We were not expecting to be as charmed with Quito as we had been, and we really enjoyed our few days exploring the beautiful, high elevation city. Our home exchange was absolutely gorgeous, the weather was perfect (Saz would say it was FREEZING cold), and surrounding green areas were stunning. However, we were absolutely BUZZING with excitement to be heading to such a bucket list location next… the Galapagos Islands.
We started our day packing and preparing for our flight to the Galapagos, with a quick breakfast whipped up from our leftovers of scrambled eggs, toast, potatoes and chicken from the night before.
After packing and tidying up, Cheryl went over to thank our Home Exchange host, Scott for the wonderful stay. Scott gave us an amusing tip for our time in Ecuador – if we ran into any trouble with the police, we should thank them and mention we would be consulting with our good friends at the American embassy, which might ~persuade~ them to drop the issue.
At the Quito Airport, we had to queue up and pay a $20 USD fee per person for the “Transit Control Card”, and then get our baggage scanned for biohazards before we were allowed to go through security.
Our flight had a quick stopover to pick up more passengers in Guayaquil, but we did not need to deplane. Then it was off to Baltra Island in the Galapagos!
We landed at Galapagos Ecological Airport, the world’s first ecologically friendly airport in the world, running entirely on solar and wind energy. Stepping off the plane onto the tarmac, we were greeted by a giant iguana and other lizards, roaming freely around the airport area. We knew the Galapagos was ecologically bustling, but we didn’t realize it would be this quick before we started seeing some crazy animals! But it was HOT. After spending quite a while at high elevation, we were not used to the tropical heat and humidity and started sweating buckets immediately.
We each had to pay a $100 USD national park fee (which is going up to $200 USD/person this year!) and got our passports stamped with the special Galapagos stamp. Galapagos airport is on it’s own little island, so we had to collect our bags and take a little shuttle bus to a ferry, to take us to the main island of Santa Cruz. The drive was breathtaking, especially when the vibrant ocean came into view—like the colors had been turned up to full saturation.
There was a cute little sea lion casually lounging on the ramp near the ferry dock, and we were seriously stunned by the colours and biodiversity.
Our Airbnb host, Jennifer, had organized a driver to come pick us up from the airport. He greeted us with a big WINI x3 sign. He introduced himself as Juan Carlos, and guided us to his air conditioned truck. The drive took about an hour, but along the way we spotted giant tortoises from the road—massive creatures!
We arrived in town, where Jennifer greeted us and gave us plenty of tips for exploring the area. The Airbnb was perfect: spacious, with three bedrooms, a large dining table, a cozy living room, and an upstairs patio. After settling in, we changed into shorts and headed out to find food. We dined at a local restaurant called the Golden Prague, where I had grilled tuna with chimichurri (freshly caught that day), Saz ordered a fish burger, and Cheryl opted for shrimp. The food was great, especially my tuna. Undoubtably the most delicious tuna I had ever had in my life.
Saz was too full to finish her burger and asked for the other half to be packed up, but there was a miscommunication and the staff accidentally threw it out. When we asked about it, they apologized and remade her burger…. but hilariously only gave her half, cutting the new burger in two pieces and only giving her one. After sorting that out, we walked down to the pier just in time for sunset. Jennifer had told us that the pier was incredible at sunset, with reef sharks and tons of other wildlife. It truly looked out of a movie, there were pelicans diving for fish, sea lions (including one giant guy!), and blacktip reef sharks swimming in the lit-up water. Seeing all of this made us so excited for the rest of our trip.
We ended the night by walking to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the next few days, and went to bed early.
The next morning, we started the day with a simple breakfast of coffee, tea, scrambled eggs, toast, ham, and made sandwiches for our beach adventure. One of our friends, Johannes, that we had met on our boat trip in the Philippines, had just been in the Galapagos a few weeks prior and messaged us on Instagram with an amazing recommendation – a beach on the island called Tortuga Bay was apparently a breeding ground for hammerheads, and had lots of baby hammerheads swimming around. We were super excited to go out and try to find some of the cute little guys.
