Visiting the Galapagos Islands
Over our winter break from college classes in 2017, we decided to take a bit of a non-traditional vacation. As a part of our trip to Ecuador, we made sure to make time to visit the Galapagos Islands which are only a short plane ride away! Growing up, we learned about Charles Darwin and how he studied finches on the Galapagos Islands, but we never thought we’d have the opportunity to visit such a unique and incredibly beautiful destination!
While this page focuses on the Galapagos Islands, it is a part of a much larger trip that we did: We purposely had a long layover in Mexico City so we could spend some time exploring Mexico’s capital. We then spent 7 days in Ecuador before flying to the Galapagos Islands for 4 more days. All in all, including Mexico City and other travel days, this trip came out to be 15 days.
We spent a ton of time planning this trip and our route in order to maximize our time exploring. This has to be the coolest location we’ve been to, as many people can only dream of spending time in the Galapagos. Here you will find everything we did, so that you can hopefully enjoy the beauty of the Galapagos Islands too! We’ve also added in some links to make things easier for you.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more please feel free to contact us! Also check out our video of the entire trip here!
DAY 1: Santa Cruz
NOTE: If you are coming here as a continuation from our Ecuador trip page, this would be considered day 9 of Ecuador + the Galapagos Islands.
We took a quick one hour flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador to get to the Galapagos Islands. We landed around 11:40 and after a short customs check we were ready to explore!
TRAVEL TIP: Before flying to Galapagos, you need to buy a $20 USD immigration control card from the Guayaquil airport, which you can only buy with cash! Also, when you arrive in Galapagos, you will have to pay a $100 USD National Park entrance fee, and again only cash is accepted! Make sure to hold on to your receipt as you sometimes need to show it before boarding the boat to the main island.
The airport in Galapagos is in a really weird spot… it is not close to anything! Because our time was very limited in the Galapagos, and public transportation can be questionable and expensive, we hired a driver through the AirBnB we were staying at. Our driver was waiting outside for us at the airport and directed us to board a bus that was heading to the ferry. At the ferry, we were greeted by beautiful blue waters with a rainbow up ahead- a perfect start to our Galapagos adventure. Our luggage was loaded onto the roof of the boat and we enjoyed a beautiful 20 minute ride to the mainland. Once on the mainland, our driver drove us 30 minutes to the Airbnb we were staying at. It was a super cozy place and it was a 10 minute walk to downtown!
New to Airbnb? Now is a good time to sign up! When you use this link, you’ll get a $40 Airbnb coupon code for your first booking of $75 or more and a $15 coupon for a local tour of $50 or more; that’s $55 in savings!
After we were settled in, we planned to head to Las Grietas, a beautiful swimming hole that is a great free place to snorkel. We walked downtown to the pier where we hopped on a water taxi for 25 cents that took us across to Angermeyer Point. From there, we followed the signs and walked about a mile to Las Grietas. There’s nowhere to rent snorkel gear at Las Grietas, so we were happy we bought our own (you can rent from dive shops in downtown Puerto Ayora). We dove off of a small wooden dock into crystal clear water. There are lots of really cool fish in there! We swam around and explored for a few hours and then returned back to the mainland for dinner. The restaurants on the waterfront were all very expensive, but we found a street called “Calle de los Kioscos” a few streets back that was lined with about 20 pop-up restaurants. All of the places seemed similar, and we ended up getting massive shrimp dishes for only $10 each with happy hour priced drinks! Compared to Ecuador, this was an expensive meal, but compared to the main strip we were getting a deal! We went to bed early to prepare for our first excursion!
SOME ADVICE: Being college students, we were on a tight budget and the Galapagos was a bit out of our budget, so we did our best to have a cheap but amazing experience. We spent a lot of time deciding which travel agency to book our excursions with (it’s required to use a tour agent for all day trips). We ended up going with Galapagos Best Adventure Trips where we had to wire a man named Richard money. To be honest, we were a little skeptical about the legitimacy of the company, but everything worked out and we had a great experience! However, it seems like their website is no longer working…
On the trail heading towards Las Grietas
Sea lions lounge around all over the piers!
The beautiful crystal clear water of Las Grietas!
Downtown Puerto Ayora
Snorkeling in Las Grietas!
“Calle de los Kioscos” - This place fills up fast when its dinner time!
DAY 2: Santa Fe Island
There are numerous islands that you can choose to explore as day trips while you’re in the Galapagos, and a lot of it depends on what you are hoping to see and do. We chose Santa Fe as our first day trip because it was close to Santa Cruz and had a lot of great wildlife potential!
