05/11/2022 From Guayaquil to the Galapagos Islands

Dangerous city

Today is the day: We are flying to the Galapagos Islands! A dream becomes reality! In Guayaquil we didn’t even leave our hotel last night as we’ve heard from different people that it is one of the most dangerous cities in South America. Furthermore, the receptionist told us about the city’s lock-down after 9 p.m. since five policemen have been killed last week.
So “uber eats” brought us our dinner and uber also took us to the airport the next morning. Easy as!

What you need for the Galapagos Islands

At the airport we needed to fill out a pre-registration form ($20 each) and have our baggage checked before the actual check-in and baggage drop-off. It all went really smooth and no one wanted to see our covid vaccine or anything related. However, it was the first time in almost four months on the road, that we had to wear our face masks again.
And then it was time to board: Galapagos Islands – here we come!
The flight was fine, luckily, and from the plane, we could already admire the beauty of the different islands.

San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands

We took a jeep taxi to our accommodation “Casa de Hospedaje Alexita” from the airport and then walked into town to book a tour for the next day.

Animals everywhere!

In my blonde mind I had pictured seals playing in the water, black iguanas relaxing on the rocks and turtles swimming in the water. And guess what? This was EXACTLY what it was like!! We were so mesmerized by these cute seals everywhere (at least I was ;-))! Little did I know at this point that one of them was going to hurt me later on this trip…
We walked further along the coastline and whereever we looked, there were seals playing in the water or bathing in the sun on the beach – I was in seals-heaven!

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Relax with seals at Playa Mann

Walk up to the lookout Cerro Tijeretas

After some beach time we entered the national park by registering at the office. We then walked through the Galapagos National Park Visitor Center, that represents a complete and documented history of the Galapagos, its ecosystems, flora and fauna. The path to the next lookout “Cerro Tijeretas” was nicely laid out in between bushes and trees and the view from the top over the ocean was great.

Snorkel in the ice-cold Pacific Ocean at Muelle Tijeretas

After enjoying the view onto the water, it was time to get right in there. I had rented some snorkel gear. But I must admit, as soon as I got into the water, it took my breath away – unfortunately not of the good kind as the water was freezing cold!!! I snorkeled around, looked at lots of different swarms of fish and was happy when I had the dry towel wrapped around me again. How were we going to survive the snorkeling tour tomorrow?

Watch sunset at Playa Punta Carola

We walked to Playa Punta Carola for a beautiful sunset that we shared with lots and lots of seals next to us on the beach.

What an incredible first day on the Galapagos Islands!

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06/11/2022 San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands

Today we were going on a snorkeling trip: the 360 degrees tour around island San Cristobal.

Side note: All the tours on the Galapagos Islands are expensive. So we asked other backpackers up front which ones they liked the most and also read a lot of blogs. The 360° degrees tour is usually $180 p.p., but it is offered by different tour companies. Therefore, we could bargain one tour down to $150.

Do the 360° degrees snorkel tour

The tour started at 7.10 am. After collecting our wetsuit (the water is ice cold – my biggest worry on this trip) and our snorkel gear, we headed to the pier where we met the other eight internationals and the three crew members.

Ice cold water

Lots of sea life

Last time we really snorkeled together was probably in Belize in summer 2019, where we saw lots of rays and nurse sharks. But I remember Blake liked the open bar of the katamaran more than the actual snorkel experience – lucky for me, there was no open bar this time 😉.

Fishing tuna from the boat

After trying to get warm again and getting some chocolate bread back on the boat, we went further along the coast by boat.

The other fish was prepared by the captain later on and we could eat it as sashimi (=raw fish). Blake, who doesn’t like sushi, liked the sashimi a lot. Funnily, his argument against eating sushi is that he doesn’t like raw fish (even though sushi doesn’t always have to include raw fish). Let’s see what his argument will be for my next sushi attempt.

Find the red-footed boobies

We then went bird watching from the boat and spotted some red-footed boobies, which are only found on the Galapagos Islands (and in parts on the coast of Peru).

Fish for lunch

After that it was time for lunch on the boat (fish with rice and salad – not as fancy as you’d expect for $150, but we didn’t come here for the food anyways).

