all, on the good side, it also means that there are many options for tours, transportation, accommodations, restaurants, and shops. Except for a pre-booked scuba diving trip, we decide what to do on the day depending on our mood or physical condition. Santa Cruz is particularly easy for that, but it is better to know the distance of the places in advance if you mostly do self-guided adventures like us. I hope to give you a more detailed understanding of the experience in this story, as we messed up twice underestimating the time needed. Read on!

If you want to know about my lessons learnt and planning tips for this self-guided land-based adventure in all of the Galapagos islands, read this story.

Day 1: Arrival and chill preparation day

Arriving in Santa Cruz at almost 10 am, sleep-deprived, we stored our luggage at the Hostel Gardner and walked around, exploring the island's central area of Puerto Ayora.

After a tasty ceviche brunch at one of the local restaurants Rosy Mar, we rested a bit at the hostel when the room was ready.

Afterward, we did window shopping as there were many souvenir shops with adorable Galapagos creature designs.

We also went to our diving center to pre-fitting our diving suits and fins. We were told like 2 days before that the diving center we originally booked with had damage on their ship and we needed to change to Sharkbay. It was a bit worrying and doubtful at the beginning, but I’m glad to find out that they are as professional and trustworthy.

Then attempting to walk to the Charles Darwin Research Station, we were stopped at the entrance at around 4:30 pm, although the closing time is 5 pm, as it’s quite a long walk from the entrance. The guards here are relatively quite strict with the time so it’s better to go earlier with a buffer to wander around.

That left us no choice but to call it a day and chill at the hostel which has a nice rooftop terrace and open kitchen. Hostel Gardner has a spacious balcony with a kitchen and hammocks to rest in, and the rooms are quite spacious and comfortable. No bunk beds only 5 beds in the room, with a big shower room shared within the room. The staff was friendly to introduce the areas and even gave us a pair of leftover fins. We highly recommend this hostel!

Day 2: Gordon Rocks Diving day

Here comes the Gordon Rocks diving day! We gathered at the diving shop at 7 am and they drove us to the Santa Cruz Ferry Terminal to wait for the diving boat. We have waited for almost an hour here, with a few tour groups and locals going to work. There’s a little kiosk for breakfast (which looked great) and snacks, but we didn’t dare to eat before the dives.

After getting on the boat, it was a around 30-minute ride to the Gordon Rocks diving point where the sea was rougher. We were soon divided into three groups to do back-roll entries.

As we didn’t have more than 25 dives, only the two of us had a private guide, and the others were divided into two groups. Other members are very experienced, there were diving instructors and dive masters among the group, people with 30-100+ dives.

After diving in, we held on to the rock and immediately saw a few hammer sharks and sharks swimming by elegantly. There are groups of fishes and many fishes around the rocks. We moved around but didn’t move too much as it may have scared away the sharks. It can get quite chilly as time passes by. At the same time, my heart was pumping fast. I know that they are normally not aggressive to humans, but still, as it’s my first time scuba diving in a deep sea, it’s very thrilling to see such majestic sharks swimming just within meters.

Two dives finished in the blink of an eye, and after each dive, we excitedly shared what each group had seen and the footage. Other groups see a group of sharks swimming together, sea lions, and even a mola mola. I love the the diving community atmosphere that it’s not a competition but that everyone’s journey is unique, and that we are all truly happy for each other’s encounters with the wish-you-were-here-too spirit.

Was it hard for beginner divers? As beginner level divers with around 10 dives, this is certainly a new challenge and a kind of dive that we haven’t experienced before.

The current was quite strong that it’s harder to maintain a desired buoyancy and my body was not used to it yet. I also get nervous when we are not close to the rocks, without any clue of the direction or deepness. I subconsciously breath faster than usual that my mouth got so dry and had to cough a few times.

I’m glad to have a private guide just for the two of us, our guide took care of us well and make sure we are ready to continue regularly, and at the same time proactively finding good and safe spot for us to observe the marine life with patience.

