Today we had an early wake-up to catch our 7am ferry from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz. There is only one ferry service that operates between islands – it is that or fly in a small plane for about 5x the cost. Before boarding the ferry we were sprayed down with some type of disinfectant. No one really told us why. I assume it is to keep San Cristobal germs out of Santa Cruz. We’ve done ferries before – no big deal. When one hears that they are going on a 2-hour open ocean ferry ride, one assumes that it will be a traditional ferry with actual seats, a safety briefing, windows, maybe some indoor/outdoor space, maybe a bottle of water and a toilet. What one does not expect is the thing that we willfully boarded…
I think I can say with some level of confidence that it was a
boat. At least it was floating on water when we boarded. The driver (captain?) was up top and all
passengers were on the lower level. Except
for the passengers that didn’t fit in the passenger area who they put up top
with the driver. The main passenger area
was two benches – one on each side of the boat so our backs were to the
water. We sat about 13 on each side,
shoulder to shoulder and 4 across the back of the boat. There was a tiny cushion under our butts and
a small cushion by our head/necks when it wasn’t falling off the wall. The windows were opaque so we could not see
out of them; they were all sealed completely shut and the only way in/out of
the boat was through the back end. Damon
and I happened to be toward the front of the boat and I could see all of the luggage
tossed haphazardly in the bow (front). About half of the passengers seemed to
be high school or maybe college kids from the UK on some type of trip together –
one of them was in a wheelchair. The
wheelchair and random luggage were also laid in the middle of the boat where
our feet were. If there was a toilet on
board, there was no way anyone was getting to it, and the wheelchair was completely
blocking what may have been the toilet.
Anyone who has ever travelled with me knows that lack of access to a
toilet makes me immediately have the smallest bladder on the planet, so this
was not a good sign.
We just took off at top speed – no safety warning, no
discussion on arrival time. We just
left. The “crew” that we could see was
one guy in a dirty white tank top who never spoke. About five minutes in, I tried not to have a
panic attack after surveying the situation, the location of the life jackets
and the likelihood that I’d be able to get through 26 other people, suitcases
and a wheelchair to the back opening if the boat flipped. While the ocean was, I suppose, relatively
calm, we were taking ocean swells at full speed – these were kidney killers. We hit some of these waves so hard that I’ll
be surprised if my organs didn’t shift a bit during the ride. Also, every time we hit a bit swell, water
would splash through the tiny opening in the hull just above the luggage. Thankfully, our suitcase was just outside of the
splash zone.
There were two babies on board – one of them started screaming
about an hour in and then threw up. The
teenager sitting next to the baby was sitting on the floor, clearly not feeling
well. I closed my eyes and hoped that
the fact that everyone was wearing a mask meant that we would not have a chain
reaction of vomiters on this tiny boat. I
was still feeling okay and then noticed Damon staring very intently at the
horizon, so I knew he wasn’t feeling well.
I cranked up my music, closed my eyes, and willed myself to not think
about going to the bathroom, throwing up, or drowning. After about an hour and 40 minutes, we
finally made it safely to shore. That
one was rough ride.
No pictures from this adventure as we were mostly praying for our lives.
We made our way to the hotel – Hotel Cucuve Suites – and were greeted with bottled water, chocolate and nuts, air conditioning and more. Wish we could have floated this across the ocean… After regaining our bearings, we headed out to explore the town. A lot of what Santa Cruz has to offer (beaches, snorkeling) is at least a 40-60-minute taxi ride to the other ends of the island. We couldn’t bring ourselves to get into another vehicle just yet, so we opted to just walk the town, have some $1 ice cream cones (new favorite treat), visit the famous fish market where sea lions and pelicans hang out and annoy the fishermen by begging for scraps, and then grab lunch. There are not nearly as many sea lions here as in San Cristobal, and we primarily have seen them by the fish market. They just lay in the middle of a busy sidewalk and sleep. If you don’t pay attention, you can easily trip over them (she says from experience).
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| Fishmarket |
There was one activity within walking distance, The Charles Darwin Research Center, so we walked over, hired the requisite guide, and got an awesome tour of the tortoise rescue program. The gist of this research center is that they are saving the tortoises that had almost gone extinct from over hunting. Each of the Galapagos Islands has a genetically distinct tortoise and they want to ensure the purity of each species. They collect as many eggs as they can find from each island, mark them with the appropriate island, and then hatch them in a 2:1 female to male ratio. Apparently, the temperature at which the eggs are kept determine the sex. The babies are kept inside for the first year or so and then they are put into mini pens. Once they reach 2-3 years, they are put in a much bigger area where they learn to climb on lava rocks. At about 5 years old, they are released back to their respective islands. This program has released back roughly 5,500 tortoises to date and there are currently about 1,200 in residence waiting to be eventually released. There are about 61 adult tortoises (the big ones) living at the research center – they are tortoises that were rescued from being kept as pets or have otherwise unknown origins. Most of the adults are enormous and OLD. The goal is to sterilize them and release them back to the wild. The sterilization is so they do not dilute the gene pool of any specific island species.
Of course, the highlight of visiting the research center is Lonesome George. The story goes… on the island of Pinta in 1971, a researcher spotted a tortoise when they thought they had gone extinct, likely due to feral goats eating all the vegetation. The tortoise was the last survivor of its kind and spent the remainder of its life in captivity to save it. Although they tried to mate George, none of the eggs were ever viable, and thus ended the genetically pure Pinta Tortoise. George died of natural causes in 2012 at 100 (ish) years old. He was sent to the Natural History Museum in New York to be preserved, and now lives a comfortable afterlife in a nice air-conditioned room at the research center.
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| Lonesome George |
A few notes on Santa Cruz – it has a much larger population than San Cristobal and there is more going on. By my best count, there are at least TWO stoplights. We still notice that a lot of shops are closed, and a lot of restaurants are either not open or have limited hours. We try to imagine what it was like pre-Covid with a lot of people around. Given the restaurant capacity, seems like it can get busy. Tourism has started to pick up, but it is clearly still very light. Everyone wears masks on this island as well – even outdoors. We were talking to our Darwin tour guide about Covid, and he said that the government has been using it as a political scare tactic when they want the public to act in certain ways. I guess using Covid as a political tool is not limited to the US… In any case, despite the fact that the Galapagos Islands are secluded with stringent entry requirements, AND everyone is outside, AND it is very sunny, AND most people have been vaccinated, they still all wear masks both indoors and outdoors. We’ve also been sprayed with disinfectant more times than I can count!
Transportation in Santa Cruz is similar to San Cristobal –
the white pick up truck taxis are everywhere and still appear to be $2 per
ride. The locals get around primarily on
scooters or bikes. It still cracks me up
to see entire families on a single scooter – not uncommon to see four people on
a single little scooter – babies and all, and nearly every bicycle we see has a
little wooden seat that the kids sit on.
We walked back to our hotel to cool down – it is hot/muggy outside. Damon took his daily siesta while I wrote. After cleaning up, we went in search of dinner. I had read about a “must do” in Santa Cruz – Los Kioskos – which is more of an event (I think) that takes place on the street our hotel is on where they close the street to traffic, put out a bunch of tables and chairs, and you just get food from all of the different restaurants on the block. It is supposed to be awesome. Unfortunately, it is currently closed. Instead, we found an outdoor restaurant on the water, ate more tuna and “langosta” (lobster). They prepare the entire lobster and not just the tail, which was fun to figure out in the dark. If there is one thing I’m not to keen on eating, it is lobster entrails. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel to crash for the night.
Tomorrow is when the real fun begins - we FINALLY board our ship for the 8 day tour of the more remote Galapagos Islands.
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