We spent a week exploring Isla Isabela and the Galapagos Islands – and it was by far the best part of our 4-month backpacking trip in South America! From the relaxed island vibes and cozy coastal towns, to the plethora of sea turtles, marine iguanas, and frigate birds at every turn, the Galapagos felt like the perfect place to take a break from our grungy backpacker lifestyle and have a real vacation.
The whole week felt like a proper honeymoon – and at $800 each, it would have been a cheap trip by most honeymoon standards! For us, it felt like a fortune – one week exploring Isabela Island and the Galapagos cost us nearly as much as our whole month in Colombia.
But it was oh so worth it.
We’ve already written a complete guide to the Galapagos by land, plus a detailed Galapagos packing list, but we wanted to break down our incredible trip into two more detailed posts about each specific island: Santa Cruz and Isabela Island.
Table of Contents
Looking for more tips for traveling in Ecuador? Check out these posts, or click here to view all of our Ecuador posts.
- How to Visit The Galapagos Islands Without a Cruise: A Complete Guide
- Backpacking Ecuador: Itinerary for 1 Incredible Month
- 30 Things No One Tells You About Backpacking in Ecuador
- Baños, Ecuador: A Complete Guide to What to Do in Baños
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About Isla Isabela, Galapagos
Before we dive into our experiences and highlight the best things to do in Isabela Island, a little bit of context: Isabela Island, aka Isla Isabela, is the largest island in The Galapagos.
However, much like Hawaii, it is not the main island, or even the most populated island. Both Santa Cruz and San Cristobal are bigger and are home to more residents.
There may not be much civilization on this seahorse-shaped piece of land, but there are plenty of critters, as well as awesome geological phenomena…if you’re into that. But what kind of freakin’ nerd would be? (Me…absolutely me.)
What this means is that Isabela Island is by far the best island to see beautiful and unique Galapagos wildlife when visiting the Galapagos by land.
That said, the main town of Puerto Villamil is … small. Very small.
It’s about 1 sandy street long, which you can walk in about 10 minutes. Yes, there’s food and plenty of places to stay – and there’s even WiFi, though it’s not great – but don’t expect 5-star resorts or like, nightlife.
If you’re looking for nightlife, a late-night walk on the beach is your best bet. Just watch out for the jet black marine iguanas! I can’t imagine they’d respond well to being stepped on.
It’s also worth a note that there are no ATMs on Isla Isabela so make sure you bring enough cash with you to cover tours, hotels, transport, food, etc. It’s NO FUN to get somewhere and find you’ve not got enough cash to even get to the next place!
Getting to Isabela Island
The morning we were due to move from Santa Cruz to Isla Isabela, we arrived with our backpacks at the dock in Puerto Ayora (the main town on Santa Cruz Island) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for our 7am boat.
Just kidding. It was like 6:30. Our coffee shop wasn’t even open yet. The sun wasn’t even up yet. We were bleary-eyed and cranky. We are NOT morning people, you guys.
Victor, our helpful friend from L/P Andy – the boat ticket kiosk on the docks in Puerto Ayora – met us with his unique salesman-slash-dad warmth and enthusiasm and offered us some cheap (instant) coffee while we waited in a small crowd of tired-looking backpackers and families for our ferry.
We took a water taxi (50 cents each) out to our boat, Sierra Negra, and found a seat outside of the cramped cabin, in the fresh salty air.
We were told to take Dramamine before leaving, which was great advice. These boats go crazy fast, and due to the unique wind patterns and scattered islands, the water is hella choppy.
We got knocked around, sprayed, and knocked around some more for the entire two-hour journey. Two people on the back of the boat with us looked like they were going to puke, but luckily no one did.
Two hours of turbulent sea travel later, we grabbed another taxi ($1 each) to the dock in Puerto Villamil, and set foot on Isabela Island for the first time.
Arriving at Isabela Island
Compared to driving into Santa Cruz, arriving at Isabela Island felt much more like stepping onto a tropical paradise.
Spotted rays and tiny penguins swam lazily in the clear blue waters next to our boat. Across the clear blue water, we were greeted by shimmering white sand, swaying palm trees, basking marine iguanas, honking pelicans, and several adorable napping sea lions.
The pavement by the dock is a nice warm spot for the sea lions, so you have to literally step over them – they won’t budge for you.
Dizzy from our boat ride and still sleepy, we grabbed a cab (even though “downtown” Puerto Villamil is a ten-minute walk from the docks) and asked for Caleta Iguana hostel, which we saw recommended by one of our favorite blogs, Two Wandering Soles, as one of the best hostels in South America.
Unfortunately, it was … not.
Where NOT to Stay on Isabela Island
Since the bloggers at Two Wandering Soles fell in love with Caleta Iguana, it has changed ownership … and is totally different. The hostel is now called Casa Rosada. It cost $20 a night per person.
