Galapagos: Budget Travel To An Island Paradise — Tales From the Second Class Cabin

The Galapagos host some of the world’s most unique wildlife, and every year hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to see the giant tortoises, exotic sea birds, marine iguanas and friendly sea lions who call these islands home.

Unfortunately, prices have skyrocketed in keeping with demand, and further complicated by the costs of shipping everything to this remote archipelago 1,000km off the Ecuadorian mainland. These days, a Galapagos holiday could easily set you back thousands of dollars, particularly if you opt for one of the luxury island cruises departing from the U.S. or Europe. Clearly, this sort of trip isn’t in the budget for Jen or myself, particularly after spending the past nine months galavanting around Asia, Australia and South America. Fortunately, we’d heard whispers from other travelers who’d explored the islands on a (relative) budget, so booked the cheapest flights we could find and set out to do the same.

At first glance, it’s difficult to imagine how so many species can live here. The jagged coastline seems comprised almost entirely of volcanic rock, cacti and thorny shrubs, while white sand beaches — some of the best we’ve seen — line the shores. The islands certainly enchanted Charles Darwin, who visited for five weeks in 1835. During his brief stay, Darwin noted that the animals living here had experienced physical changes to better adapt to their environment, and the resulting book, The Origin of Species, became an instant bestseller when it was finally published in 1859.

Darwin’s Finch. Charles Darwin observed that these finch differed from other species on the main land. He theorized that these finch had undergone physical changes to better adapt to their surroundings.

We based ourselves in the town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island, the archipelagos’ tourism hub and largest of its four human settlements. The town in crammed full of reasonably-priced guesthouses, but restaurants, bars and gift shops suffer the worst of island pricing. Daily drinks happy hours soften the blow somewhat, but PA itself— a place where marine iguanas bask in the street and fearless sea lions beg for scraps in the fish market — is still a great base for exploring the islands on the (relative) cheap.

Puerto Ayora is also home to the Charles Darwin Research Station, an active research center where visitors learn about the island’s natural history, geology and rehabilitation programs. Chief among these are efforts to save the Giant Tortoise, an iconic species once hunted to the point of extinction.

The plight of these gentle giants was personified by the story of “Lonesome George,” the last of the Pinta sub-species. Unfortunately, decades of efforts to encourage old George to breed proved unsuccessful, and the species ultimately died out. Thankfully, today the centre runs a more successful breeding program, with one male tortoise boasting over 800 offspring.

We also used Santa Cruz as a base to explore neighboring islands, including Isla Isabella, a seahorse-shaped islet that’s particularly popular with marine iguanas. These scaly, dinosaur-like lizards lend the islands an eery quality. During the day, large groups can be found basking on beaches and rocky shores.

Also on Isabella, we hired canoes and paddled out to visit the sea bird colonies resting in the rocky outcrops of Puerto Villamil harbor. This gave us a taste for more water-based excursions, so back in Puerto Ayora we arranged to go snorkeling with sea lions on nearby Santa Fe island.

Santa Fe offers one of Galapagos’s largest colonies of sea lions, but the first group we spotted seemed more content sunbathing on shore than joining us for a dip. But it wasn’t long until we came across a group of curious juveniles. As ungainly on land as they are graceful in the water, the day’s highlight was watching these playful animals dart through the crystal clear waters.

By basing ourselves in Puerto Ayora, using ferries to visit the main islands and negotiating with a local tour operator for excursions, we saved hundreds of dollars on our Galapagos vacation. That’s not to say it was cheap, especially after months in Asia and South America, but this was such a special place that we’re already making plans — of course, after we save up some more money — for a return visit.

Tom Mountford