Around 8:45 AM, we set out for Tortuga Beach. The walk was beautiful, and everything was just so vibrant and full of life that it felt like a movie set. At the entrance to Tortuga Bay, we signed in without having to pay a fee and continued along the path, with iguanas, lizards, and towering prickly pear trees along the way. When we arrived around 9:30 AM, the view was breathtaking—a white sand beach with crystal-clear turquoise waters. Black sea iguanas roamed the sand, looking menacing and other-worldly.
We walked along the beach, found the mangrove area, and set up camp under a tree. Armed with our snorkels, we waded into the water, but it was very shallow and murky, making visibility close to zero. We spotted a sea turtle, but overall, it wasn’t the most exciting snorkel.
As Saz and Cheryl were floating and talking in the water, I headed back to the beach to grab a snack and some water. As I was sitting and relaxing on the beach, I saw something swimming very fast in the very shallow waters. I got closer to see what it was…and was absolutely blown away to find that it was a baby hammerhead! I shouted, “BABY HAMMERHEAD!” to get Saz and Cheryl’s attention, and they rushed over to see the tiny scalloped hammerhead swimming near the shore. It was magical! We followed the little shark around, snapping pictures and marveling at how relaxed it seemed with all the people around. He was so cute and seemed to have the zoomies, swimming spastically in a zig zag shape all along the beach.
We returned to the towels and spent some time reading, eating sandwiches, and floating in the shallow water while baby hammerheads swam nearby. Around 3 PM, after several hours under the sun, we decided to head home. We had very quickly realized that we were absolutely not ready to leave the Galapagos after just 5 days as originally planned. I messaged Jennifer about any last-minute cruise deals, and Jennifer suggested we check with a local travel agency, FDS Travel.
After showering off our beach day, we headed out and met Alejandro, who showed us a 4-day, 3-night cruise itinerary. We decided to go for it! After signing up and giving our information, we realized the credit card fee was ridiculously high (12%!), so we opted to get cash from the ATM to pay for the cruise instead.
Our ATM adventure was a bit frustrating — the machine wasn’t letting us take out enough cash and saying we had hit our daily limit, but I took out enough to make a down payment. Jennifer kindly offered to make a bank transfer to Alejandro on behalf of us for the rest of the payment, and I could Zelle her the money directly into her US account.
After our cruise was booked and we committed to staying longer in the Galapagos, I rescheduled our flights back to the mainland. We must’ve caught LATAM at a good time because the fee to change our flights was only $45 USD! We had an early night ahead of our 6:10 AM start the next day, so we packed our bags for our overnight trip to Isabela Island and headed to bed.
Our day started bright and early as we got ready for our ferry to Isabela. After a quick morning coffee, we headed down to the pier. Jennifer helped us get checked in, collect our ferry lanyards, and guided us on where to stand, reminding us to have a dollar ready for the water taxi. At the pier, we were once again greeted by the sights of blacktip reef sharks, pelicans, and sea lions, getting us hyped for our wildlife-filled day ahead. We boarded a water taxi, which whisked us away to our ferry in about 30 seconds. The ferry ride took about two hours, but we were sitting in the direct sunlight and it was so hot with no breeze for most of the ride. When we arrived on Isabela, we took another water taxi, this time spotting adorable little penguins and blue-footed boobies along the way.
The pier was absolutely covered in sea lions. After snapping a few photos, we began a 15-20 minute walk to our accommodation under the humid sun, where we easily checked in and found we had the place to ourselves. The tour we had arranged for the day was called Los Túneles.
Our ride arrived around 11 a.m., taking us to an office where we were fitted for flippers. I quickly realized I should probably get a rash guard to protect myself from the brutal sun of the day, so I ran next door to buy one from a local store. We piled into the truck bed and were driven to the pier, where sleepy sea lions dominated the dock. Onboard, we met our guide, Carlos, and the crew, Roberto and Marco.