For this budget price, you get … well, nothing. No meals, no use of the kitchen, weak WiFi, only 2 bathrooms for the whole building, a musty “private” room in which everything was slightly wet, uncomfortable bunk beds (yes, bunk beds in a private room), loud AF music all night at the bar directly outside of our window, and a desk employee who was gone half the time and locked the main house when she left.
The desk employee was incredibly nice, but it wasn’t fair to have only 1 single employee for the entire hostel. The poor girl barely got a lunch break.
At one point, she asked us to watch the hostel for her while she went to get lunch. In exchange, she said we could use the kitchen while she was gone (yeah, there is a kitchen. It’s just that guests can’t use it, and also nobody else is using it … so it’s just there, unused).
We had already eaten, so she asked us to leave instead. Yes, we got kicked out of our own hostel. Not ideal.
On A Positive Note…
The best thing about Casa Rosada, other than its bargain bin price, is it’s right on the beach (but tbh half of the town is on the beach so that’s not a huge draw) and it is crawling with marine iguanas.
Literally – there are crowds of marine iguanas outside on the deck and porch! We found this adorable, but we love critters. There’s even a GIANT daddy iguana on the deck every day, flopped out while the little ones play around.
However, since you can just walk to Casa Rosada and visit the beach and make marine iguana friends on your own for free, we don’t think the hostel is worth it just for the beach access.
It’s the cheapest on the island, but if you can afford to stay elsewhere, do. We’d recommend booking one of these hotels instead.
Isabela Island Day Tours
The hostel wasn’t ALL bad: one nice thing that they did for us was to book some last-minute day tours on our behalf.
Booking day tours in the Galapagos can be overwhelming with the number of options there are. What I’ve learned while being in South America is most tours are booked through multiple agencies or outlets, but there are a smaller number of actual guides.
What this means is it doesn’t matter a whole great deal who you book through, because you’ll likely join forces with another agency.
Some agencies take a bigger profit, hence the price differences, but this is usually a max of $5 (at least I’ve found). Sometimes, you’ll get lucky and the hostel will book for you. I’ve heard from other blogs that a hostel who books a tour for you sometimes takes a cut, so it’s best to know prices in advance to avoid that fee.
Casa Rosada didn’t take a cut, which was awesome, and they called every tour operator on Isabela Island until they found some last-minute openings for us.
We signed up for two separate day tours from Isabela Island: Las Tintoreras that afternoon and Los Tuneles the next day.
With a few hours to kill before our afternoon tour, we stopped by the best-rated coffee place on Isabela Island according to Google, which was across the street from our hostel.
It’s run by the sweetest little abuela who was kind enough to chat with us while we choked down our food. But the food was so bad, and so, so overpriced. Turns out, this wasn’t the only incredibly overpriced food on Isabela Island. More on that later!
Las Tintoreras Day Tour
When we returned from our disappointing lunch & coffee, our helpful hostel host was gone again. She told us that the tour would arrive at 11:14, which is an oddly specific time.
So naturally, when the bus arrived at 11:00 and rushed us out while we were still packing our stuff for the tour, we were a little cranky. Overpriced shitty coffee and being rushed is like an immediate recipe for crankiness for us, it turns out.
The tour bus took us to an office where we were fitted with short wetsuits, and then we were on our way to the pier. It was actually refreshingly quick: I guess all that hurrying had a point after all.
We actually don’t know who this tour was booked through – we booked last minute once we arrived on Isabela Island. I’m not sure we’d recommend that – it was a scramble to find a tour company able to accommodate us on such late notice (literally an hour in advance, oops).
To avoid the headache, you can book a Tintoreras Tour online in advance.
Our group consisted of an older couple who had just gone to Machu Picchu (and didn’t have to turn around on day 2, like we did) AND the Olympic Games in Brazil (#goals), a couple that pretty much kept to themselves, a solo photographer, a couple obsessed with getting GoPro footage of everything with a “f*** your shot, mine is more important” attitude, and a different GoPro couple who were the downright worst (more on why in a bit).
It was like a couple’s dating show, except instead of competitively answering questions about our partners, we were all competing for GoPro footage.
About Las Tintoreras Islet
We took a small water taxi to the nearby spot of Las Tintoreras, which is just barely further than swimming distance from the docks – still within eyeshot of the beach, though.
Las Tintoreras is a small group of rocky islands off the coast of Puerto Villamil. It’s a protected reserve, so you have to be on a tour, but it offers a lot of fun things to see.
Once everyone got their flippers on, the group followed our guide around the small perimeter. It took me a while to get into the water since the solo photographer had no idea what the hell to make of the flippers.
He took a solid five minutes trying to slip them on, size them, and wade into the water. Once he had his flippers on, he tried walking (terrible idea), squatting (wut), and subsequently flailing before finally falling (called it) into the water.
