Day One - Highlands and La Playa
We had a full itinerary on our first day at Santa Cruz. Our guide for the day, Christian, promptly picked us up after breakfast. After a much appreciated detour to the pharmacy for cough drops, we were on our way.
Because of the weather, we started the day at Garrapatero Beach. It has easy access from the parking lot, about a 5 to 10 minute walk depending on how much you are chatting and looking and dodging at manzanillo trees and lizards.
The beach is beautiful with a wide powdery sand beach filled with pelicans diving into the water. One can just lay a towel in the shade watch these birds to acrobatics or take a nap.
However, the water was gorgeous and very inviting. If I had known we had a good amount of time, I would have brought my suit and enjoyed the water. Kayaks were also available if you prefer to get only slightly wet.
Another thing to do while here is just go beach walking. In addition to the diving pelicans, there were sea birds that do their sea bird stuff -- look for food, rest, etc. The beach also a lagoon where a random flamingo occasionally shows up. Per our guide, flamingoes used to visit this lake more frequently. However, a storm came, and overflowed the lagoon with sea water and changed the salinity of the water. Now, flamingoes no longer come there – I guess it’s no longer trendy (if you are a flamingo).
Our next stop was to Cerro Mesa, a view point where one could get a layout of the island. It was an easy climb up the stairs, but a bit muddy. Christian explained the topography of Santa Cruz and also showed us the many islands off the coast of Santa Cruz. Thanks to that, we saw where we are headed to the next day and finally understood what Plaza Sur is (It's an island - not the town square).
From there, we visited El Manzanillo Ranch, home to the tortoises native to Santa Cruz. We first enjoyed a freshly cooked and perfectly sized 3-course lunch while watching the tortoises. It was quite relaxing. They also have this fantastic herbal lemonade that we could not get enough of.
What's really cool about El Manzanillo is that the tortoises are free to go in and out of the ranch. It's not a zoo. In fact, on the way to the ranch, we saw tortoises all over the place, with horses, in ponds and even on the road. The giant tortoises just love it in the ranch because of the abundance of grass for food and ponds for temperature control.
After lunch, we took a walk around the area. It's a pretty easy walk except the terrain can be uneven and muddy. Galoshes and walking sticks are available for rent. Also, as in San Cristobal, watch out for "rocks" because they may not be "rocks" and could start moving or yelling at you. One of them did -- since I got too close to his territory.
The next part of our tour was to visit a Lava Tunnel. We were expecting something similar to Thurston Lava Tube in Hawaii - walk in the park and lighted. We were wrong. It is a pretty good sign when your guide hands out hard hats and flashlights at the mouth of the cave. I just thought he was being extra cautious.
Navigating through the tunnel can be challenging. It started pretty easy, but as you get further in, things can get trickier. Some of the wooden handrails can give in because of the moisture. No crawling though – but good shoes, preferably closed toe, and hard hats are required since things can get slippery.
That said, as you get deeper in the cave, the colors in the lava tube are pretty incredible: glittering hues of blue and gold from algae. There’s also some coral like patterns on the walls and floor from calcification. It's like "Journey to the Center of the Earth".
After the day's adventure, we were back at the hotel at around 3 pm, enough to rest and prepare for dinner. I think we could have spent more time at the beach, making it a full day tour, but ending at 3 pm was just right for us.
Day 2: Snorkeling Punta Carrion and Hiking Plaza Sur
Our next adventure was snorkeling at Punta Carrion and a visit to Plaza Sur. Finally water! My feet were getting sore from all the walking and stair climbing. I feel I am better in the water -- much like a penguin: walks funny, but graceful swimmers.
Our first stop was at Punta Carrion for snorkeling. The way these trips are organized is we snorkel as a group and go from point A to Point B. That was okay – I guess it’s a good way to (more or less) keep the group together. It was not as bad as I thought. From what the guides described, because the route was relatively straight.
