Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz

Puerto Ayora is the main town on Santa Cruz Island.

It is located on the south end of the island and has the best infrastructure in the Galapagos. The tourism area is concentrated along the waterfront. The main street, Avenida Charles Darwin, begins at the main dock and ends at the Charles Darwin Research Station. 

The town is easily walked but you can also take a taxi for $1.00 in town. All white trucks are taxis.

The local currency is the US dollar. Bring small denominations. There are banks on this island but not on all. 

The water quality is very poor throughout the islands so you will need to buy bottled water. We were warned not to eat salads but every meal came with a delicious looking salad. It was very hard to resist.

We stayed at Galapagos Suites and we were very happy we did. It is a short walking distance to everything and was super comfortable with ac, lcd TV, water dispenser on each floor, wifi, and a great breakfast everyday.

Our room had a balcony and hammock.

I love a room with a door opening to the outside.

The pathway to our breakfast spot.

Breakfast outside.

Las Grietas

Our tour today was to Las Grietas and we had no idea what to expect except we would be swimming and snorkelling. We took a short water taxi (.60) to the otro lado (other side) from the main dock. We walked through a cactus forest, around a bay, through a lava field, around a salt flat,  up an uneven lava path, and over a small body of water before we reached Las Grietas, a crevasse of cool ocean water between 2 tall cliffs. To get down to the swimming area we had to climb a steep wooden ladder, climb over big boulders, and carefully climbed into the water.

It is a very popular spot but I found it a difficult hike. You really need good footwear and we saw many people with blood and scrapes where their skin collided with the lava.

We snorkelled but didn't see much marine life as the water was cut off from the ocean. It was a nice cool place to swim after the hot hike.

We saw this bird along the way

Swimming hole

Another bird

Salt 

Cactus forest

Cactus forest

Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos

The island is the second largest with about 12,000 residents and is the main tourist hub of the Galapagos. Puerto Aroya, on Academy Bay, is the main town on the island and is reached by taking the longest paved road on the islands. The road runs north and south and on the way to Puerto Ayoya we passed a few small towns. The vegetation and geology changes drastically as we climbed into the highland agricultural zone into mist-covered forests.

Along the way we stopped to view two collapsed magma chambers and a tortoise area.

These giant land tortoises roam freely on the pastures in the agricultural zone.

Arriving on Santa Cruz Island

Baltra is a small island that was given to Ecuador after WWII and it is the main airport into the Galapagos. Baltra was set up as a base during WWII to protect the Panama Canal and you can see remains of the old US Airforce base as you drive across the island.

After we paid our 100USD National Park fee and collected our luggage, we were met by a naturalist guide who directed us to our bus. There are buses for the cruisers and one for the land based people. We were staying on the land.

The short bus ride took us to a ferry terminal. At the other side of the Itabaca Canal we went by taxi, with our guide, to start our highland tour.

Until I did my researched I did not know that we could stay on land. I thought that cruising was the only way to see the islands. I am so glad we decided to stay off the cruise ships. Our time was not regimented, we were free to explore at any time of day, and we left our money in the local economy.