Guys, here’s How to Snorkel 101: Put on flippers. Glide into water. Do not try to put your feet on the ground: they are no longer feet. They are flippers.
I follower Flailing Fred into the water. Within minutes, we were treated to all sorts of sea life. We saw starfish, eagle rays, stingrays, sea turtles, and more fish than we could shake a stick (or camera) at.
Rule #1 in the Galapagos: Respect the Animals!
So we’re all snorkeling around, pointing at fish and starfish, having a great time. Suddenly, someone spots a turtle sleeping on the seafloor.
Everyone gets hella excited – for many, including us, it was the first time snorkeling with a turtle! (First of many, as it turns out. This is like, a daily occurrence in the Galapagos.)
Then, things got awkward. Remember the dude I said was the worst?
Well, he decided that now was the optimal time to dive down to this peaceful sleeping turtle… and take a picture of it with his GoPro setup, which includes 2 GIANT SPOTLIGHTS. Like, think stadium lights, but surrounding a tiny GoPro.
The sleeping turtle was rudely awakened from his nap to insanely bright lights – the kind of which never occur naturally underwater, and likely damaged his eyes. The poor turtle swam away in terror.
If you only want to take one piece of Galapagos advice to heart, it’s this: don’t be a f***ing dick to the animals. The Galapagos Islands are so sacred and beautiful because people realized that nature here is so much better than humans deserve, so they treat it that way.
You guys, please don’t be one of the people who ruin this precious balance between humans and nature.
Being a responsible traveler when exploring Isla Isabela
By obeying five incredibly simple rules, we can avoid ruining the Galapagos.
- Do not litter. Do we have to show you pictures of turtles strangled by plastic 6-packs or birds choking on plastic bags? Because that’s what happens when you litter. If you so much as throw your cigarette butt on the ground, you might as well be murdering an innocent animal. Don’t do it!
- Do not venture to places where signs say not to. I don’t care about your sunset shots, there’s erosion and turtle nests.
- Do not feed the animals. It makes them dependent on humans because they realize they don’t have to hunt.
- Do not go within two meters of an animal if you can help it. This sign is posted all over the Galapagos. I know sometimes it’s hard to follow. Sometimes a bird lands on you. Sometimes you have to step over sea lions. Sometimes animals approach you. It’s a rule of thumb in a lot of cases, but be mindful of your distance.
- NEVER use a flash on an animal! Ever! Not just in the Galapagos and Isabela Island. Anywhere, ever. Flashing a bright, unexpected light at an animal’s face scares them, and makes them erratic. It could damage their eyes, which are often more refined and sensitive than a human eye. If there are too many flashes, the animals may think that they’re in danger, which could lead to a migration issue (they could abandon their primary food source, for example). Your photography is not that important. Know your place as a guest in the animal’s territory.
Snorkeling in large groups
As the turtle retreated in fear, our guide took the opportunity to firmly, but politely chew the dude out for being such a douche. He had violated 2 rules that she’d clearly laid out for us before the beginning of the Tintoreras tour.
Rather than apologizing, Steve Steadicam tried to claim that he didn’t use a flash – because the light didn’t go on and then off again- and therefore didn’t break the rules. No, chief, you used two bright AF spotlights, like you were on a drug bust.
He then switched gears and said he was trying to take pictures to remember the trip (oh, just you? okay then) and finally he turned the stupid spotlight off.
With an eye roll and a whispered Spanish expletive, the tour guide continued on. Don’t be like Steve, y’all!
We finished snorkeling – only about an hour was spent in the water. It wasn’t ideal. Although we saw a lot of critters, we were in too big of a group and everyone was fighting for a view of the animals.
Future tours would realize “Oh we can all just make a circle around the turtle on the surface and take turns diving down and be fine,” but this tour was all about playing Battle of the GoPros, thus ruining everyone else’s picture too.
The best (and worst) part of our Isabela Island day tour
After about an hour of snorkeling around Las Tintoreras, we had a cookie (yus!) and headed to a nature hike on one of the islands near Isla Isabela.
We got a science lesson on Marine Iguanas, saw a cove FILLED with white tip sharks, and saw the cutest baby sea lion trying to cross the island on land.
Unfortunately, Steve Steadicam thought this would be the right moment to get his camera RIGHT up in the sea lion’s face.
You know that part in Beyonce’s “Partition” video, where the paparazzi is right up on the window and Bey is looking hella annoyed?
That was this guy and the baby sea lion.
Steve Steadicam Strikes Again
Our tour guide, fully done with his shit, angrily explained the 2-meter rule yet again.
Why do humans need to stay 2 meters away from a wild animal? Because if you touch that animal, even on accident, the oil on your hands can transfer to them. This alters their scent, and animals survive on scents.
In the case of the baby – she points to Steve Steadicam – if someone were to touch it, its scent would change and its mom wouldn’t recognize it.