Punta Carrion had relatively decent snorkeling. It featured nice sloping wall and a good variety of fishes. The first plunge was relatively deep -- about 30 feet. There was a good group of big fish on the deep end, but near the wall, we saw a variety of parrotfish, sea cucumbers, sea stars and a pufferfish. At the end, I even saw a sleeping ray.
For lunch, we sailed over to Plaza Sur and had lunch on the boat. This was no ordinary snorkeling lunch – which usually consists of deli sandwiches. The onboard chef made a delicious lunch of tuna in tomato sauce, rice, red cabbage salad and mixed veggies. We had a great lunch overlooking Plaza Sur and the beautiful blue waters.
It was somewhat disappointing that we did not snorkel in Plaza Sur. This was because of the aggressive bull seals, especially during birthing season. We did have a hike on the island after lunch to burn off more calories. It was a pretty easy hike, although rocky in places. The island was beautiful: hues of yellow, red and green and Opuntia everywhere. We saw Sally lightfoot crabs, sea lions, Nazca boobies, and marine iguanas. One of the iguanas even wanted to follow us home.
The boat ride back to town was not too bad, but can be a bit rocky. The staff made popcorn for a snack. We came back to town at around 4 pm, walked back to the hotel and had enough time to rest and prepare for dinner.
Day 3: Christmas at the Darwin Research Center
Our third day, which was Christmas Day, was spent at the Darwin Research Center. This was the best gift for my Hubby who has been dreaming about visiting the center for years.
The center was close to the hotel so we walked. The center does not allow motor vehicles in (except for employees and some exceptions) so we also walked to the exhibits. We had a very young energetic guide who made the day enjoyable. She guided us through exhibits and the tortoise enclosures. Most of the exhibits are outdoors, so wear sunscreen, bring a hat, take advantage of the shade, and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate (Bring your water bottles).
Similar to San Cristobal, the Darwin Research Center had nurseries for the babies and juvenile tortoises. It's really fun to see the tiny ones, because you know they'll grow to be giants! The research center also had tortoises from different islands. I finally saw a saddleback -- and he's from California (Diego from San Diego).
Our guide was really knowledgeable and you can see how much passion she has on the subject. She even shared with us that Darwin's theory of evolution was inspired by the nightingale, not the finches (However, most of his research was from the finch specimens that he collected). That is why the nightingale is her favorite bird. When we saw a couple of nightingales during the tour, she was thrilled - she said these birds can be very elusive.
The exhibits also featured Lonesome George, the last surviving species of Isla Pinta. Lonesome George had passed away, so this was a taxidermy. This exhibit was away from the heat to preserve his body. We had to go through a waiting area to transition from the extreme heat to extreme cold. However, this was a welcome break from the heat since this exhibit is in a very cold building.
We also spent a little bit of time in the exhibition hall. There was a lot to see, but I wanted to give my legs a break so we watched the featured movie - which was very good. We also did our share of shopping here, and proceeds go to the Darwin Foundation.
After the tour, we walked back into town and had a hearty Christmas lunch (but no dessert, because the cake was still being baked -- it was Christmas after all) and hopped on to the ferry to Isabella, our last island destination.
Points of improvement
Our visit in Santa Cruz was pretty good combination of activities and relaxation. I think the only nitpick is to clarify available activities when we visited Garrapatero Beach. In our previous tours, we usually only have a few minutes at one spot and do not have chill time. I think we had time to swim and kayak, but the documents sent by the tour group were not clear (Although it did say "Bring a Towel"). My hubby and I would have loved to kayak for an hour or at least enjoy a brief swim in the beautiful waters. It was just gorgeous.
Tips
If you have space (or weight) in your luggage, bring your insulated water bottle. Because of the heat, the non-insulated water bottles get warm very fast. While warm water is still thirst quenching, a nice cold drink would be good on a hot Ecuadorian day.
If you have pain issues, remember to bring your pain stuff! I had acetaminophen, KT Tape, Salonpas and Pain Gel and used them all (we ran out of acetaminophen). This is an active vacation and if you don’t want to miss out, bring it! My only consolation is all the water time, where I do not have to deal with gravity.