Our first stop of the Los Túneles tour involved snorkeling in search of seahorses. Carlos expertly scoured the area and found some, pointing them out, blending perfectly with their surroundings. We also saw huge sea turtles and a few white tip reef sharks resting in an underwater cave. After about 45 minutes of snorkelling, we returned to the boat for a snack before heading to another snorkel spot. There, we swam through underwater arches, or the “Tunnels”, getting to swim amongst more turtles, sharks, and even a stingray.
Next, we explored the lava tunnels of Los Túneles overland, blown away by the unique terrain created by volcanic lava, dotted with cacti.
On the boat ride home, we pulled up towards a rock that was FILLED with penguins! They were SO cute, and Carlos let us hop in to take some penguin selfies!
Carlos was a fantastic guide, and super knowledgeable about the landscape and wildlife. After a hot day in the sun, we returned tired but exhausted back to our hotel to cool down in the AC.
Carlos had told us about a cool snorkel spot called Concha del Perla that apparently had eagle rays, so we woke up early the next morning for a pre-tour snorkel. Cheryl stayed behind for breakfast while Saz and I walked to Concha del Perla. The waters were practically empty, and after dropping our things on the benches, we jumped in. We saw tons of fish, sea turtles, and even swam with a playful sea lion for about 20 minutes. At one point, we spotted a huge sting ray swimming alongside the sea lion, which was an unforgettable experience.
Sadly we didn’t find any Eagle Rays, but it was still an incredible, peaceful morning amongst the wildlife. After an amazing snorkel through beautiful channels, we walked back to the hotel for breakfast.
Post-breakfast, our tour bus arrived and drove us to the pier. Our guide, Pablo, was friendly and knowledgeable, and he immediately pointed out a colony of penguins and blue-footed boobies.
We visited Isla Tintoreras, where we saw huge colonies of marine iguanas and an area known as Shark Channel. Pablo explained that the sharks often get trapped there during low tide, and we managed to spot three big ones. He explained that when he was a kid, they would regularly swim and jump in the channels with the reef sharks, but the government had since banned that type of behavior to protect the animals. This portion of the tour was on land, and we were absolutely roasting in the hot sun on the black volcanic rocks.
We couldn’t wait to jump into the beautiful waters, and when we finally did it was incredible. A few members of our group didn’t seem to know how to swim very well, so Pablo was a bit distracted dealing with them. This left us free to explore every nook and cranny of the incredible reef. We swam with turtles, sharks, stingrays, and even spotted an octopus! It has been Saz’s ultimate bucket list DREAM to see an octopus in the wild since she did a project on them in 6th grade, so we were SO shocked but so happy to see one.
Another highlight came when we watched penguins dive off rocks and swim beside us. They were so cute and tiny, but like little bullets under water. We couldn’t believe our luck with our amazing snorkel. Isabela island was seriously out of this world.
As we returned to the dock, I slipped and fell on the wet floor of the boat and sprained by finger. It swelled up like a balloon and was really sore, but I was still committed to the mission of searching for Eagle Rays. Despite my throbbing finger, we headed back to Concha del Perla to search for eagle rays, but again had no luck.
We went back to the hotel to collect our bags, and walked back to the ferry pier. Our exciting two days day ended with a long and bumpy ferry ride back to Santa Cruz. Exhausted from the rough seas, we returned to Jennifer’s place, had a hot shower, and collapsed into bed.
We had one more tour on our whirlwind trip to the Galapagos – North Seymour. We met our guide Felipe, and he gave us a rundown of the day’s itinerary as we headed toward the canal. The drive to the canal was about 40 minutes, which was chaos when we arrived. There were tons of people there trying to find their various boats, and nobody seemed to have any direction about where to be or what to do.
After a 20-minute wait, we finally boarded our dinghy, and it drove us out to our beautiful yacht. We were told to relax and enjoy the views and drinks as our yacht drove us to North Seymour Island. We were laying on the front desk of the boat, taking in the gorgeous views when a strong gust of wind blew my hat off straight into the ocean. Backstory on my hat – I bought a cute pink hat at Decathlon in Malaysia and about a week after a bought it, it mysteriously fell out of our backpack in Paris on the way to the Eiffel Tower. I went back to Decathlon in Paris to replace the exact same hat, and low and behold I had now lost it again. Truly a cursed hat (but that didn’t stop me from buying it a 3rd time).