By simply touching a baby sea lion, you could make it an orphan who will surely die soon. Steve Steadicam was gambling with the life of this baby sea lion … for a photo.
How heartbreaking is that?!
Apparently not very, because that dude DID NOT care and didn’t get the hint. I hope everyone on his Facebook page fully appreciates the ½ inch of not giving a shit between his camera and the baby sea lion.
Let me reiterate again: The Galapagos Islands are an animal sanctuary. While you are in the presence of wild animals on the Galapagos, FOLLOW THE RULES and RESPECT THE ANIMALS.
Where to Eat in Puerto Villamil
When we got back from the Tintoreras Tour, we were famished. Shitty canned fish soup from the coffee shop near our hostel and the free Turbo Cookie (love them) from the tour did not last.
You know that hunger you get after swimming for a while? We had snorkel hunger.
After a quick TripAdvisor search, we learned what our eyes and instincts had already told us: all of the restaurants on Isabela Island are on the same block, and they all serve pretty much the same thing.
We settled for Encanto de la Pepa in Puerto Villamil, because they had a set dinner (you pick the entree) for $7. It was actually pretty decent – a lot better than canned fish soup, that’s for sure.
It came with the usual fixed price stuff: soup, juice, rice, salad, plantain, dessert. Plus you could choose from a bunch of proteins that changed daily.
Even though the dinner came with dessert, the dessert was jello, so screw that. We wanted some legit dessert (this is why we are barely losing weight on this trip).
We hopped around the corner to El Cafetal and got tiramisu and flambeed bananas a la mode. Expensive, but it hit the spot.
Here’s what we learned about food in Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island: there’s not very much variety, and it’s all sub-par and overpriced (so the exact opposite of Puerto Ayora, where the food is plentiful and delicious).
Bring groceries from Puerto Ayora if you can, or just be prepared to overspend and be disappointed.
Los Tuneles: The Best Isabela Island Day Tour
After an expensive breakfast at Encanto de la Pepa the next morning, we hung around lazily at the hostel watching marine iguanas until our hostess locked us out. Sigh.
Stranded outside, we waited for our tour, which was an hour late. So, the opposite of yesterday’s tour, I guess? The tour operators were super apologetic about the delay. Hey, as long as we get to see some animals (respectfully and from a distance), it’s all good!
After the usual wetsuit hustle (for some reason wetsuit rental agencies always try to give me an XXXL when I really only need one XL. Thanks a lot, guys!), we were outfitted and on our way. We had about ten people in tow – much smaller than yesterday’s group, which we deeply appreciated.
Our guide, Gabriel, was awesome. The company we went through is called Pahoehoe Tours, and they were fantastic. We definitely recommend them!
But keep in mind – we booked last minute once we arrived on the island, and we may have gotten lucky. If you prefer, you can book a Los Tuneles Tour online in advance to put your mind at ease.
About Los Tuneles
I can’t talk up the Los Tuneles tour enough.
This was hands down the best day tour of the Galapagos Islands that we took. We saw all sorts of wildlife, and at $90 each, it was the best bang for our buck as far as tours are concerned.
The Los Tuneles tour starts with a 45-minute boat ride, that is interrupted by a quick stop at a rock. The rock is home to Galapagos penguins, one of four species of penguins to live in the tropics.
We saw one lone, solitary penguin waiting for its mate to return (which is apparently unusual. Maybe they were in a fight). Aside from the penguins, this rock also has awesome wave patterns bouncing off of it.
Snorkeling on the Los Tuneles Tour
We continued onward to our first real destination: the snorkeling area.
This was the longest we went snorkeling on a tour the entire week. All told, we were in the water for two whole hours! I’ll hit you with the highlights.
The area we were swimming in is a collection of four or five rings of rocky islands. In this area, we saw more water critters then we did anywhere else.
In addition to the usual boatload of fish and rays, we saw roughly ten giant sea turtles! No one pissed them off this time, so I was lucky enough to swim in between two of them, side by side, which was freaking magical. They’re so chill and used to humans (so long as those humans are being respectful).
Wait, there’s more…
We also saw 2 sea horses. They’re tricky to spot because they wrap their tails on the mangrove roots and tend to be a similar color. Mangroves bring a lot of sea life, so the dirt on the ocean floor gets kicked up easily.
We also saw also plenty of white tip sharks! These are harmless to humans and thank god because we swam into a shark nest where NINE of these guys were asleep. YIKES!
One of the coolest experiences came as we were following a turtle. We looked below and freaked out as we saw THOUSANDS of small black fish darting together.
Our guide said he’s never seen a school that big there. When your tour guide is getting giddy, you know you stumbled on a good find.
The Lava Tunnels
Back in the boat, we all had a lot to talk about over our lunch before we headed to the titular stop on the tour: the lava tunnels!
Los Tuneles is a geological miracle.