After taking a rest back to the island center, we reattempted the Charles Darwin Research Center earlier around 4 pm, and stopped by the beach Playa de Estacion on the way. The research center is informative about the conservation work in the Galapagos. Still, the interpretation center museum in San Cristobal has more information and exhibitions about the overall history, ecology, and sociology, that I enjoyed more.

Read this story to know more about my experience in San Cristobal

Day 3: Las Grietas & Bay and a first attempt to the Tortuga Bay

Still a bit tired from yesterday’s diving, we started the day slowly and when we inquired about snorkeling gear rentals, we ended up hopping on a Las Grietas & Bay tour ($35/pp) quite last minute before the starting time with the agency front of our hostel. We originally planned to go to Las Grietas by ourselves but we were lazy that day and the deal was not bad. (If you want to visit Las Grietas by yourself here is a detailed visitors’ guide)

We were lucky to meet a friendly bilingual Ecuadorian couple who have been living in Florida on the tour among all Spanish speakers, they are so kind to help translate for us so that we can also get into conversations with others. It was also an opportunity for us to ask more questions we have about the wildlife and landscapes to the naturist guide. I’m glad to join a tour once in a while to learn more from them.

Other than the famous Las Grietas, the landscape along the bay area is also fascinating. The over 3-meter tall cacti trees are usually over 80 years old and some of them are 100–200 years old! They can grow from the stones by taking the nutrients from the minerals inside, literally, like the Monkey from the famous Chinese mythology novel “Journey to the West” who is said to be born from a stone.

The second stop brought us to Las Greitas, and other beautiful pools with sharks — not for swimming, and other uniquely intriguing with Herons patrolling on the sulfurish lagoon. Las Grietas is very deep and clear, with water vegetation on the rocks surrounding it. The bottom is clear and we can see a few huge groupers swimming elegantly beneath, but don’t expect a lot of fish or other marine life. It’s quite enjoyable that we could easily spend an hour there.

The last stop of the tour is another snorkeling point near the bay, this time there are a lot of fish, but mostly are the common Galapagos ones we saw already in previous snorkeling in San Cristobal so it's not too surprising for us. It’s still quite satisfying to swim in this part of the island where we cannot go by ourselves without a boat.

The tour ended at around 1 pm, and we took a rest at the hostel and headed out again around 3 pm to Tortuga Bay.

The walk to the trailhead entrance was around 20 minutes and another 40 minutes to the beach. Under the heat, it’s more tiresome than we thought.

We then spent way too much time on the beautiful Tortuga Bay, which is the longest and most beautiful white-sand beach I have ever been to! No wonder why it is in the world’s top 10 beaches.

With the calming waves, and adorable iguanas sunbathing or passing by, we couldn’t help but be distracted.

When we were just about to reach the inner bay Playa Mansa around 4:45 pm, we were asked to leave already, although we thought the closing time was 6 pm. (Again!) We had to return to the same path back and try again the next morning.

Day 4: A second attempt to the Tortuga Bay in search of sharks

The second challenge to Tortuga Bay in the early morning was an unexpected experience. We woke at sunrise and reached the inner bay of Playa Mansa before 8 am, there were only two surfers with us along the way, not even the entrance staff.

It was nice to have the whole beach to ourselves and the sunlight was still gentle. We immediately started snorkeling in the Playa Mansa to see if we could find the rumored baby sharks and mantas.

However, as the water visibility was very low, I bumped into the small black-tip sharks a few times to notice that they were there.

Another enchanting encounter with the rays happened a while later when I was swimming back to the shore. The second after wondering why there was a plastic black string there, my hands were about to touch a spotted eagle ray when I looked forward. It’s both amazing and startling — I could be poisoned by the stingers on its tail!

It’s possible to spot manta rays and baby sharks swimming in the shallow waters near the shore, but we have no more luck capturing the magical swimming moments with them. We later heard from others that they saw the baby hammerhead sharks more clearly in the afternoon around 3 pm. Timing and luck is the key!