Beach time – my favourite

Go snorkeling at Kicker Rock

Our last stop was another snorkel stop at the most well known snorkel and dive site of San Cristobal: Kicker Rock.

Jumping into the water right off the boat was refreshing if you want to put it nicely. But the great amount of fish and turtles all around us definitely made up for it!

Another amazing sunset with seals

I think I passed out around 9 p.m., but I’m pretty sure I dreamed of turtles and seal babies swimming around me.

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07/11/2022 From San Cristobal to Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands
“Everything happens for a reason.” I strongly believe in this statement. Otherwise why did Blake walk into exactly “my” dorm room in Cairns in 2012?
And today our “reason” for a booked out morning boat to the next island Santa Cruz was that we would have missed out on Playa Loberia. And that would have been a real shame!

Snorkel with seals and turtles at Playa Loberia

In the morning we bought breakfast items and coffee, rented some snorkeling gear and took a taxi jeep to Playa Loberia.

Breakfast at the beach – with red wine

At the beach we had a great picnic with tasty buns with avocado and cheese, crackers and even red wine. (We had to finish it as we couldn’t take the open bottle to the next island; At least this was our reasoning for drinking wine at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning.) We listened to great music while watching the seals playing all around us on a nearly empty beach. Such a happy moment! But this shouldn’t stay the highlight of this morning.

No “need” for a wetsuit

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Once I was sure enough that the sun was going to stay out for a while, I grapped my snorkel mask (I was too cheap for a wetsuit or let’s just pretend “too tough”) and went into the water. And what I saw under water I could not believe!

When we were about to leave the beach again, Blake and I saw four baby seals play together.

What a morning!

Off to the next island

We picked up our bags, dropped off the snorkeling gear, enjoyed a coco ice-cream in the sun and then caught the ferry to Santa Cruz. Off to new adventures! Not sure how the last experiences could get topped though. But they would be…

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08/11/2022 Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands

The three-hour-boat ride to Santa Cruz went smooth (thanks to the seasickness tablets I took).

Go scuba diving at Gordon Rock

We speedwalked to the dive shop (after closing time) to get the last dive spot for me for the following day. My dream was to dive with the hammerhead sharks. Since the dive site at Gordon Rock is a deeper dive (up to 30m) and quite choppy with strong currents, you need to have an advanced dive certificate and at least 40 dives. I was glad I did my advanced open water certificate in Santa Marta and had enough dives to be able to go. Hammerhead sharks – get ready for me!

Long safety check

This was probably the most hectic and stressful dive I had ever done. The veeery long safety check on the dive boat and even under water close to Gordon Rock (where we had to clear our masks and take out our mouth piece under water) felt more like doing another diving course. I guess with the difficulty of this dive, they just wanted to make sure everyone knew what they were doing under water…

Very stressful dive

Our friendly group of ten got split up into two groups of five with one dive instructor each. While the safety instructions seemed to drag out forever, going into the water and going down all seemed very rushed. We all had to sit on the edge of the boat and on the count of three we all had to do the back flip into the water at the same time.

Usually I like to get comfortable with my BCD on the surface and to check what’s underneath me (fish, visibility, how does the breathing work, etc). But not on this dive: We were five seconds in the water, met up at the front of the boat and then got yelled at “down down down!” To be fair, the current on the surface was very strong and kept pushing us against the rock. When we went down, I couldn’t see anything and the current was still quite strong.

Thumbs up

Suddenly I saw the dive master putting her thumbs up – which in diving terms doesn’t mean “all is well”, but “go up to the surface”. I could see her using a yellow regulator which usually is the second mouth piece of another diver. Back on the surface she explained to us that she couldn’t get any air out of her BCD. Therefore, she had to flag down the boat and we all had to get on board again. Way to feel confident for getting into the water again…
After changing her tank, we went into the water again – what a process!

Diving in three wetsuits

No hammerhead sharks yet

Since we had used up a lot of air for the safety check as well as for the first failed dive, our diving time was only 23 minutes long this time. We saw massive eagle rays, huge turtles, but unfortunately no hammerheads. The strong current and constantly having to look where our guide is made the dive hard to enjoy.