Santa Fe is a small island located in the center of the Galapagos archipelago. It’s about a 40 minute boat ride before you get to the island. Santa Fe has a really beautiful lagoon (known as Fisherman Bay) with calm waters where we spent a few hours snorkeling. When in the water, we got to see the following marine life: countless types of fish, white-tip reef sharks, stingrays, sea lions, and sea turtles! We have never seen so many sea turtles or such big sea lions! The boat also takes a ride along the coastal cliffs where you can see birds like the infamous blue-footed boobies, gulls, and other tropical birds. There is also a good chance of seeing marine iguanas and lava lizards! For lunch, we had fresh fish - the freshest we have ever had.
After snorkeling, we then sailed to a hidden beach known as Playa Escondida. This was hands down the most beautiful beach we have ever seen; the water was crystal clear, the sand was so soft and clean, and there were tons of iguanas and crabs!
Once we got back to Santa Cruz, we headed over to the Charles Darwin Research Station to learn about the environment and biodiversity in the Galapagos Archipelago and to see the giant Galapagos tortoises that they protect.
Searching for the blue footed boobies along the rocks
The infamous blue footed boobie!
It’s not easy taking underwater pictures…
Blue footed boobies lounging on the rocks
Please don’t bite us!
The pristine beaches of the Galapagos Islands
Who poses better: Emily or the iguana?
The Galapagos tortoises!
Exploring Charles Darwin Research Station
DAY 3: Pinzon
After Santa Fe, we were super excited to do some more snorkeling and see even more marine life on our trip to Pinzon! Pinzon is a small island located to the west of Santa Cruz. It was about an hour and twenty minute boat ride to get to the waters surrounding Pinzon. There were two snorkeling spots that we got to experience and both were loaded with rays, sea lions, sea turtles, and endless fish. There are chances to see the Galapagos penguin here depending on the time of year you go, but unfortunately we were not able to see any.
As the boat cruised around the island, there were lots of blue-footed boobies and pelicans to be seen. For lunch, we ate some deliciously fresh ceviche on the boat. After snorkeling in both spots, we sailed around and tried to catch some yellow-fin tuna, but we did not have any luck. On our way back to Santa Cruz, we stopped at La Fe, a small bay with a beautiful beach and lots of marine iguanas.
Back on Santa Cruz, we went to Tortuga Bay to watch the sunset on the beach. What we learned once we got there was that Tortuga Bay actually closes at 6 PM, so be aware of that! To get there, it’s about a 1.5 mile walk on an easy stone path. We wish we had more time to check it out; you could easily spend a half day here snorkeling and observing all the wildlife.
As we were walking around downtown that night popping in and out of gift shops, we stumbled across a really cool spectacle down at the docks: giant pelicans fighting each other to get fish scraps from the fisherman! It was quite a cool scene!
Another sea turtle gliding along the ocean floor
Such big sea turtles
Emily trying to keep up with a sea turtle
Now that’s a big sea lion!
A sea turtle eating
The entrance of Tortuga Bay
The beach at Tortuga Bay
Pelicans flocking and fighting for fish scraps
DAY 4: Santa Cruz
It’s already our last day in the Galapagos! We had an afternoon flight back to Guayaquil, so we took advantage of the morning by visiting the Galapagos tortoises in their natural habitat! To do this, we rented a driver for the day. He took us to the Galapagos Highlands to a place called “el ranchero manzanillo” which is a private reserve for giant tortoises where they roam freely. These tortoises were MASSIVE compared to the ones we saw at the Charles Darwin Research Center. It was definitely worth the trip since we got to see them in their natural environment.
We also walked through a set of Lava Tunnels that was nearby. Our driver dropped us off at the entrance and was waiting for us on the other side. The tunnels were well lit and were fun to navigate through - sometimes having to crawl or sometimes walking normally.
All in all, we felt like we got the perfect taste of what the Galapagos Islands has to offer. Even though we were only here for four days, we experienced everything that we wanted to and had an amazing time! Once we flew back to Guayaquil in Ecuador, we then flew to Lima the next day and then returned back home to Boston.
OUR ADVICE: If you’re already visiting Ecuador or another close by South American country, we highly recommend making the time and budget to visit the Galapagos! It is such a unique and diverse location, and it really gives people the “wow” effect when you tell them you’ve been there!
Adam is 5’10”… These tortoises are BIG!
Just chilling, eating some grass
Tons of tortoises hanging out
Entrance to the Lava Tunnels
One of the tighter sections within the Lava Tunnels
As experienced hikers, we always make sure that we are hiking with The Ten Essentials which include navigation, a headlamp, sun protection, first aid, a knife, shelter, extra food, water and clothes. Overtime, we have discovered some items that we always bring on our hikes and consider them to be our personal, expanded ten essentials.