When the sun went up around noon, we didn’t see any improvement in the visibility, so we decided to head back and take our usual afternoon rest at the hostel. As it was the last full day here, we ventured out for Playa de Estacion once more before sunset and were able to see a lot of baby sharks there with good visibility this time. Finally!

The last morning leaving for the next island, Isabela, the pier area is lively more than ever. Pelicans and birds were diving vigorously to hunt, soaring everywhere over us, sea lions were jumping up to the pier platforms, and quite a lot of baby sharks and sea turtles were under the water.

Feeling the power of life more than ever.

Travel Expense Breakdown

Santa Cruz (5–9th + 13th March 2024)
*on 13th March it’s only for a transition to the airport
Total Cost in Santa Cruz for 4 full days (for 2 people): $1008

Read here for an overview of the expenses for our whole trip in the Galapagos Islands and other tips for planning

In Search of Sharks in Santa Cruz was originally published in Adventures Outside the Box on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Starting with San Cristobal was totally the best decision!

We landed at San Cristobal airport and waited quite a while for the long queue to pass the immigration, this is where you should pay your $100 Galagapos entry fee¹ (foreigner price).

The queue for a taxi was long, and our hostel was just around 20 minutes walk away, so we decided to walk. The sun and heat were brutal, we immediately understood why people would rather line up for the taxi.

Anyway, we made our check-in and took a rest from the heat, got a quick $5 lunch from the local market (Mercado Municipal San Cristobal) nearby, and then headed out for Cerro Tijeretas.

It’s about 30–40 mins walk from the center area (Puerto Baquerizo Moreno) and will pass by a free museum (Interpretation Center Gianni Arismendy). Under the equatorial heat from noon to mid-afternoon, we spent more time at the museum and each possible shade to rest along the way and enjoy the view from the top. The water is so clear that you can see the sea lions playing around people and the mantas or turtles swimming from the viewpoint of Cerro Tijeretas.

Then we descend to the bay to take a swim with the seals and fishes at the dock Muelle Tijeretas. When we were swimming down there at the bay, the waves were periodically strong and hard to snorkel without a fin. The sea lions are also too fast to capture with our DJI Osmo Action 4 camera. Sometimes we could not even realize it swimming past us due to their camouflage in the rocks. We heard from others that the waters may be more calm and more wildlife to see in the morning. We were lucky to see quite a few sea lions playing and one of them even jumped on the dock area without any shyness towards humans. It loves posing in front of cameras too.

On the way back to the island center, we stopped by Point Carola Beach (Playa Punta Carola) during the sunset hours. It is a nice long beach for the sunset. Not as many sea lions as in the previous spot, but a sea lion also came swimming close near the shore and many of them were sleeping on the beach. The waves are more calm here for swimming, and on the left side of the beach, there was a mix of beginners and intermediate surfers.

As we were more exhausted than we expected, we took it easy and walked along the pier sidewalk, browsing the adorable souvenirs and enjoying observing the countless sea lions near the pier. Honestly, I can do this every day!

On the second day, we headed out around noon after renting a full set of snorkeling gear (the shop on the ground floor of this restaurant) and had lunch at Restaurante Maria on the street full of local restaurants. It was quite popular, as the menu and volume were good value for the price, and the owner was very welcoming.

Around 2 pm, we started walking towards the beach of La Loberia. We walked casually taking pictures as the scenery was nice and could spot airplanes landing, it took us around 50 minutes to the trailhead and another 10–15 minutes to the beach. Many iguanas and lizards were on the way, some birds in the ponds, and more towards the beach many sea lions and pelicans were resting there.

It was quite shallow in most of the area with spiky rocks, and after snorkeling for approximately 40 minutes it’s becoming a bit chilly, I’d recommend wearing thin rash guards should be just perfect. We were able to swim with a few sea turtles this day in the area near the border of the swimming area further away from the beach.

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In the even further area outside of the border, the waves are quite high and we saw a few advanced surfers there, which was pretty cool.

For the last full day here in San Cristobal, we decided to challenge going to El Junco and then Chino Beach by the mountain bikes. We rented our snorkeling gears and the bikes from the same place the day before and were so determined to set off in the early morning to give ourselves some buffer and avoid the heat. However, we failed to wake up until around 7 am and when we started it was getting hot already. The slope outside the market to the start of the road was very steep and we struggled to proceed already. A taxi driver saw us and passionately persuaded us to go by taxi, and he succeeded. On the way we were glad that we took it because it’s a really long uphill road to El Junco. After a short hike to the top of El Junco, we could see the beautiful freshwater lagoon made on the crater.

Many frigate birds soar around it and dive into the waters occasionally. They sometimes fly across right above us. We were wondering what are they doing there, are they hunting? How’s that possible to have fish inside this lagoon? Later in Isabela with a naturalist guide, she told us that they come here to wash off the salt after hunting in the sea. How clever!

After this we went down a thrilling path downhill with our bikes, it was so fun and the scenery on the way was very peaceful and healing. We stopped by the Giant Tortoise Reserve Center (Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado) to see the Giant Tortoises in their natural habitat. The baby tortoises in the nurturing center and a pair of the giant ones mating and roaring just next to the path were the coolest things I have seen about these creatures.

Moving on, more downhill road to the Chino Beach trailhead (Puerto Chino). As much as we enjoyed the thrilling downhill ride, we knew that we were doomed on the way back.

After a short well-paved trail to the beach, a surreal white and crystal blue beach showed up in front of us. Snorkeling here was nice too but I think it’s more for the beach itself for us. At noon, the sun was fierce so it’s good to immerse ourselves under the water. We did see a lot of large surgeon fishes, parrot fishes, and many other fishes, and birds like the curious finches, but unfortunately not the blue-footed boobies or sea lions as we heard from others.

Being haunted by the stubborn horseflies when chilling on the beach, we start to head back with our bikes around 1 pm. The steep slope waiting for us was like hell for my hamstrings, hips, and quadriceps and a test for our physique and mental strength. We made it passed the reserve center after who-knows-how-long, and we could hardly move on and there were no shades to rest under. When a taxi passed by, we couldn’t resist and waved our hands for help.

If you also decide to do this route without a tour, unless you’re very confident with your cycling muscles and cardio (plus if it’s in the heat), taking the taxi and asking them to wait for you at Chino Beach trailhead is definitely more time-efficient and realistic. This is the only place where my self-guided cycling adventure failed.

As it was still early, we asked the driver to drop us off at the Loberia Beach trailhead and decided to get a swim there again. This time, it’s a Monday, and much fewer people than yesterday. We also got to swim with more sea lions and sea turtles. The sea lions are fighting on the beach and playing with each other.

After enjoying this lively scene during the sunset, we rode back the island center satisfactorily and enjoyed a pint of craft beer at Wok by the sea, meeting up a new friend we met yesterday also traveling the South America from Japan.

After checking out in the early morning, we head to the pier at 6 am and attempt to ride our cross-island ferry to Santa Cruz for the first time. We were at first quite confused as there was no staff there at the requested arrival time. (for more details and tips about island crossing: My tips and planning for a Galapagos trip without joining a cruise in March 2024. We also had an issue with the ferry on another island.)

We still have plenty of waiting time for the ferry after figuring everything out, it’s perfect to have a last enjoyment of this sea lion paradise.

Travel expense breakdown

San Cristobal (2rd — 5th March 2024)
Total Cost in San Cristobal for 3 full days (for 2 people): $524

¹ if you are curious, you can check the details and the breakdown of how the fund is being used at the bottom part of this website.

The Sea Lion Paradise Island called San Cristobal was originally published in Adventures Outside the Box on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Most people from East Asia (where I grew up and live) haven’t heard of this place unless they are diving or world travel enthusiasts. After doing more research, I have some basic understanding that it is famous for its co-existing habitat of wildlife and humans, and most intriguing to me it is also where Charles Darwin was inspired to later write up his book Origin of Species as the foundation of the theory of Evolution. It has way more significance than just seeing a lot of animals and diving.