Round two

After an hour on the surface, warming up in the sun, eating some tasty chocolate bread and fresh fruits and having nice chats with the other divers, it was time to go into the water again for dive number two.

More luck this time?

This dive had less current, way more colourful fish, many more turtles, but unfortunately no sharks. After having seen all the rays and turtles on our snorkel trips the past few days, I guess I had been very spoiled.

At least with the three wetsuits I didn’t feel too cold, which was actually my biggest worry going into this dive.

I’ve had better

Looking back on the dive, it was definitely an interesting one. But I noticed about myself how I prefer the easy dives with good conditions and warm water. It’s the same when it comes to skiing (“Schönwetterfahrer”/ fair-weather rider). Give me sun and good snow conditions and I’m all yours!

Relaxing evening in town

Tomorrow it will be time for the next island: Isla Isabela.

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09/11/2022 From Santa Cruz to Isla Isabela

Another early start

Catching a ferry at 7 a.m. is never fun. Especially if you have to be there 45 minutes earlier for the luggage inspection and the “check-in”. Oh well, I guess it’s still better than getting up early for work 😉.

Isla Isabela

The good thing about the early ferry was, however, that we were already at our hostel “Cerro Azul” at 10 a.m. and could even check into our room.
We didn’t let that much time pass as we wanted to make the most of the day on the new island Isabela.

Rent bicycles and explore the island

We booked a guided tour for the next day, rented snorkeling gear and bicycles for today and started to explore the island.

Go snorkeling at “Concha de Perla”

Bitten by a seal!

But the bite on my leg definitely hurt. You could even see the spot where the two teeth had gone into my flesh. Oh well, I tried not to let it ruin our snorkel experience. So we went snorkeling for a bit, saw two turtles and lots of fish and then went into the pharmacy for some antiseptic cream. Back at the hotel I also double-checked if I had received my raibies and tetanus shots before the trip – check!

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Oh well, I guess not many people can say that they got bitten by a seal on the Galapagos Islands. I still find seals extremely cute and am not suffering from a traumatic experience now 😉.

A cocktail in a coconut is always a good idea

We rode the bikes further along the beach and stopped at a beach bar where we had two coco loco cocktails served in big coconuts. Life is good!

Afterwards we rode back to the harbour for Blake to snorkel and for me to admire the pelicans, iguanas and seals (from a distance this time). It really is a paradise and time just moves more slowly here on Isla Isabela.

Watch sunset at the beach

We bought a few snacks in a mini market and rode our bikes to another deserted spot on the beach, from where we watched sunset. I don’t want to sound too cheesy, but it was such a magical moment which we will probably never forget. (Okay, even to me this sounds cheesy.)

Have dinner at “Las Delicias De Taty”

In the evening we had the freshest and tastiest fish at a family-run restaurant, called “Las Delicias de Taty”. We already knew we’d be back the following night.

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10/11/2022 Isla Isabela

Today we were going on the “Los Tuneles” snorkeling tour. For once, we didn’t have a 7 a.m. start, but got picked up at 11.15 a.m..

Will we miss our flight?

What could have been a very relaxing morning, turned out to be quite stressful as we were trying hard to buy ferry tickets back to the previous two islands. Many tour offices told us that the boats were all full. This would be a nightmare as it would mean that we’d miss our flight from island San Cristobal in two days time.
Luckily, one tour office could give us the last two seats on their boat five minutes before we got picked up for today’s tour.
So if you’re ever going to the Galapagos Islands: book your ferry tickets early😉!!

Do the “Los Tuneles” snorkeling tour

Besides one very friendly Dutch couple (Dutchies are everywhere 😉), there were six older people on our boat. The “Los Tuneles” tour got recommended to us by so many other backpackers. However, we actually had no idea what to expect on this tour. Sometimes having no expectations is probably best.

Penguins and blue-footed boobies

After riding the boat for 45 minutes, we stopped next to dried lava rocks, on which we could spot penguins and blue-footed boobies (a type of bird that gets its blue feet from eating sardines). The tour already started off strong!

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Vegetarian lunch – only one of us was happy

Next, we had lunch (poor Blake, it was all vegetarian) on the boat. The rock formations were made of dried lava again, that we walked on after lunch. It reminded us strongly of the movie “The land before time”. We spotted some turtles in the water and blue-footed boobies on the rock.