Isabela Island has a few major volcanoes. Long ago, these volcanoes erupted, spewing lava into the ocean. As the lava cooled over water, water got trapped underneath, forming tunnels that were totally closed off to the world.
Over the centuries tectonic shifts occur, which shatter these tunnels. What remains is a series of natural rock bridges bursting with wildlife.
Spotting Blue-Footed Boobies
As we traversed carefully via boat through these land masses, we were able to spot penguins, blue herons, turtles, and finally…the animal I have been waiting years to see…BLUE FOOTED BOOBIES!
These are the derpiest, most adorable birds ever. We tied the boat up and climbed to our new bird friends.
Gabriel told us the reason for their trademark blue feet is their diet is pretty much exclusively silver fish. The older the bird, the bluer the feet, so you can tell age relatively easy. (Also, the baby boobies are awkwardly covered in weird fluff, which is so incredibly cute).
You can identify the gender of a blue-footed booby by the noises they make and the size of their pupils. Males have small pupils.
Our favorite boobies were a dad bird and his daughter. She kept bugging him for food, but there wasn’t any. Fed up with her poking, he decided to show her how little food he has to give. Luckily for you, we got it on video…
Blue-footed boobies were the highlight of the Los Tuneles tour, which was, in turn, the highlight of the Galapagos. We returned to Puerto Villamil enthralled and happy, for our last night on Isabela Island.
Self-Guided Snorkeling at Concha de Perla on Isla Isabela
Our last morning on Isabela Island was bittersweet. We really enjoyed our time on the island, despite the first day’s shitty canned soup and Steve Steadicam.
We had until 2 PM – when our ferry back to Santa Cruz would depart – so after breakfast Lia and I rented wetsuits and snorkels from Pahoehoe and headed to the dock.
We had heard Concha de Perla near Puerto Villamil had good snorkeling and was one of the best things to do in Isabela Island. But we didn’t exactly know where it was. All we knew was it was around the dock.
So we went to the dock and walked into the ocean.
True to form, we spent an hour snorkeling in the wrong spot.
We didn’t see anything in the water, except this one stalker pelican we named Alfredo who followed us around while eating sticks. What kind of vegetarian-ass pelican eats sticks?
Like, I researched it, and there is no reason for a pelican to be chewing and swallowing sticks. Something was terribly wrong with Alfredo.
He followed us around for a good hour, and kept closing in on our 2-meter gap until he backed us up all the way onto the beach (turns out that pelicans are FREAKING ENORMOUS close up).
I miss that little idiot.
Is Concha de Perla worth it
We had nearly given up on snorkeling for the day when we noticed a sign for Concha de Perla about 50 meters from the shore. Well, shit.
We walked along the boardwalk, stepping over sea lions and marine iguanas along the way, and reached a peaceful little alcove between breakers and mangrove trees.
The actual Concha de Perla was amazing. Honestly, it’s a great alternative to Los Tintoreras near Isabela Island if you want to save money and avoid crowds.
The best part of snorkeling at Concha de Perla is that you can do it on your own, and we actually saw more wildlife there than on the Tintoreras tour.
Casually Swimming with a Manta
We snorkeled around the cove for an hour and saw two turtles, an eagle ray, a bunch of coral, several large pufferfish, a SWIMMING marine iguana (a first), and a HUGE manta ray.
The manta ray scared the sh** out of us. There we were, following a turtle, when all of a sudden this mass of black maybe six feet wide swam right up behind us.
This thing looked like death could swim. It glided with great speed and grace across the ocean floor and terrified us every second we could see it. I honestly felt like it was going to get annoyed by us, turn around, swallow us whole, and all of existence would implode around us like a black hole.
After an incredible hour of snorkeling, we dragged ourselves from the water and sadly made our way back from Isabela to Santa Cruz.
Leaving Isabela Island: Back to Puerto Ayora
After another bumpy, turbulent 2-hour boat ride, Victor met us on the boardwalk at Puerto Ayora. It was nice to see a familiar face.
He did, however, have some bad news: the San Cristobal day tour to Kicker Rock we booked with him was a no-go. The tour guides were in San Cristobal, so there was no way we could pull it off without staying the night in San Cristobal, which was impossible because of our flight time.
Instead, he offered to change our tour to Sante Fe, which was a cheaper tour anyway.
We were bummed we wouldn’t get to see San Cristobal, but booked the Santa Fe tour anyway. Might as well do something on our last day in the Galapagos.
Victor also gave us a great recommendation for a hostel: Galapagos Native. He said it was $40 for a private, and to say he sent us there. Making local friends is the best!
When we got to Galapagos Native, it was pretty clear that $40 wasn’t the price. Call it my natural ability to read people (or my natural ability to read well-displayed room rate signs), but when we said “Victor said it’s 40 a night here,” the receptionist gave a slight smile, shrug, and a “Sure. We can do that.”
