Weather: Sunny, and 82ish
The first part of the day was pretty simple so I figured I’d bullet journal:
- Breakfast was toast with mora jam, eggs, and some pineapple.
-Everyone besides Kayelyn and I were hiking Sierra Negra so once they all left for the day we just chilled in the air bnb.
-We eventually headed to the beach around 9am and lounged in the sun.
-At 12pm we got lunch from a local restaurant. There was a weird tourist that kept taking selfies with the people that worked in the restaurant and then with the Charles Darwin statue across the street. We got dessert with our lunch and my banana pie had mold on it so Im hoping for the best with my stomach as far as eating the lunch goes.
-2:30pm we were on the pier waiting with Stephanie for our 3pm boat back to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz Round Two
Around 5pm we got to Santa Cruz. While Kayelyn and I were on the beach in Isabela we found a hostel to stay at in Santa Cruz so we headed there once we were off the boat. We settled in a bit, and headed out to book a day trip for tomorrow. We tried so hard to get a tour for Santiago and Bartolome but they are the most popular tours so we had no luck. I was bummed but I was budgeting for 700 this trip, and I’ve only hit 300 including boat back, hostel for the rest of my time here and the day trip we ended up booking (which I’ll get to in a minute). SO, my plan is to come back to Santa Cruz for a weekend in April with Nicola, and do the day trip to Santiago and Bartolome. She did the IES trip but didn’t see anything else because she went back to mainland with her parents for break.

Anyways, we found a guy that was about to close and he offered us a day trip for $130 that had 3 stops. We would take a cab in the morning to a different port and then a boat would take us to Daphne Island, Borrero Bay, and Pinzon Island. The fact that we could see three different places in a day, and for such a good price we couldn’t turn down the offer.

We then headed to dinner at Lemon and Coffee Restaurant. Steph, Kayelyn, and I split a veggie pizza, and parsley potatoes. Everything was SO good and the pizza was loaded with veggies. Afterwards we got artisanal ice cream as they call it here, and may I say it was probably the best ice cream I’ve had here so far. We headed to the pier to enjoy our cones and we watched the baby black tip sharks, pelicans, and sea lions swim about. I’ve noticed I’ve been getting really annoyed with the tourists not just on this trip but in San Cristobal as well. They can be so ignorant and they don’t follow the park rules. I’ve witnessed a guy stand next to a baby sea lion that was sleeping on the malecon, and touch it just for a picture. It ended up getting scared and fleeing. Without tourism, the Galápagos would be worse off as there would be no income for the locals. However, it’s instances like these that I wish tourism didn’t exist here. Also, being on Santa Cruz is really cool because there is a night life, but at the same time it is so touristy and closely packed that it’s not entirely enjoyable. It makes me realize how unique and great San Cristobal is because there’s not as much tourism. It’s a perfect balance between a local vibe and tourism.