Snorkeling through lava tunnels

Then we went snorkeling in the little rock pools that were connected through different tunnels (hence the name of the tour). Even though we didn’t see much sea life, swimming through those lava tunnels was pretty spectacular.

Green turtles everywhere

Back on the boat, we drove a little further to another snorkeling spot. This one was only two to three metres deep. So luckily, the water was a bit warmer (still far away from being “warm warm”; I was quite grateful for our shorties/ short wetsuit). On this snorkel site we spotted many sharks, including baby sharks, and a massive stingray.

At one point Blake and I spotted one turtle in a hole. When it saw us, it seemed as if it was coming out of its hole just for us, swam in a small circle and went back into its hole again – so amazing!

Out of gas

On the way back we picked up people from another tourist boat that had run out of gas in the middle of the ocean. Good karma for us 😉!

When we got back to the harbour, we were greeted by all the cute seals again. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop wondering whether the seal that bit me was amongst them.

Hang out at Pink Iguana Bar

Back at the hotel we quickly showered in order to make it to the beach bar “Pink Iguana Bar” for sunset.

After another great sunset we went back to the restaurant from last night to enjoy one last tasty fish on Isla Isabela.

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11/11/2022 From Isla Isabela to Santa Cruz
Thank God the morning ferry had been booked out. Otherwise we would have missed out on an incredible last day on Isla Isabela.

Visit the “Wall of tears” by bike

We rented bicycles again and rode the 8 km along the beach to the “Wall of tears”.

The Wall of Tears is a historical site […] on Isabela Island in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. It was constructed between the years of 1945 and 1959 by prisoners in the penal colony on the island, which had been established by President José Maria Velasco Ibarra in 1944, using infrastructure left by the US military after World War II. The wall is about 25 m (65 ft) tall and is said to have been the cause of thousands of deaths during its construction. Locals call it the wall of tears because it is said to emanate eerie cries and have a heavy energy surrounding it.”

wikipedia

During the bike ride we had the beautiful coastline to our left side that turned into a desert-like landscape as soon as we entered the national park.

Find the giant tortoises (on land)

Inside the national park we spotted three giant tortoises on the side of the road, which looked so majestic! I never get tired of seeing turtles, whether it’s on land or under water.

So much unhabited nature

At the “Wall of tears”, we climbed up to the lookout platform, from where we had a wonderful view over the national park and the ocean. The national park actually makes up 97% of the island Isabela, so most of the island is unhabited.

Watch black iguanas at Playa del Amor

On the ride back we stopped at Playa del Amor, where we watched so many black iguanas which almost became one with the black rocks they were relaxing on.

Back in town we treated ourselves to a big tasty coco ice-cream (like every day on the Galapagos Islands), before getting our luggage and taking a taxi to the port.

Bumpy ferry ride

The two-hour-ferry ride was the bumpiest yet. Therefore, I was quite glad when we had solid ground underneath our feet again on Santa Cruz.

A sushi miracle

I’ve been craving sushi for quite a while now. But since Blake doesn’t like it (at least he thinks he doesn’t like it – yet 😉), I haven’t had sushi since Medellin. I had just mentioned sushi again, when a sushi stand appeared right in front of us magically! There was a festival going on in town with a few shows, live music, some souvenir stands aaaaand a sushi stall! I couldn’t believe it and the seafood sushi actually tasted amazing! I was in sushi heaven! Now we could go out for our proper dinner 😉.

Food splurge

What an amazing way to finish a week on the Galapagos Islands!

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12/11/2022 From Santa Cruz to Isla Isabela to Guayaquil

Long travel day ahead

In the next morning we got picked up by a taxi at 6 a.m.. Fun times! Today would be a long travel day. If everything worked out well, we’d be sitting on a bus to Mancora, Peru tonight. But first things first.

From eating lobster to being homeless

The two-hour-ferry-ride went well. Back on San Cristobal we got welcomed by the seals at the port again. I’ll never get tired of seeing sleepy seals!
And then it was time to say goodbye to the Galapagos Islands, which will always hold a special place in our hearts!

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13-15/11/2022 Mancora, Peru