Arriving at North Seymour made it worth it—the water was breathtakingly clear and vibrant. Disembarking the boat, we immediately saw countless frigate birds, land iguanas, sea lions, and even a dolphin skull. Unfortunately there were also very pesky and annoying sandflies nipping at our bare legs, and the hot sun beat down on us as Felipe explained the various flora and fauna on the island. The land based portion of the tour was honestly only okay, once you’ve seen one frigate bird you’ve kind of seen them all.
After a sweaty 1.5-hour trek, we were super excited to return to the boat for some snorkeling. Jumping into the water felt like heaven after roasting in the sun all morning — crystal clear, the perfect temperature, and the visibility was insane. We swam along the rocky cliff of North Seymour, spotting at least five or six sharks. Sazzie even had a face-to-face encounter with one! It was by far the best snorkeling of our Galapagos trip.
Everybody had retreated back onto the boat for lunch, but we wanted to soak in every last minute of being in the water. Just when we thought it couldn’t get better, I spotted an eagle ray and screamed for Sazzie and Cheryl. After some frantic swimming, we all got to witness the majestic ray up close, and snagged some amazing GoPro footage. It was an unforgettable moment.
The last stop of our tour was a nice beach with red crabs, pelicans, and tons of blue footed boobies.This island was supposedly known for flamingos, but it must’ve been the wrong time of day because there were none in the lagoon.
We were given some free time to snorkel and we saw some sea turtles in the water, but the visibility was pretty bad. However, there was a cute family from Hong Kong that didn’t really know how to swim but were interested in seeing the turtles, so I loaded them up with some life jackets and towed them out so they could see them up close and personal for themselves. They were stoked!
The ride back to town after a jam packed day was smooth, and we couldn’t stop talking about how surreal and magical our Galapagos adventure had been. After a short pitstop on the side of the road to snap some pics of a giant tortoise, we made it back to town.
It was Cheryl’s last night in the Galapagos, so we went out for a nice dinner and happy hour. At sunset, we walked to the pier to see a giant swarm of sharks was hanging out—at least 15 at once! We then strolled through local shops in search of a new hat for me (since my cute pink hat was officially sacrificed to Poseidon) and found a purple Galapagos hat with blue-footed boobies.
Cheryl left the next morning, so we said our goodbyes as she headed back to chilly Canada. We were also moving on to our next island. Since we had extended our time in the Galapagos, we had booked a little accommodation on San Cristobal island for a few days, before we left on our cruise. The ferry ride to San Cristobal was hot and bumpy yet again, but we arrived right at sunset and were instantly charmed by its laid-back vibes. San Cristobal is home to the largest sea lion colony in the islands, and there were sea lions absolutely everywhere.
We dropped our bags in our accommodations, and walked to a pizza place for dinner. Along the way, we were charmed by the adorable sea lion pups lining the promenade. Our restaurant was right on the water, and we soaked up the island’s relaxing atmosphere as the sun set below the horizon.
After seeing all the amazing marine life that the Galapagos had to offer, we knew there was no chance we were leaving without getting some scuba dives in. The famous dive spot off San Cristobal is called Kicker Rock, and we booked a dive package with a local dive shop, Aquaventures Dive Shop, for the following day.
While we were signing up for our dive, we ran into a German mother-daughter duo that we had met on our North Seymour tour — such a small world! We had talked about diving with them on the Seymour tour, and they were huge divers that had gone to some of the most amazing dive sites in the world, and were in the Galapagos waiting to do a liveaboard.
The next day, we headed out for our dive. After a quick ride out to our boat Shark Sky I, we met Alex, our tour guide, and Franklin, our scuba guide. The plan was to hit Playa El Manglecito, followed by two dives at Kicker Rock, with lunch on the boat afterward. We chatted with some of the other passengers that were marine biologists from Florida, tagging rays and sharks for research. They had actually recently been to Taiwan to do some research on whale shark migration! Our first stop was a snorkeling area and beach, where we also got fitted into our dive gear and listened to the safety briefing for Kicker Rock. Our guide, Franklin, was pretty intense and made the dive site sound daunting, but we were ready for the challenge.