And you know what? It was a really nice place to stay. Victor with the hookups! Full disclaimer: we absolutely cannot guarantee that you’ll be able to snag a $40 per night deal here like we did.
We went back to Sol y Mar on the Avenue of Kiosks for dinner, because it’s so goddamn good. After a few days of canned fish soup and overpriced tiramisu, it felt great to be able to order a whole fresh fish for $10 again.
Santa Fe Island Tour
On our last full day in the Galapagos, we had one final all-day day tour. Instead of Kicker Rock, where you can swim with sea lions and hammerhead sharks, it ended up being the Santa Fe Island Tour.
Let me preface this section with my overall opinion of the Sante Fe tour: meh. It’s not bad. In fact, if it was my first tour, I’d probably think it was great.
But at the tail end of a critter filled week of adventure, it felt anticlimactic. I think we would have preferred Kicker Rock, but I guess we’ll never know.
To start, there are a BUNCH of Santa Fe tours. All of the boats say they leave at 8, but they kind of leave in waves. Due to lack of instruction or help, we didn’t even find our tour group until 8:30, and we weren’t on the boat until nearly 9.
This group was all people our age or younger, backpackers, and a couple of lucky souls who had gotten English teaching gigs on the island for the past few months. Our guide was actually the student of one of the guests! Turns out that there is a huge demand for English teachers here because all of the guides want to speak English to interact with the tourists, and it’s a great way to live on the Galapagos Islands for a while.
About The Sante Fe Island Tour
The tour starts with a brief boat ride to an uninhabited part of Santa Cruz Islands. Here, we got off the boat with nothing in our hands (we were told we didn’t need anything), and our wetsuits on.
Our guide talked to us about marine iguanas, which were plentiful, and sea turtles, which were absent.
We took a treacherous footpath – barefoot, over pointy black lava rock – to Playa Principal, a beautiful small shoreline.
Cool. A beach, and we had nothing to make this beach fun. Back to the boat right? Nope. The guide told us we had an hour or an hour and a half to kill before we could go to Sante Fe.
No problem. We had snorkeling equipment. But the guide said there isn’t anything in the water to see – no point trying to snorkel.
So we just sat around…for over an hour.
Lia managed to entertain herself by making a baller sandcastle. There were multiple moats, and an entire section made out of oh my god Lia stop telling me what to write nobody wants to read about your sandcastle. (Lia says: it was an incredibly badass sandcastle ok)
The Snorkeling…
Once we were up and moving and I had managed to drag Lia away from her architectural masterpiece, Santa Fe took us about an hour to get to.
Our guide gave us strict instructions: once in the water, swim like hell towards shore – there’s an incredibly strong current.
He wasn’t kidding: the current was vicious.
This is not the easy swimming and gliding we’d been doing all week long. Thankfully, the water is fucking freezing, so swimming for your life was a nice way to warm up.
I wish I could say there were memorable sights, but aside from a baby sea lion on the land, all we saw were fish. I mean, some of them were pretty big, and a lot of them were pretty.
But we’d seen all of them all week long already, so it was a little anti-climactic.
After 45 minutes struggling in the freezing cold water against the strong current, we returned to the boat.
Sea Lion Cove and Fishing
Our next stop: a sea lion cove. This part was by far my favorite, because this is where you’re able to swim with sea lions! I’m obsessed with sea lions – I grew up with sea lions in my coastal hometown of Morro Bay, California.
But I’ve never swum with them. It was amazing to see how graceful they are in the water! Especially considering how goofy they are on land.
We swam with a playful baby sea lion who was super curious about us and a few far more cautious adults.
Our guides let us swim for a while, then we all took a break for a fresh fish lunch. After lunch, we had the option of swimming again, which nobody took advantage of – instead, we all relaxed in the warm sunshine on the boat.
Then, weirdly, the boat spent about half an hour trying to catch fish, slowly gliding up and down outside of where we were swimming with lines out. I guess that’s where our fresh fish lunch came from.
Anyway, after a full day of touring, we returned to Puerto Ayora in the setting sun.
For our very last Galapagos dinner, we, of course, returned to the Avenue of Kiosks and each ordered a whole fried fish from The Blue-Footed Booby Restaurant. It was amazing.
Goodbye, Isabela Island and the Galapagos!
The next morning, we dragged our feet getting out of bed.
I mean, that’s normal for us, but this time it was because we were sad to leave.
We grabbed a $1 pickup truck taxi to the bus terminal, paid the $2 bus fare, took the five-minute ferry, rode the $5 airport bus, and walked into the airport.
As we sat sadly gazing out the window in the airport waiting to be allowed to go through security (that’s how small the airport is, there are only 2 gates), some Darwin finches twittered overhead, soaring in and out of the open-air windows. They were the last Galapagos critters we would say goodbye to.
Our amazing week had come to an end.