Our itinerary

The stay in the Galapagos Islands was magical, relaxing, and inspiring.

Our priority is marine wildlife watching, bird watching, unique landscapes, and learning about the ecosystem, conservation, and the history of the Galapagos, within a rather tight budget as we have a long way to go.

Hence enjoying beautiful beaches, top-notch restaurants, and doing extensive scuba diving is not our top priority, but we did enjoy them to some extent as well.

Some tips about planning a budget land-based Galapagos trip

This is what we have experienced on each island.

San Cristobal

Pier area

Walking along the pier we find huge colonies of sea lions down on the rocks, and the baby sea lions squeaking adorably weird, we almost didn’t want to leave and stay here all day.

Cerro Tijeretas

It’s a 30-minute hike from our hostel (Casa de Jeimy) to the Mirador Cerro Tijeretas. It’s a viewpoint from the Tijeretas Hill where you can have a beautiful view of this crystal clear bay Muelle Tijeretas. We could see turtles, mantas, and sea lions playing very clearly.

The Interpretation Center

The path is inside a jungle of cacti which is very enjoyable to walk along. The Interpretation Center is free and has a thorough exhibition about the ecology, geography, and history about the islands. Strongly recommended!

Muelle Tijeretas

The dork you can see from the viewpoint of the mountain

There were quite a few iguanas on the dork, sea lions swimming and playing with each other, and occasionally sea turtles and mantas. Countless fishes and crabs.

There’s a cave on the right and the waves become quite rough sometimes, we didn’t have our fins that day so I struggled a bit when swimming back. The sea lions here are very playful, but also too fast to be captured on our action camera.

La Loberia

This is our favorite beach on San Cristobal, which we had been to twice during our stay. It’s a walking distance around 25 minutes to the entrance. We liked it because of the proximity and it is calm which means we can snorkel longer. We were able to swim with the sea turtles and sea lions both times we came and enjoyed the stunning sunset on the way back.

El Junco lagoon

A beautiful lagoon made by a crater and it is fascinating to see a large group of frigate birds diving into the lagoon and swirling right above us.

The Giant Tortoise Reserve

As Galapagos means “Giant Tortoise”, it’s a must-see to come here to observe them in their naturally reserved habitat. There are baby tortoises in the nursery area as well.

Puerto Chino Beach

At the end of the road, we visited this most beautiful beach reachable by car on this island around noon. Its tranquil white and blue purity makes it memorable. Unfortunately, we were not able to see any sea lions, blue-footed boobies or sharks. However, we did see large schools of surgeon fishes, snappers, colorful parrotfish, and some trumpetfish when we snorkel.

Santa Cruz

Gordon Rocks scuba diving

This is the only scuba diving trip we did and it is EPIC. I felt like floating in a void of complete blueness, watching the large sharks and fishes swimming elegantly around the rock. The visibility was not too bad, but it’s not the best, and I imagine it will be even better in the cooler months.

Check out our story on Instagram about this diving trip at Gordon Rocks

Las Grietas and bay tour

We originally planned to go by ourselves but we got tired and ended up going on this tour last minute with a lower price. Enjoyable landscapes and see some birds and fishes along the bay of the island and the clear and deep natural pool at the Las Grietas. There were a few large fish at the bottom but nothing else, more like a pool for humans.

Tortuga Bay

Love the long white sand beach the most, and the iguana colony comes the second. We did see a lot of baby sharks and spotted eagle rays in the inner bay when snorkeling in the morning, but unfortunately, the visibility was pretty low like 1m. Both the sharks and I were frightened when we bumped into each other.

Playa de Estacion

This beach on the way to the Charles Darwin Research Center was surprisingly rich in marine life that is interesting for snorkeling. A few sharks were swimming on the left side of the beach.

Isabela

The Tintoreras half-day snorkeling

After going on this snorkeling trip, I was quite sure that it was hard to beat this experience. Reviewing the whole trip, this is still my top tour experience. Read my ranking below to see why.

