If you have followed my blog until now, you have certainly noticed that I try to see animals in their natural habitats whenever the opportunity arises. Including the Galápagos Islands while visiting South America was a no-brainer, as these islands, located off the coast of Ecuador, are world-renowned for their unique biodiversity. They played a pivotal role in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, as he observed the vast variety of species found nowhere else on Earth. The Galápagos are home to numerous endemic species, with around 1,900 of them being unique to the archipelago.
From San Salvador to the Galápagos
There are daily direct flights departing at 10 pm from San Salvador, reaching Quito (the capital of Ecuador) at 3 am. The earliest connecting flight to the Galápagos departs at 9 am and arrives at 10:30 am. You’ll need to pass through a special registration office for the Galápagos Islands, which only opens at 5 am, after which you can proceed with the standard check-in and security procedures. Sounds like a long night at an airport? Hell yeah.
Getting around the Galápagos
The Galápagos consist of three main islands – Isla Isabela, Santa Cruz, and San Cristóbal – as well as several smaller islands. Santa Cruz (centrally located) and San Cristóbal (to the east) are both connected to the mainland via airports, while Isla Isabela features only a small airport for 12-passenger aircraft that connects to San Cristóbal.
There are also two daily ferries connecting Santa Cruz with Isabela and two connecting Santa Cruz with San Cristóbal. In other words, if you want to travel from Isabela to San Cristóbal, you’ll need to take the morning ferry to Santa Cruz and then the afternoon ferry to San Cristóbal (costing you an entire day and approximately 2 x 30 USD) or take the small airplane (costing you about 2 hours and around 200 USD).
When booking the airplane, you must declare the weight of your luggage, which costs 1 USD per pound. If you fail to declare it or underestimate the weight, you’ll pay 2 USD per pound at the airport.
My 8-Night / 9-Day Galápagos Itinerary:
Accommodation in the Galápagos can be surprisingly affordable. I spent between 15 – 30 USD per night at very cosy and clean homestays. Costs rise when you join tours every day, but there are quite a few activities you can do for free or at low cost. I opted for a mix of activities and visited all three main islands, spending 2 nights on Santa Cruz and 3 nights on each of the other two islands:
- Day 1 (December 17) – Arrival at Santa Cruz: After landing at the airport, which is located on a small island northeast of Santa Cruz, it takes about an hour to reach Puerto Ayora (bus from the airport, ferry to Santa Cruz, and another bus to the port town). I spent the afternoon exploring the Charles Darwin Research Station, where I had my first opportunity to see giant tortoises, as well as the nearby beaches.
- Day 2 (December 18) – Santa Cruz: I rented a bike to explore the island and made my way to El Chato Ranch. The 20 km uphill ride along the only road crossing the island was an adventure in itself, as I saw giant tortoises casually strolling along the somewhat busy street. The El Chato Ranch is a large territory home to many tortoises and features a few lava tunnels as well.
- Day 3 (December 19) – Morning ferry from Santa Cruz to Isla Isabela: It was a 2-hour bumpy ride on a small speedboat. In the afternoon, I rented a bike to explore the Camino de las Tortugas, which leads to the “Wall of Tears,” a massive stone wall built by prisoners in the 1940s and 1950s when the islands were used as a prison colony. The path winds through volcanic landscapes, Isabela’s wetlands, and several viewpoints. I had to stop many times to marvel at the giant tortoises slowly crossing the street and admire the iguanas basking in the sunlight.
- Day 4 (December 20) – Isla Isabela: I joined a tour to Los Túneles, a coastal lava formation partially flooded by the sea. The shallow waters are perfect for snorkeling and home to fascinating creatures like reef sharks and the Galápagos’ unique blue-footed boobies. We even saw a penguin diving into the water and hunting for fish as we snorkeled there.
- Day 5 (December 21) – Isla Isabela: I joined another tour, this time to Sierra Negra, a vast volcanic crater with a diameter of 10 km. While there isn’t much wildlife to be seen in this desolate land, the otherworldly landscapes more than make up for it with their unique beauty. The area also offers splendid views of parts of Isabela, which is the largest of the Galápagos Islands (though only a small portion is open to the public).
- Day 6 (December 22) – Flight from Isabela to San Cristóbal: After the bumpy ferry ride, I decided never to do that again. As mentioned earlier, transferring from Isabela to San Cristóbal by ferry involves taking two ferries (Isabela–Santa Cruz and then Santa Cruz–San Cristóbal). So, I booked a flight on the small aircraft connecting the islands. The flight took about 40 minutes, offering splendid views over the islands, and gliding through the air in such a small machine turned out to be a surprisingly smooth experience.
The rest of the day I spent exploring the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, booking my activities for the following days, and simply admiring the dozens of sea lions invading the beaches and even the streets of the town. - Day 7 (December 23) – San Cristóbal: About time to do some scuba diving! They say that 70% of the Galápagos’ endemic species actually live underwater. Moreover, the Galápagos are considered one of the best places in the world for scuba diving due to their untouched reefs and the sheer abundance of marine life. Both dives were at the famous Kicker Rock. We briefly saw one hammerhead shark – probably the fish most divers hope to encounter here.
- Day 8 (December 24) – San Cristóbal: I had decided in advance to dive for two days to increase my chances of seeing hammerheads. Since no dive companies were heading to alternative dive sites, it was Kicker Rock again. If you’ve never been scuba diving, you might think it sounds boring to do the same activity twice, but trust me, one dive will change your mind!
It was absolutely the right decision to go again. Nature is unpredictable, and on this second day at Kicker Rock, we saw several solitary hammerhead sharks during the first dive. The real highlight was however the second dive of the day, where we were suddenly surrounded by a school of dozens of hammerheads swimming under us. Terrific! (see video below)
- Day 9 (December 25) – San Cristóbal to Cusco: I spent Christmas by havig a short video call with my family before heading to the airport to proceed to spending the next 24 hours in 3 different airplanes and layovers at airports.
Galápagos pictures:
