Most people will hardly see the town as tour boats pick you up from the airport directly, which is a short bus ride, followed by a short canal crossing, then a 45min bus ride away. Even if you don’t see it you probably aren’t missing much. That being said it is the best place in the Galapagos to find a tour last minute (which I did) – more discussion on that later.
As it turned out, I had 3 spare days after arranging my tour. Puerto Ayora didn’t excite me too much (other than the fish market which is a bench and the footpath adjacent to the small marina which had dozens of lobsters for sale, squirming on the ground – from what I could deduce, they were around $8-10 each). If only I had a kitchen to play in! The Japanese tourists were nearly wetting themselves with excitement. The sea lions and pelicans observing were too.
The following day I caught a water taxi to San Cristobal, a two hour speed boat ride away. A fairly bumpy ride with insufficient life jackets to go around – I did an inventory check and was eyeing mine off just in case. Now, in most countries around the world, the boat probably would have been licensed to carry a dozen passengers……our boat had 28! Locals were inhaling motion sickness tablets before departure – well that was my cue to take one as well. Just as well…one of the young kids opposite me was a bit ill. Her sister decided to use me as a pillow. They were cute kids…..so was mother.
The town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (San Cristobal) is the capital but is less developed and much more peaceful and relaxing than Puerto Ayora due largely to the fact that only a handful of boat tours originate from the island. You can however do plenty of day trips around the island, mostly by boat (not cheap mind you). I had intended on doing this but became a little pre-occupied celebrating Barcelona’s (Guayaquil based) championship win on the Sunday.
There was enough to do around town (very quiet early December, low season for some reason before the Xmas / NYE rush). I highly recommend the free Interpretation Centre which gives you a geological and human history of the island, after which you can walk to the observatory (you may see a topless bather there if you are lucky) and look down on one of the little bays (great for snorkelling) which has an oddly shaped statue of Charles Darwin with tortoises “running” around his feet. Continue along the boardwalk in the blazing sun through the incense trees and cacti and you will pass a few observation decks which are great for watching the sea birds fishing, and spotting the odd sea lion and iguana swimming. As you make your way back towards town, you will pass by two small beaches with sea lions. You will quickly become tired of seeing them lounging on the beach and shitting on the park benches….in the water it is another story.
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| Puerto Ayora Harbour |
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| Barcelona Campiones!! |