When we finally descended into the water at Kicker Rock, all of our nerves instantly vanished—visibility was incredible and we were instantly surrounded by playful sea lions, fish, bait balls, reef sharks, and even hammerheads! We saw at least 10 hammerheads, many eagle rays, sea turtles, sea lions, and a massive bait ball of fish. It was surreal! It was also quite different than the tropics diving we were used to in Asia. We had seen some incredible stuff in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, but it was more macro with colourful corals. In the Galapagos, there was far less coral and it was much darker, but the giant sharks and sea lions and rays were absolutely magical to see.
We surfaced after our first dive and relaxed on the boat, waiting for our surface interval to finish.
Our second dive was just as incredible. Visibility was still amazing, the current wasn’t too strong, and we even spotted a school of eight eagle rays! The dives were breathtaking, and we couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the day had been.
We had one free day before our cruise begun, so we spent the morning running some errands and picking up snacks, before having a lazy afternoon. Our time in the Galapagos had been incredibly jam packed, and we knew the cruise would be too. We were embarking on a 4 day 3 night cruise to explore the various uninhabited islands the Galapagos had to offer.
The morning of our trip, we packed our things and checked out of our hotel. Our meeting time wasn’t until 1 pm, so we enjoyed our last morning, strolling along the beautiful promenade and soaking in our last few minutes on San Cristobal. We had some lunch on a bench along the water, next to a big boy sea lion who must’ve had the same idea and was napping, taking up most of the bench.
With some time left before we needed to meet our boat, we decided to take advantage of the all day happy hour deals we had seen, and got some cheeky drinks.
Just before 1 pm, we made our way to the dock to meet our boat. There were a couple of people with luggage waiting, and soon our guide, Jorge, arrived. He introduced himself and helped us onto a small zodiac boat that would take us to the main vessel. Once aboard, we were shown to our room, which was on the second floor with a window, twin beds, and a nice-sized private bathroom. We settled in, got organized, and then went downstairs for lunch with a few of the other passengers: Lars and Marie from Sweden, and Megan from the U.S.
The conversation flowed easily over lunch, and we learned that Lars is the Swedish defense minister’s attaché in Brazil, while Megan has been living in the Ecuadorian Amazon for the last few years. The rest of the group joined us partway through lunch, and we had our introductory meeting.
Our first stop on the tour was actually a beach on San Cristobal, and visiting the Galapagos Information Centre. Jorge walked us through the history of the Galapagos Islands and we were shocked to learn that Charles Darwin was actually only in the Galapagos doing research for 5 weeks, and with just a few weeks time on these magical islands, he was able to come up with the formation of the theory of evolution.
Later, we walked to a beach with a few sea lions and sea turtle nests. We spent some time chatting with an Australian couple, Mal and Anne, Mal’s brother Lionel, and their friend Dean, who were in South America celebrating Mal’s 50th.
Back in town, we grabbed some postcards and returned to the boat just in time for sunset. After a refreshing shower, we joined the group for welcome cocktails. Everybody was pretty tired from their travels and the entire group retreated back to their rooms relatively early to unwind and get some sleep. The rocking of the boat and the sound of waves made for an interesting night. At one point, Saz was half-awake, half-convinced we were all going to sink — oops!
Jorge had offered the option to wake up early and do a sunrise kayak adventure. There were only six of us that took him up on the offer, so Saz and I set off in our a double kayak, Lars and Marie also in a double, Peter in a single kayak, and Michael on a paddleboard. The sunrise was beautiful, and we were lucky to spot blue-footed boobies and sea lions as we paddled. Jorge and our other guide, Graciela, were guiding us in a zodiac. Halfway through the paddle, Peter and Michael decided to trade rowing apparatuses, and when Peter attempted to switch to the paddleboard, he completely wiped out and fell into the water twice trying to get on.