Los Tuneles full-day tour

The weather wasn’t perfect this day but the landscape was still amazing. The highlight of the snorkeling part of the day trip was giant sea turtles feasting on the algae, a cave with white-tip sharks resting inside, and a few seahorses hanging on the mangrove roots!

Volcan Sierra Negra Sulfur Mine tour

This tour gives another side to the blue waters, as one of the largest craters on earth, the landscape was epic and we got to hike up close to the sulfur mine. The rocks are mixed with sulfur, irons, and other compositions that make the color very unique and surreal.

Poza de los Flamingos

A flock of red-tail flamingos just standing right there in the pond a 15 minutes walk away from our hostel. The pond has an exotic vibe, with a wooden deck that’s suitable for anyone to visit conveniently.

Playa Isabela

We first attempted in the early morning at the Concha de Perla beach as we heard it’s full of wildlife there, but in vain, we switched to the Playa Isabela next to the pier and had this magical moment where all flying and swimming animals were very lively hunting and swimming close to us. Unexpectedly became my top 5 experience, read below about why.

Malecon Puerto Villamil

The beach was long and nice, but it was more for surfing than swimming due to the waves. It can be quite windy so I don’t see many people resting on the beach until sunset. On the left corner near an observation tower, there was a large number of iguanas and blue-footed boobies resting at a very close distance.

Ranking of the excursion experiences (IMO)

Wildlife is an uncontrollable thing, there are so many dependent factors like climate, environment, timing of the day, or just solely depending on their mood:) This makes everyone’s experience unique and inexplicable.

But still, it may serve as a reference especially if our interests and timing are similar, and if someone only has a limited budget for tours. So let me share my Top 10 experiences in order, which are incredibly hard to pick! Please comment and let me know yours too;)

1. The Tintoreras snorkeling half-day tour: The top reason for me is that snorkeling with a group of white-tip sharks and mantas right under us at a lava rock tunnel was an epic experience! Swimming through the tunnel itself is thrilling already, even if we can’t see much marine life there it’s still very memorable. I thought of doing kayaking instead but now I can say that DEFINITELY snorkeling.
   Another highlight is to see the nests of iguanas in the holes of the lava rock formations when we walk around the area on the rocks. The guide was very passionate about ecology so we were able to learn a lot from her, which made me felt very rewarding from a half-day tour.
2. Gordon Rocks scuba diving trip: It was so speechlessly incredible to see the sharks and hammerhead sharks swimming around us in the vast blue ocean. Only if the visibility had been better, this would easily be my top experience.
3. La Loberia (self-guided): the bay is easy to swim and the marine life is very active here. Loved playing with the sea lions here and the sunset is very captivating too.
4. Los Tuneles full-day tour: the lava rock landscape and snorkeling are very memorable, but we don’t see as many Galapagos penguins and blue-footed boobies as I thought hence №4 on this ranking.
5. Playa Isabela (self-guided): In the early morning when a part of the beach is still above sea level we unexpectedly get very close to swimming with the Galapagos penguins, sea lions, and some sea turtles, and enjoying the lively breakfast time of the pelicans and birds.
6. Volcan Sierra Negra sulfur mine tour: Unless you have seen many already, this is one of the largest craters and closest sulfur mines I have ever seen.
7. Malecon Puerto Villamil: Large colony of blue-footed boobies resting on the rocks here is such a pinch-me moment.
8. Playa Isabela: The emerging sea on the beach moment and Galapagos penguins diving nearby are interesting and fun.
9. Tortuga Bay: as one of the world’s top 10 beaches, this is also the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!
10. El Junco Lagoon (self-guided): The frigate bird diving into the crater’s lagoon is pretty unique.

This ranking is totally out of my personal experience where I found it unique

About food

Our style is to only have a big meal each day, usually for lunch or early dinner, depending on the excursion time we have that day. If we are hungry and more than just fruits or snacks are needed, we usually cook at the hostel. It’s also a nice experience to observe local’s daily life and learn more about the local produce from the shopping.

