June 3, 2016
I wake up this morning with a great sense of excitement. It’s my first full day of vacation in the Galapagos, and today is all about figuring out which day tours we want to take, finding the fish market, and hiking to Tortuga Bay.
Our first stop involves asking Cristina and Monica (our Airbnb hosts) a ton of questions. Cristina is a fountain of knowledge, describing which animals can be seen on which nearby islands and answering several questions about the various local markets.
One of my chorus friends asked me to leave a piece of mail for her at Post Office Bay, so I ask Monica if it’s possible to take a water taxi over to Floreana Island. Floreana Island is an old shipping stopover where whalers would leave mail on the island, and the next ship would pick up any that they could deliver on their travels. Tourists now do the same thing, both leaving mail and picking up others to hand-deliver.
Monica tells me that you can’t get to the Post Office Bay unless you’re on a tour. But, her husband is a guide whose route includes Post Office Bay. If I can get the postcard to her, she can give it to her husband who will leave it at Post Office Bay. Note to self: buy some postcards.
With no more questions, but lots of advice and information, we head down to Charles Darwin Avenue, the main tourist strip.
To our surprise, we encounter the fish market about 5 minutes into our walk:
Fish Market, Puerto Ayora
Even more amazing, there’s a sea lion hanging out behind the counter!
Waiting for the next handout . . .
We spend maybe fifteen minutes watching the fish seller throw scraps to the sea lion and pelicans. The pelicans’ scraps are square and go in sideways the first few times. At last, they get the angle just right, and this huge square piece of fish slides down their incredibly elastic necks.
I am both not a fish person AND not a raw meat person, so I’m glad to leave the market behind.
Over the next half an hour we stop into several tourist agencies. Out of all the islands, I really want to see the penguins (I had no idea there were penguins in the Galapagos!). Maureen is entranced by the possibility of flamingos and sea lions, and of course you can’t skip the turtles!
Finally we settle on a plan: a 3-hour bay tour around Puerto Ayora, a full-day trip to Isabela, and an afternoon trip inland to El Chapo (the turtle farm) and the nearby lava caves.
Now that the planning bit is out of the way, it’s time to follow the main tourist road north out of town on the way to Tortuga Bay. So far we’ve explored the far east side of Puerto Ayora; this west side, with the north-south road, is clearly where all the action is.
The road itself includes dual bike lanes that are separated from the main road by a series of tasteful planters, and the sidewalks are quite broad. Benches with little wooden roofs built over them are scattered on both sides of the street. There are still some tour agencies, hotels, and restaurants, but we’re starting to see lavanderias (laundry mats), small general stores, banks, and other offices.
As we walk up the street, we pass several motorcycle trucks, like this one:
It appears to be motorcycle chassis with a small truck bed set on an axle. This is the first one I’ve seen, but I see many more over the next several days.
We pass the permanent vegetable market that our hosts marked on our map. We’re pretty sure we’ve missed the turn-off to Tortuga Bay, and a look at the map confirms it. However, as none of the streets in Puerto Ayora are marked, we’re not sure how far north we’ve gone! Even the local man whom Maureen stops to ask for directions doesn’t know what street we’ve just crossed. However, he does tell us how to get to Tortuga Bay.
It’s about 11 am when we turn off the street and start the hike to Tortuga Bay. We curve around a corner, and see a green hut above us:
Is it a snack shop? Bathrooms? A ranger station?
When we climb to the top, we find that this is the official check point of the trail to Tortuga Bay. We’re required to sign a guest register, told not swim at the first beach, not to hang anything in the trees at the second, and to start back by 5 pm, as the park closes at 6.
The path to Tortuga Bay is like nothing I’ve seen before. It’s a brick path through a green-brown landscape, mostly straight but with a few up and down bits.
I call it the superhighway.
Path to Tortuga Bay
We see lots of little geckos along the trail. There’s precious little shade, so we take the chance to rest at a gazebo when it comes along. There’s a steady flow of people coming and going along the trail. Most are tourists, but a fair number appear to be locals.
After about 45 minutes, we crest a small hill. The pounding of surf in front of us signals we’re close. At long last, the superhighway spills out onto a perfect tropical beach.