Every time we leave a place, we do so with some sadness, but also excitement for what lies ahead.
It was different this time. There was no “Time for a new adventure!” attitude.
We were just sad.
The Galapagos Islands were the most memorable part of our year-long honeymoon. There is something so magical and surreal about this tropical paradise in the middle of an endless sea off the coast of a country a lot of people give little thought to.
It is a group of islands many people say “one day, maybe” to. It is sacred and awe-inspiring. Every day we were there was full of wonder, laughter, smiles, and sunshine. It might be expensive and difficult to pull off, but to say it was worth it would be a gross understatement.
We love you, Galapagos. I promise we’ll be back soon.
Hey, are you considering a trip to Isabela Island, Galapagos? Please ask us all of your questions about planning a land-based Galapagos Islands trip in the comments section below!
Psst… Looking for more tips for traveling in Ecuador? Check out these posts!
- How to Visit The Galapagos Islands Without a Cruise: A Complete Guide
- Essential Galapagos Packing List: What to Pack for the Galapagos Islands
- Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island: A Week in the Galapagos by Land
Planning a trip to the Galapagos by land? You can book these tours in advance before your trip!
- Tortuga Bay Tour and Yacht Cruise to La Loberia Island
- Price: $166.00
- Los Tuneles - Isabela Island
- Price: $170.00
- Bartolome Day Tour Galapagos - Includes Hotel Pick-up
- Price: $275.00
- Galapagos Top Excursions Pass
- Price: $550.00
Headed to the Galapagos Islands? Enter your email below and we’ll send you everything you need to know about visiting the Galapagos Islands by land in a convenient 15-page PDF. Download it and take it with you to use offline on your phone, tablet, or laptop!
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Our Top Travel Tips & Resources
- Booking Flights: To score flight deals, search on Google Flights or Kayak. Money-saving tips: fly mid-week or on the weekend; fly carry-on only on a budget airline; and take red-eyes or early morning flights.
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- Travel Insurance: We always, always, ALWAYS buy travel insurance for international trips, and we STRONGLY suggest it - visit our Travel Insurance Guide to find out why. We recommend either World Nomads or SafetyWing for international travel insurance. SafetyWing is one of the few policies that covers Covid-19, and they have excellent monthly policies that are perfect for Digital Nomads and long term travelers!
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- Vaccines & Meds: We use the travel guides on the CDC website to research recommended medications and vaccines for international trips. We always recommend getting every vaccine recommended by the CDC! You can get them at your primary care doctor's office or a walk-in pharmacy.
- Tours: We love booking guided tours, especially food tours and walking tours, to get a local's perspective and a history lesson while sight-seeing! We book our tours using Viator and GetYourGuide.
- Transportation: We use Rome2Rio to figure out how to get from place to place, and book local transportation online using Bookaway wherever we can. When we book a rental car, we use DiscoverCars to compare rental companies and find the best deal.
- Luggage Storage: Whenever we're checking out early or taking advantage of a long layover, we use LuggageHero to safely store our luggage while we're running around. Use the code PRACTICALW for 2 hours of free luggage storage on us.
- VPN Service: A VPN keeps your digital information (like website login details, bank info, etc) safe, even when you're connected to an unsecured network while traveling. Plus, it lets you use Netflix & other streaming sites abroad! We use NordVPN. Use the code WANDERLUSTPROMO when you sign up!
- What to Pack: Here are the travel essentials that we bring on every trip. We also have packing lists for hot weather, cold weather, and many more. Take a look at all of our packing guides!
Madisyn Vuksinic says
Great article! My boyfriend and I were so lost planning this trip but I have read all your posts and am even more excited and at ease. Thanks for taking the time and effort to do this! If you are able, feel free to reach out to my email I would love to chat more about your experience!!!
Lia Garcia says
I am so glad our content has been helpful! Once you arrive all the confusion will ease up – the islands are quite small and it’s so much easier to navigate once you arrive. All of the tour operators in town run the same tours and know what visitors are looking for. Talking to a boat operator, tour guide, hotel owner, etc once you arrivewill get you what you need, even if you plan absolutely nothing in advance (like we did! Though I do recommend booking a hotel in advance, which we didn’t.)
Marco A says
There is a working ATM now in Puerto Villamil, near the central park
Lia Garcia says
Thank you so much for letting us know!