We soon realize that this is fine for most usual traveling in cooler climates and fewer excursions, we can have one big meal only for a day. Here in the tropical islands, a lot of time we need more calories and nutrients to sustain our stamina and condition to cope with the tropical heat and compensate for the extra energy consumption from daily walking, swimming, or diving. Luckily the portion here is quite big so it’s not too bad.

Local restaurants
We can easily find a cluster/ a street of $5 meals in San Cristobal and Santa Cruz with fairly good quality and volume, but in Isabela, the cheapest we could find is $6 (which is not bad and the quality is higher). Some information says there are even $3 meals. I guess it’s also because most restaurants and shops are not open or we didn’t visit during their opening time. Let me know if you were able to find one.

Our favorite restaurants:
・San Cristobal: restaurants on the second floor of the Mercado Municipal San Cristobal, and Restaurante Maria on the local restaurant street
・Santa Cruz: Rosy Mar on the local restaurant street Charles Binford. Gelato Bar for the best Gelato!
・Isabela: Isabela Grill and Don Sanduchito with a beach view

Markets (Mercardo) for self-cooking

San Cristobal is the best as the market is very decent and with a large variety of fresh produce while located very close to the center. Santa Cruz’s local market is a bit far away, but there are small shops selling groceries and the fish market is open in the morning at the pier. Isabela’s only opened in the early morning and we always missed the timing.

About Souvenirs

As we’re traveling on backpacks only and because we’re on a tight budget, souvenirs are never in our interest. But I have to admit that the souvenirs here are too cute to not look at, and a lot of them are of high quality as well. Irresistibly, we bought some practical ones like rash guards, clothes and socks with our favorite Galapagos animals on them from Galapagos exclusive brands like Darwin+Wolf and Patas Azules Socks.

Santa Cruz has the most variety of shops, San Cristobal may be sufficient for some shopping, but for Isabela the options are very limited.

Thoughts after the trip

I’m usually scared to be bored or worried if I didn’t make good use of the time during my stay, especially on an expensive trip like this I cramped a lot of different activities every day when I planned the trip. The tropical heat turned out to be more exhausting than I expected that we can only do one or even no specific activity for some days.

I enjoy this “Galapagos routine” rhythm: wake up early to go out and come back, enjoy a slow afternoon to chat with people in the hostels, read or work on some personal things, and then roam around the island during cooler hours near sunset.

Another inspiring part about the islands is the power of nature and ecosystem, which I believe many people will agree to. Not only from the naturalist guides from the tours we joined, enhancing my understanding by more self-research about Darwin’s expedition¹ and the Galapagos islands is gratifying and stimulating my thoughts about conservation.

The Galapagos islands showed us a vivid example of how nature is closer to paradise when it is well protected. Furthermore, it’s a compelling case that it brings the people on the islands opportunity and prosperity and to all the visitors a very high educational value. How can we as humans respect the space for wildlife? How should we balancing our interests and efforts between development and co-existing with nature?

What we all need is a whole ecosystem, it’s not a single island or even a country’s effort, it should be a collective effort of humans.

I really recommend to visit at least once to this place and experience the magic of these islands directly.

If there is ever a chance to come back (with more savings next time hopefully), I already have some places I wish to visit.

• [San Cristobal] Kicker rocks scuba diving trip (we heard really awesome experiences like large schools of fish (Bait ball) and sharks from those who went)
• [Isabela] Punta Vicente Roca (to see the flightless cormorants and mola mola, can only access through a diving trip or panga ride)
• Visit the more remote islands like Fernandina Island, Darwin, Wolf (probably need a cruise arrangement)
• More scuba diving in the cooler months to see more sharks and whale sharks

Would love to know if you have anything to add to this list, tell me in the comments.

¹If you enjoy reading more details about Charles Darwin, this is his journal of research online: https://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F14&viewtype=text&pageseq=218

2 weeks in the wildlife paradise: a land-based Galapagos trip in March 2023 was originally published in Adventures Outside the Box on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.