Santa Cruz is the most famous of the Galapagos Islands, and the second largest after Isabela. I think many people – whether doing land-based expeditions or ocean-based – tend to focus on Santa Cruz, and for good reason as you’ll see below. And although Santa Cruz is unique among the other islands, please try and visit at least one of the other islands before heading home.
Nites
The Hotel Angermeyer Waterfront Inn (https://angermeyerwaterfrontinn.com/) is absolutely gorgeous. The rooms are spacious, and if you splurge for a sea-view room, it has a balcony for a lovely pre-dinner rest, or even to view the sunrise in the morning. Breakfast is served from a small, but lovely selection of options along with coffee and juice. (I do wish you didn’t have to pay for a second cup of coffee but if that’s my only complaint, which it is, I’ll take it.) The other thing that I love about the Angermeyer is that it can only be reached via taxi from the port, and the only way to meet your tours and visit any of the lovely restaurants in Santa Cruz is to patiently wait for a taxi. It cost $1 per person, and works well. Plus, it’s more time on a boat!
If money is no object, I would encourage you to consider the Finch Bay hotel “next door”. Finch Bay has their own taxi service, but they are also a little more inland before curving around the ocean so you’ll have a bit more of a schlep to carry luggage and things. But with a gorgeous pool, and rooms that look stunning, this could be a real joy to experience.
Bites
Santa Cruz has more options for vegetarians, but that’s likely because the island is also the most touristy. But here are some of my favourites.
If I only had one night on Santa Cruz – which would be a real shame to be honest – I would run to Midori Sushi (https://midorigalapagos.com/). And yes, the same group that runs Midori on San Cristobal and the food was just as gorgeous. In addition to the standard seafood and meats, they also have vegetarian sushi and ramen. And to sit outside, under giant trees, listening to the birds is just idyllic.
I would stay a second night just to have a reason to go to Agave Studio (no website, but on social). From the outside, it’s not that impressive but your doubts aside as you sit down at his inventive, and vegetarian friendly restaurant. When we arrived, it was pouring rain and empty. Half-way through the meal, the rain stopped, the tables were all occupied and people were being turned away. And you guys, the vegetarian tacos! There were three options, and I honestly can’t remember what the third option was because all I dream of are the tofu tacos and the cauliflower tacos. Divine!
1835 Restaurants, which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was a fun choice with an amazing veggie burger (sometimes you just have to! Likewise, Anca Pizzeria, which is a little further out past Midori, has lovely pizza options that you could also get to go. Anca Pizzeria is close to the entrance to the Charles Darwin Research Station, just in case you need a bit after your visit.
Sites
This is a statement: you cannot go to Santa Cruz without going to the Charles Darwin Research Station (https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/) and the tortoise breeding center next door. You can visit the research center for free, and there’s a truly inspirational short film on a loop in the center that talks about the foundation and how they are trying to educate local children about the wonders of the Galapagos so that the next generation of researchers are local.
The tortoise breeding center next door does require a guide so be sure to hire a guide at the entrance to the road that heads to the center: you cannot hire a guide directly at the tortoise breeding center, so you’ll have to walk back (in the heat), if you don’t hire a guide first. Trust me, we learned the hard way!
Another thing that you must do is a half-day tour to Galapagos Frontier (https://www.galapagosfrontierec.com/). This center has a more rustic and homely feel, but seeing the tortoises, learning about native, endemic, plants and those that were introduced and need to be eradicated, and visiting the underground lava tunnels is truly mind-blowing. Our guide was so knowledgeable and even came with bird sounds and a speaker to try and entice some of the local birds to make an appearance. (There is the option of a short nature hike, further down the road, but this takes all of 20 minutes and was just meh, to be honest.)
And last but not least, I’m going to be potentially unpopular and tell you NOT to book a Bartolome tour. And this is coming from the guy who had the Bartolome tour as the one must-do thing on his entire trip! I know: everything you read will tell you that you must do a Bartolome Island tour. But for the life of me, I don’t know why. Let me explain: Santa Cruz is such a large island that it is impossible to do a complete circuit around the island. Bartolome is located on the eastern side of Santa Cruz and takes about two hours to reach via boat. Yes, it was a lovely calm boat trip, and I did see a couple of sea tortoises, and one dolphin, but other than that, there’s nothing to do but be on a boat: you never get close to the shore, and you never jump into the water. When you reach Bartolome, you’ll disembark on a dingy to be transported to the island, where you’ll walk along a set path to the highest point on the island. The views are gorgeous, but that is all there is: I think there are three lookout platforms, with basically the same view, as that at the very top. After the tour, you will be taken to a small inlet and beach where you can snorkel in calm waters for about 40 minutes. Yes, I saw a hammerhead shark, a penguin, a sea lion, and a tortoise which were awesome. Then you are served a lovely lunch, before heading back to Puerto Ayora for another two hours. The return trip became very rough, and we were asked to stay on the lower level until the seas calmed down, which they never really did. And that was all folks. This trip costs about $300 per person and other than the boat excursions, it’s about 45 minutes on Barolome and 45 minutes of snorkeling. I just don’t think this was worth the money.