Afterward, we returned to the boat and went straight in for breakfast with Lars and Marie, enjoying eggs and sausages. We had a short break before heading off for our next adventure at Gardner Bay Beach on Isla Española, where we were greeted by sleepy sea lions. We dropped off our snorkel gear and took a walk down the beach. Saz chatted with Peter about his time living in India, while I walked with Dean, who told me about his work managing a hotel in Karratha, Australia. We mentioned that we were considering doing a working holiday visa in Australia after our travels, and he offered potential jobs for us if we were interested moving to the Outback… which was honestly really tempting given the great benefits and stunning nearby nature.
After the beach walk, we geared up for snorkeling at a large rock about 100 meters from the shore. The water was incredibly clear, and we saw some amazing marine life, including schools of fish, stingrays, and a bright red sea snail. As usual, Saz and I stayed in the water for the maximum possible allowed time, long after most people had already gone back to shore.
Back on the boat, we were treated to juice and cheese empanadas before heading out for a second snorkeling session. This was easily the best snorkel of the trip! The previous snorkel was off the beach so there was still some sand making the water murky, but this spot was a zodiac entry direct into a dropoff… and the water was absolutely stunning. We spotted more beautiful fish, a flatfish, and sea lions. Most people had already gone back to the boat, but we ran into a group of adorable and playful sea lions, so we swam and played with them for a little extra time.
After lunch, we had some downtime on the front of the boat as we drove to the next point, reading and relaxing. We arrived at Suarez Point, famous for their waved albatross. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the waved albatrosses since it wasn’t the right season, but instead we spotted sea lions, crabs, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies.
Back on the boat, we showered, chilled, and watched the gorgeous sunset. We had a cocktail hour where Fernando, the onboard bartender, taught us how to make homemade mojitos. Delicious!
That evening most of the group went to the top deck to socialize and chill. We had a 3 hour long passage to our next destination, and we were so far in the middle of the ocean that the stars were just absolutely incredible. We made our little whiskey and Coke drinks and swapped stories with our new friends.
We ended the night around midnight, heading to bed as the boat arrived at our next stop, Floreana Island. Because we were docked overnight, we had a peaceful and relaxing sleep.
We started our day at 6:30 and had a simple breakfast of bread, bacon, and eggs before getting ready for the day’s adventure. Our first stop was Green Sand beach at Floreana Island — a bit of an exaggeration. There was some type of slightly green microorganism that lived in the sand that gave it the slightest green tint, but I would’t describe the beach as green by any means. We walked along the beach, saw turtle nesting areas, and got up close and personal with the blue-footed boobies. The highlight of the morning was definitely the salt water lagoon, where we spotted around 50 flamingos—such a cool sight! We even got to see one fly! I don’t know why I’ve never put two and two together that flamingos could fly, but it was odd to see one in action.
On our walk to the next beach, Jorge pointed out a bird that liked to fight its own reflection, and it flew right up to Sazzie’s face, staring off in a kind of standoff!
We continued to another beach where we sadly weren’t allowed to swim, but our sadness quickly turned to relief when we saw about 10 sharks swimming in the shallow waters, along with a few rays and sea turtles.
We were taken to another spot where we could snorkel, and it truly never got old. The marine life was thriving in any space we jumped in. One sea lion even had a snail suctioned to its back, which was hilarious to see.
After snorkeling, we had lunch on the boat — ceviche, beef, and rice, and had some down time. Our last stop of the day was to Floreana Island’s Post Office Bay. Post Office Bay had a long and unique history dating back to the late 18th century. Sailors, whalers, and pirates would place letters to their loved ones back home in a wooden barrel at the bay. Ships passing through the area would then look at the letters and where they were going to, and if the destination was where they were headed, the boats would pick up the letters to deliver them by hand. In modern times this has become a tourist tradition, but Saz and I both left postcards in the box to hopefully be delivered to our families back home. (Spoiler alert, both our postcards got delivered to my parents house in Indiana and Sazzie’s sister’s house in BC!) We also sifted through the pile to find some to deliver back home, one from Revelstoke, BC and one from Valparaiso, Indiana.