Entrance to Playa Brava
To the left and right is a long expanse of perfect white beach sand, with white frothy waves rolling in from a turquoise sea. Further out, the sea turns from turquoise to a deep, deep blue.
East End of Playa Brava
This is Playa Brava, over a kilometer long and perfect for surfing. Unfortunately, the unpredictable currents mean you can’t swim here, so we shuck off our shoes and walk in the surf as we head down the beach towards Tortuga Bay.
West view of Playa Brava, looking towards Tortuga Bay
We’re hot and sweaty and tired, so the kilometer or so walk seems to take a long time. As we near the end of the beach, though, we stumble upon an unusual sight: iguanas, a dozen or more, sunbathing right along the main pedestrian route!
Iguanas sunbathing on Playa brava
Although none of the iguanas we’ve seen have reacted to humans, I keep expecting them to hiss or run away or do something. But they don’t. In fact, these iguanas look positively blissful as they bask in the sun.
Just past the iguanas, the path takes a sharp turn across a small isthmus. And here before us is Tortuga Bay.
Tortuga Bay
After the crash of the surf on Playa Brava, Tortuga Bay is calm and peaceful. The water laps at the shore, there are no waves, and the noonday sun makes everyone lazy.
Just like the beach near our house, there are no beach recliners, no umbrellas, no signs of human life other than the people tucked under the low-branched trees.
We tuck ourselves under the two trees closest to the trail back to Playa Brava and settle in to enjoy the view.
View of Tortuga Bay from our shady benches
In front of us is a grove of mangroves. To our left the bay curves into the isthmus that protects it from the sea, while the main part of Tortuga Bay curves away to our right.
Maureen decides to go for a swim, while I wade in up to my knees. The water is colder than I expected, but it doesn’t take long before the sting of the water becomes a welcome relief from the noonday sun. For a while, I sit at the water’s edge and allow the tiny waves to lap over my feet.
We spend a lazy couple of hours at Tortuga Bay. I nap for a while in the shade of my tree, and wake up when Maureen returns from her swim. A young iguana swims up to our stretch of beach, and makes its way into the scrub vegetation behind us. We read for a while before I decide to explore the rest of the beach.
Despite its name (tortuga is Spanish for turtle), there are no turtles in Tortuga Bay. Aside from a few birds and the occasional iguana, the only animals seem to be humans!
However, there are a couple of photogenic tree stumps along the beach. This one is a particularly interesting to me; in the distance you can see the curve of one arm that protects the bay.
Tree stump along the shores of Tortuga Bay
I was also curious to see a forest of mangrove breathing tubes poking up from the sand.
Mangrove root system
There were no mangroves within 5 feet of this stretch of beach. Wherever this root system came from, it was working hard to reach the shore!
It’s now 3 pm, and we decide to start back. The beach has been slowly filling up, and more people are arriving. As we turn back onto Playa Brava, we find that the iguanas have moved into the shade.
Time for some afternoon cuddling?
It’s the first time I’ve seen the iguanas touching each other. They look pretty casual about it. Then again, I suspect iguanas are casual about everything.
The walk back to the ranger station takes about an hour. We sign out of the guest book, restock on water, and I have my first soursop ice cream bar. It is delicious. (Also, for the record, that ranger station has some of the worst bathrooms. But hey – better than peeing in the woods!)
We stop at the crepe restaurant close to home, and my ham, cheese, and egg crepe is the most delicious thing I’ve gotten all day. Maureen gets something with wine and mushrooms, and it’s also good. We had hoped to get dessert crepes, too, but we’re too full from dinner.
On our way home, we pass a delightful piece of street art. I’m a sucker for emblems, shields, and heraldic devices, so I couldn’t resist taking a picture.
Super cool wall art, Puerto Ayora
Finally, we return to our delightful Airbnb house. We’re tired, sunburned, slathered in sweat and sunscreen, but we’ve had a wonderful day. Tomorrow we’re going to get up early to scout the Saturday farmer’s market, then have a lazy day around the house. I might even give our hammock a try!
Leave a Reply