Choose NOT to cruise: Why it’s better to do a land-based tour in the Galapagos

By Andrea Jutson

NZ Herald·

27 Feb, 2024 06:00 PM5 mins to read

It's arguably better to do a land-based tour over a cruise in the Galapagos.

Having always thought a cruise was the best way to see the Galapagos, a last-minute change of plan finds writer Andrea Jutson on a land-based tour. Much to her surprised delight.

You know it’s going to be a good trip when you stumble across a massive yellow iguana right outside the airport terminal.

The Galapagos Islands are the stuff of myth. Like Samarkand or Timbuktu, they’re a place you hear about but never expect to get to. I certainly didn’t – I was originally booked for Machu Picchu, but a scheduling issue left me searching for somewhere nearby I could do in a week. The siren call of giant tortoises swung the deal.

An archipelago a couple of hours off mainland Ecuador, the Galapagos are famed for hosting more unique and bizarre creatures than the annual Met Gala.

And as with all such places, there’s always the worry – what if you finally make it all that way, only to find the reality doesn’t match the hype?

An iguana in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Photo / Getty Images

My fear was I’d have a better chance of viewing wildlife on my hotel Wi-Fi than on the islands themselves. Within half an hour, I realised how unfounded that was. If you’re not careful, you will literally be tripping over them.

After clocking the land iguana outside arrivals – it didn’t offer to carry anyone’s bags – our G Adventures group saw a flock of blue-footed boobies and pelicans fishing in the channel dividing the airport from the “mainland” of Santa Cruz. In the time it took to reach our hotel in Puerto Ayora, we’d seen tortoises foraging, violent red and yellow Sally Lightfoot crabs, hordes of salt-crusted marine iguanas and sea lions hogging the jetty and paths.

Then straight after lunch, guide Juan Carlos Zambonino – “call me Zambo” – took us to the Charles Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora to meet the tortoises in person. Unfortunately, my inability to sleep for the previous three days straight finally caught up with me while viewing the centenarians in their enclosure. They moved like I felt. I barely lasted the five-minute taxi ride to the hotel before blacking out with psychedelic tortoiseshell patterns wheeling very slowly beneath my eyelids.

A sea lion relaxes on a boat in Isabela.

Fortified by a delicious, coeliac-friendly breakfast of fried plantain cakes filled with cheese the next morning, I was delighted to find we had popular swimming spot Las Grietas almost to ourselves. Getting there early was a savvy move by Zambo, allowing us to snorkel in the mirror-like waters between the cliffs and marvel at the fish in total tranquillity, before a literal boatload of tourists descended.

Most visitors to the Galapagos stay on cruise ships, but opting to do a land-based tour made for a much more rewarding experience. You won’t get actual lizards on the bathroom ceiling staying on a boat.

On the island of Floreana, population just 150, we lodged in chalet-like guest houses owned and run by locals with support from G Adventures’ social good programme, Planeterra. The locals take it in turns to host and cook for guests, and there’s even an outdoor bar that opens whenever someone drops by. Being situated right on the beach – outside the owner’s house – it might be the most peaceful, unreal location for a sundowner anywhere in the world. A large sea turtle obligingly waited on the sand for the paparazzi to take its picture before shuffling off into the water.

In the highlands, another breeding centre hosts the local tortoise population, which we visited en route to the rock tunnels and caves at the summit, carved as a real pirate hideout. There was also a less authentic Easter Island-style head with ferns for hair, created by an enterprising German settler in the 1930s to reel in gullible tourists.

I was astonished to realise the islands were virtually untouched by humans until the 1800s, and even after Charles Darwin’s visit, it was really the Germans and Norwegians who put the place on the map in the early 20th century.

Here, nature still rules.

There really isn’t anything to top ducking a flipper in the face from a giant sea turtle who’s never heard of the 2m rule, or slipping into underwater caves where dozens of whitetip reef sharks (or tintoreras) are sleeping until dinner. Or watching penguins flopping off rocks and zipping like lightning to catch a fish right by the pier.

Blue-footed boobies and penguins, Isabela.

On the seahorse-shaped island of Isabela, we got all that and more. Boating on jewel blue water to Los Túneles, a series of cactus-topped archways formed by the sea and old lava tubes, we even saw booby parents incubating their eggs. We were also treated to a horse race through the streets of Puerto Villamil, where spectators cheered on the guy who came a cropper in the dirt, before visiting possibly the best barbecue restaurant in Ecuador.

After another two-hour speedboat ride back to Santa Cruz (Sea Legs are non-negotiable), the only minor blot was the ferry to Turtle Beach. It’s one of the world’s top 10, apparently – provided the boats aren’t having their own scheduling issues. The frustrated group of Americans we’d seen when purchasing our tickets was a bad sign.

A series of cactus-topped archways in Los Túneles.

After our departure slot came and went with a “maybe in an hour, not sure”, we decided not to brave walking there in the blistering sun. Instead, we relaxed in the shade on the small beach by the tortoise centre, watching yellow warblers above our heads before grabbing icecream and strolling back through the souvenir shops.

Rather than finding the Galapagos a poor runner-up to Peru, the Incas are going to need to pull out all the stops to beat them. Not mythical after all – but definitely legendary.