We had one final dinner with our new besties Lars and Marie, and headed to the top deck for one last night of stargazing and chatting with the crew. The stars were amazing, although they started to fade as we got closer to Puerto Ayora. Dean wasn’t feeling well and went to bed early, so we spent most of the night talking and drinking with Anne, Mal, Lionel, and Julia.
We woke up for our final morning on the cruise, both feeling pretty hungover from three nights of drinking and tired from running on about six hours of sleep per night. We packed our bags and headed down to breakfast.
After eating, we had a bit of downtime in the cabin until it was time for the dinghy ride to land. A bus took us to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Giant Tortoise breeding center, where we learned a lot about the conservation efforts for the different tortoise species. The highlight was seeing both the tiny baby tortoises and the big ones that weren’t strong enough for the wild. Jorge also told us the sad story of Lonesome George, the last of his species, whose inability to reproduce sealed the extinction of the Pinta Giant Tortoise.
Our Galapagos cruise had come to an end, but we were so grateful for the time we spent exploring the islands and the new friends that we met. We grabbed our bags and headed to the little hostel we had booked for the night, which was basic but fine. We ran some errands like dropping off laundry, getting cash, and grabbing food. Once back, we passed out for a long nap — we were both so exhausted, and slept for over three hours.
We got up to have dinner and pick up our laundry, and went straight back to bed. Unfortunately the cheap little room that we had booked didn’t have AC, and it was SO hot overnight. We had a brutal night with both of us waking up multiple times because it was unbearably hot. I even took a cold shower in the middle of the night just to cool down. I also unfortunately woke up feeling a bit sick—stuffy nose, sore throat, and fatigue.
We spent the morning scrolling on our phones, slowly melting from the heat, and started packing around 9 am since we had to check out by 10. We found an air-conditioned spot and posted up there for lunch, chilling until 11:30 am, then headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and take a taxi to the canal.
Just outside of Puerto Ayora, dark clouds rolled in, and it rained for the first time since we’d arrived over two weeks ago! Our driver pulled over to cover our bags with a tarp. The rain smelled so fresh, and we really enjoyed the cool change in the weather.
At the canal, we hopped on the water taxi and ran into Alejandro, the travel agent who had helped us book the cruise — what a coincidence! Just as we were about to board the ferry, I had a moment of sheer panic when I realized my purse with my passport was missing. We jumped off and frantically tried to locate the cab, but all the cabs looked the same, and at least 10 minutes had passed since we left the taxi. I suddenly remembered that I had an AirTag in my bag…. But there was no service. A port worker saw me on the brink of tears and asked me if I needed any help. I frantically asked if the office had wifi and he graciously gave us the Wi-Fi password. I was so anxious that the taxi driver had already embarked on the 45+ minute drive back to town and that I would have no way to contact him. We definitely would have missed our flight if he left. When the AirTag refreshed, I was extremely relieved to see that my purse was still somewhere in the parking lot at the port.
Every single taxi looked exactly the same, but Saz suddenly remembered that she had taken a photo of the front dash when we got in, which displayed a unique air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. With the help of some dock workers and a air freshener to look for, we finally tracked down the cab, found my purse, and all was good. Lesson learned about sleep deprivation and heat!
Back on the ferry, we crossed the canal, bought bus tickets, and headed to the airport. Everything went smoothly at security, and we relaxed in the lounge, waiting for our flight.
Our flight to Guayaquil was on time and smooth. After landing, we deplaned and switched planes, stopping by the lounge near our gate. We hung out for two hours before our next flight, which was delayed by over an hour.
We finally boarded the short 30-minute flight to Quito, exhausted from our jam packed few weeks in an adventurer’s paradise. After landing, we waited for our bags, and took an Uber to our hotel near the airport. Finally, we had quick showers and went straight to bed, totally wiped out from the long day.
The Galapagos had been such an incredible time and adventure. Reflecting on it many months later, when people ask what was our favourite place we visited in our 18 months of travel, Galapagos is always one of the first places that pops into our heads. It was truly an incredibly special and magical place, preserving nature as it should be preserved.