The capital of Galapagos, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, is located on Isla San Cristóbal. There are 8,000 inhabitants, about half of the size of the town of Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz. There are less tourists here, and you get closer to the population than in Puerto Ayora.
We spent a few days walking around town, and to the nearby beaches of Playa Mann, Playa Carola and La Loberia. We found the animal life here to be the quietest compared to the other three islands we have visited. Except the large population of sea lions, of course!
We have been warned by other sailors about the huge amount of sea lions that come to your boat and are extremely creative on how to get onboard to get a good place to rest. We have been fortunate to inherit a sea lion fence from other sailors (made up of an old catamaran trampoline) which we have had over our steps up from the sugar scoops for over a month now. It quickly turned out that this fence was not nearly good enough here. We evolved our fortifications by using our fenders for a first line protection, and that too proved not to hinder most of them jumping onboard.
We then continued to design a web of different lines, crisscrossing between the fenders, the fence and whatever other items we could use, like the swimming ladder. Even so, we still woke up in the middle of the night and had to chase off 1-2 sea lions. They sure are cute as they play in the water, but they are not as cute when they leave smelly fish-based poop right outside your bedroom window…
We found the best technique to chase them off, was to clap loud, and sometimes also do a groan towards them. There for sure is some good entertainment in the show we put on. Perhaps so good, that some were not interested in leaving at all, and just sat there watching us making complete fools of ourselves… then, we had to use the last resort, which was throwing water at them. That was 100% successful, every time 😁
The sea lions are all over town as well. The town beach is pretty much invaded by sea lions, so the locals go to beaches further out of town to swim. The smell from the sea lions hits you a couple of blocks away, which made some of the beach side restaurants a bit smelly for our taste.
All of the downtown area was fenced off towards the sea, which ensured the sea lions could not get access to any of the docks or streets. When you got just outside of town, they were on the pavements, on bus stops, etc.
As we have been to two small islands for the last couple of weeks, we enjoyed the access to fresh produce and a local bakery with very yummy cinnamon rolls. We went to the beach for a sundowner, and pretended to be real tourists for a few days, as well.
The town has the best museum when it comes to learning about the archipelago. The Interpretation Centre covers information on the history, geography/geology, ecology and economics of these islands. We had already learned some about the Norwegian settlers on Isla Floreana on our guided tour there, and here we found even more information.
Many Norwegians came, but it did not become the paradise they hoped for. Some died, while most of the others returned back to Norway. We did, however, find a sign that there are some descendants on the island.
It turns out that the owner of the Hotel Galapagos Planet, Kongeriket Norge, comes from Norwegian descendants. His grand parents were part of the Norwegian immigrants in the early 1920s who immigrated to these islands.
Supplies can sometimes be scarce on these islands, as a lot gets shipped from the mainland. We witnessed how the arrival of two cargo ships ensured the island got quite busy receiving goods for a couple of days. It was a fascinating operation, where two and two trucks were on a barge, moving back and forth between the ships and land. They loaded containers from the ship straight onto the trucks, which then drove from the barge onto land to unload the containers close to town.
We made several hikes in the vicinity of town, and were impressed by the pathways they have developed.
Not only do they have good pathways here, they also have really good bike paths. Due to our experience of flat tires on our bikes multiple times on Isla Isabela, we rented bikes here. We climbed the brutal height meters up to a village in the highlands, El Progreso. It was very steep and sweltering hot 😅
We had a well deserved lunch of chicken and rice together with the locals, as this was a Sunday, it was packed with local families on Sunday lunch visits. It was nice to be the only tourists there. We have definitely experienced that we got closer to the local population on this island, compared to Isla Santa Cruz, as it is more touristy there.
One of the best dives close to the main habitated islands we are allowed to visit, is Kicker Rock, west of the island. We booked with a local dive operator, and went on a day tour, via a bay to snorkel, before heading out to Kicker Rock for two dives.
It was truly beautiful, and we were lucky to be there on a calm day. We saw several sharks, but the most impressive was a huge school of fish, where we observed sharks and sea lions feed on them. The fish steam was so big, that when we approached them, they made a tunnel which totally engulfed us, leaving out most of the light.
We made a final trip to the city for dinner, and were lucky to meet the local dance team, which had a performance on the town square. They were more than happy to pose for us in their beautiful costumes.
We are now heading back to Isla Santa Cruz, which is where we first arrived when we came to Galapagos six weeks ago. This is our final stop before we check out of Ecuador, and begin our 3,000 nm and three week passage across the Pacific to French Polynesia.
We have truly enjoyed our time here in magnificent Galapagos. The combination of land exploration and diving and snorkeling has suited us well. We have also enjoyed meeting many sailors who are now heading the same way as us. We are very eager to start the next chapter across the biggest ocean we will cross on our circumnavigation!
