Bahia Tortuga - Isla Santa Cruz

So today I had a free day (meaning no booked boat trip) on Isla Santa Cruz before I leave for my 6 day cruise around some of the more remote parts of the Galapagos Islands.

What do you do with a free day in the Galapagos you might ask... well when in Puerto Ayora (the main town in Isla Santa Cruz) you take a 30min walk to Tortoise Bay aka Bahia Tortuga. The walk allows you to see two of the three endemic varieties of cactus (the prickly pear and candelabra varieties. The third being lava cactus.) and a ton of birds (finches, which are a major part of Darwin's theory of evolution, mockingbirds, herons etc).  When you come through the end of the 30min path this is the bay / beach you've been walking in the sticky humidity to reach. Pretty spectacular right? The sand was some of the finest I have ever encountered and though the rip tides are too strong to swim, the water is shallow for ages so it is still easy to enjoy and cool off some.

I only arrived at about 11am (still considered to be relatively low tide) so I didn't see any turtles as you might expect, (they only show up in the early am) but did manage to work on my tan (dress for Linda and Dave's wedding is strapless so I have some real work to do here). As I continued to walk along the beach I visited the many marine iguanas hanging out near the shore of a smaller bay further down and photographed one swimming to shore as well as a heron (I think) enjoying his lunch and some brown pelicans in the mangroves around the shoreline.
 

Seriously the wildlife here is so abundant that by 3:30pm, after I was done soaking in the rays and had decided to revisit the little bay again now that the tide was up, I could see white tip reef sharks in the ankle deep water where I was standing. I couldn't resist throwing on my snorkel mask to have a cruise around the shallows with about eight sharks all close enough to once again touch. Note sharks don't like to have their tails touched and will dart away at what seems like the speed of light! One shark even came so close to shore his fins were above water and he almost beached himself swimming around the surfers and sun bathers. Totally my kind of afternoon. I mean the sharks weren't that big, but man were they cool.

Stayed until just before the sunset and then a ranger came to tell me it was time to walk back. Fair enough, it was time to shower off all the salt and sand and eat before I packed up my belongings in preparation for my six day cruise starting the following afternoon. Dreams of what days five through ten would have in store for me made it tough to sleep... felt a little like Christmas eve but I tried hard not to set expectations too high. It is always better to be happily surprised, as I have been since arriving, than be let down.

Since I still hadn't visited the Charles Darwin Research Centre I decided to wander over there the following morning with my remaining free hours.

Here's a photo of the graffiti outside my hostel and some images of Pelican Bay on the main drag where locals sell fish and pelicans do their best to grab free snacks. Just to give you the vibe of Puerto Ayora. All of this is on the way to the CDRC where you get to see more giant tortoises (one being Lonesome George who is the last of his species) and learn about the natural history of the islands at the Interpretation Centre. Then it was time to go join the other 15 tourists on my first class boat called Eden.

No internet access on the boat so I'll post about the journey when I get off in six days. Wish me luck!

xox

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