Assalamualaikum
The airport is actually on Baltra which is a small island north of Santa Cruz so the journey in after our 3 hr flight was a bus ride to edge of island to catch a 10 minute ferry to Santa Cruz (north), 50 minute bus ride to the town on the south side of the island.
Santa Cruz is a great place which it’s pretty cute (as much as a modern concrete town in South America could be), right on the water with animals everywhere. The sea lions just lay around and people work around them. Pelicans and sea lions hang out around fishermans wharf for the regular scrap as the fishermen sell their catch. There are several restaurants, tour agencies, a supermarket and a couple parks. The buildings are the usual cement block with structural rods protruding through the top. Most people don’t have cars but use taxis which are white pick up trucks. Any journey in town costs $1. The currency here is USD CASH – not many places take credit card.
Isabela island is the biggest island in the group so day tours can’t reach the western coast. The wildlife we got to see was really special not only for its uniqueness but for its abundance. Sea lions, they are so playful, and the giant tortoises because they are so huge, legendary and ancient. Amongst the islands you can see the differences in the tortoises (shell primarily). This visual representation of evolution is pretty cool. The tortoise breeding centre on Isabela where we could see the long-term efforts needed to hatch many tortoises from eggs and look after them for 5 years before they could be released into the wild.
sea lion
iguana
Fernandina island is a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Isabela. It’s the youngest of the Galapagos Islands (which were all formed by volcanoes – those on Isabela and Fernandina are still active). Fernandina really stands out for the number of sea lions and iguanas roaming around on the beach – bright white coral sand on black lava rock, dazzling under the intense Equatorial sun.
Enjoy the pictures !
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