Day 16: Galapagos - Santa Cruz

Ferry

Another early start into the day was required today to catch the “ferry” to Santa Cruz. There are two options, 07:00 or 15:00, and we decided to go with the early one. We had to be at the Port at 06:20, so we got up at 05:45.

Before we could board the ferry, we first had our luggage to be scanned. We were again impressed at how seriously they protect the environment. Besides the scanning, the Navi was again present and checked that only a few passengers were on the boats and everything was in order.

The crossing then took close to 2 hours, and we arrived at 09:00. Then we were fortunate that we could already check in at our new Hotel, even though it was way too early 😍

Puerto Ayora

Then, we first explored downtown Puerto Ayora, our home for the next three nights. It’s larger than Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal but still has a great vibe. The only negative thing we experienced was the different tour shops trying to poach you from the street.

After a late breakfast/early lunch at 1835 Restaurant & Coffee, we returned to the Hotel and packed our stuff for the beach. On the way back, we also rented some snorkeling gear. Then we started the walk to Tortuga Bay Beach, roughly 2.5km, and then another km on the beach until we reached the small side beach where snorkeling is possible. Tortuga Bay Beach’s currents are too strong, and swimming/snorkeling is prohibited.

Tortuga Bay Beach

The beach was beautiful, but it turned out that snorkeling wasn’t possible because there was close to 0 sight underwater. I don’t know if this is always the case or if it depends on the weather/tide.

The highlight was a baby Hammerhead Shark we spotted, which was around for quite some time! We even were able to snag a short video of him, it was just amazing 🤩

The weather was good, cloudy but not too hot, and the sun didn’t burn like crazy. 👍🏻

We had Dinner at Bahía Mar, which was delicious and had a great location directly at the sea.

Pictures

Activities