The Galapagos Islands are very protected and a naturalist guide has to accompany you just about everywhere. However, on Santa Cruz (the island we stayed) there were several places to visit independently without a guide.
The checkpoint and sign-in entrance to Bahia Tortuga or Tortuga Bay was a 5 minute walk from our guesthouse, followed by an additional 2 mile walk down the path to the sandy beach. Swimming is not allowed on the main beach but permitted at the cove around the corner.
We saw some wildlife here including Portuguese man-of-war, another species of jellyfish (pictured), quite a few marine iguanas, and several bird species.
Rather than taking a half-day tour with a company from town, visiting the Giant Tortoises in the highlands is easy enough and more cost-effective to do independently. We hired a driver for $40 total to get to the reserve, about 45 minutes away. At the check-point, the ranger gave us a brief talk (don't touch the tortoises, don't sit on the tortoises, etc). There are two reserves here, and it cost $3 per person. Upon our driver's recommendation, we visited the newer of the two reserves and found tortoises at almost every turn!
Some of the older tortoises (~100 years old) were huge, weighing 500+ pounds. It was pretty cool to view them in their natural habitat.
I was in my element.
And a different view to get a better idea of this tortoise's size.
There are a few places on the island to see and walk in the lava tubes. This particular tortoise reserve had one, so we ventured in. Not exactly the most exciting thing to us, but still interesting to see.
Probably our favorite thing on the island (dare I say better than the tortoises?!) was Las Grietas. To get there, we took a water taxi across the harbor to a path.
After a 20 minute hike, we reached our destination. Las Grietas is a local swimming hole between two lava rock cliffs. The water is so blue and clear, the pictures do not do it justice.
There is a wooden staircase that leads to the bottom.
And from there, we swam, snorkeled, and cliff-jumped. It is about 30 feet deep and visible all the way down. Matt even spotted a reef shark at the bottom!
We LOVE swimming holes, and this was by far one of our favorite things to do on the island. We had a blast!
Matt and I took evening walks around town just about every night. Even after dark, there was still wildlife to see at the lit pier including sharks, pelicans, and sea lions.
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