Tara says
Hello!! absolutely love your blog. I found it all very interesting and very entertaining. I’m young, but I have a love for travelling, and definietely plan on going all over the world as i get older. I’m going to the galapagos this July with my high school for a week. and were visiting most of the islands. and im soooo excited!! i have to save up al the money my self, (about $5k!!) but im sure itll be worth it! Thank you for this informative post. this, and others youve written on this topic, have really helped me with what to expect and what to pack etc. hipe you have a fantastic day and look foward to reading more of your posts
Clyde Sanda says
Awesome blog, guys!! Very informative and fun to read (even with cursing). My wife and I are heading down at the end of the month. We have two months in Ecuador. We were thinking of spending a month in the Galapagos; partially because it’s probably the safest place in SA at the moment. But your comment on Santa Fe being almost anti-climatic got me thinking. Could an entire month be too much of a good thing? We plan on visiting 3-4 islands and hopefully do a little surfing on SC. My wife is a very new to snorkeling (I’m teaching her now). We’re also substantially older than you (68/55) but we’re in good physical shape. What are your thoughts?
Lia Garcia says
Personally, a month in the Galapagos sounds like an absolute dream to me, especially if you’ll only be staying for a week on each island! I think a week is a good amount of time for each island, and enough for you to do some of the things we didn’t get a chance to do like hikes and exploring more of the actual towns. That sounds like an incredible trip!
Yeth says
You like cursing words in your blog, you think it’s cool but no it’s not!
Lia Garcia says
I’ve definitely made an effort over the years to reduce the amount of cursing on the blog, although this is one of our very earliest posts! Thanks for the feedback.
Laura says
Hello! My boyfriend and I are looking to book a trip to the Galapagos in March. As we don’t know much about the islands, we were wondering if it was easy to book hotels/tours once we get to the Galapagos. We were hoping to spend the days between Santa Cruz and Isabela Island but we weren’t sure the order in which to do it. We were wondering if you thought we could get a hotel the first few nights and then book as we go. Does everything fill up quick? Thank you!
Lia Garcia says
When we visited in 2016, we had no trouble finding a place to stay once we arrived. Most folks (at the time at least) weren’t doing land-based trips, so there was more than enough availability and we found a place just by walking around the tiny towns and inquiring about rates. But if you prefer peace of mind, many places are available to be booked online these days!
Straight Himself says
“The Galapagos Islands are an animal sanctuary. While you are in the presence of wild animals on the Galapagos, FOLLOW THE RULES and RESPECT THE ANIMALS.” ::Immediately posts picture of a murdered/chopped up Octopus, one of the most amazing and intelligent animals in the entire ocean::
Lia Garcia says
Well, yes, we can see how that is a bit hypocritical of us. That said, we are meat eaters even though we love animals, and we certainly don’t eat octopus every day (or very often at all). But when we travel, we do like to sample local cuisine, and octopus is a Galapagos specialty.
Nicki says
I can only add to the previous comment.. came across your blog yesterday and wow you guys have helped me out sooo much! I’ve spent hours reading! So entertaining and informative, good work guys! x
Lia Garcia says
You’re so kind, thank you so much Nicki! We are happy to help 🙂
Amanda says
What time of year did you go?
Lia says
We visited in late August/early September. Weather was lovely 🙂
Nate says
We were planning on taking a trip to Tahiti when a friend mentioned Galapagos. On a whim I googled it and ended up on your page. You both see the world similarly to myself and my husband. We have since switched destinations and cant wait to experience what Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands have to offer. Thank you for sharing your trip and insights.
Lia Garcia says
I’m thrilled to hear that, Nate! How sweet of you. I’m excited for your trip too!
Rose says
i just spent all day reading your blog. I mean the ENTIRE day! Not just reading but checking, cross-checking, dropping pins, adding to my “to buy” list and making more notes!
We’re going in March (2018) and I am planning the shit outta this. You see, my husband thinks you just show up and hope it’s a good trip. Me….I have to know. I have to know what not to waste my time on. Reviews can be tricky and blogs can be tricky but I think I’ve got a nice balance goin on thanks to you guys.
And thanks for the story about Steve Steadicam. Not that I’m a douche or anything, but it was a nice reminder of what it’s all about.
Ya did good!
I’m including my site but it’s really just my “journal” if you will.
Lia Garcia says
You’re so sweet, Rose! It’s comments like these that make us feel like all the blood, sweat and tears we’ve poured into our blog has been worth it 🙂 Thank you SO much!!
Stella says
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog. I will be in Ecuador next April and we are planing 9 days (so 7 full days) for Galapagos. I’m crazy about nature and animals (I’m studying environmental protection) so I’m quite excited. Would you recommend spending the half of the time on Isabela and the rest on Santa Cruz or do you think it’s worth it to spend one ore two days on San Cristobal too? I really want to snorkel with sea lions and during my research I got the feeling that San Cristobal is the best place to do that. I would really much appreciate your opinion of that. Greetings from Berlin.
Lia Garcia says
Hi Stella! How exciting! I’m soooo jealous. We spent all of our time on Isabela and Santa Cruz and did not feel like we missed out, BUT we didn’t get a chance to visit and find out what we did miss out on! I will say that we got a chance to snorkel with sea lions just 1 time. So if that’s your #1 priority, it’s probably worth it to spend some time on San Cristobal if you can swing it!