We flew from Quito to Baltra Island, just north of Santa Cruz. After eventually securing a tourist transit card ($20), having our bags scanned for Galapagos contraband, and checking in, we boarded what was to be a very bumpy, but thankfully short, flight. Upon arriving on Baltra Island, at the world's first "ecological airport", we were immediately greeted by huge iguanas, humidity, and a hefty $100 per person tourist tax. We then boarded a bus to the ferry that nipped us across the most turquoise and clear sea we've ever seen and onto Santa Cruz, where we got yet another bus across the island down to the only town, Puerto Ayora. By now, it was nearly 3pm, and all we'd eaten was a coffee and a croissant each at the airport (costing $17!). The Galapagos Islands are an hour ahead of mainland Ecuador and we had lost a lot of the day to travel. We quickly checked into our hostel and found a place for a cheap 'almuerzo' - soup, bbq chicken, rice and salad, and a juice ($5 each). 

The sky was growing increasingly dark so we decided against heading to one of the beaches, and instead went to check out the Darwin museum. It had lots of info about scientific discoveries and conservation efforts on the islands, and a huge fin whale skeleton running the length of the museum. We wandered along the sea front, admiring the abundance of wildlife. Everywhere you looked, there was something noteworthy...huge pelicans, sealions lounging on the street furniture, piles of black marine iguanas. 

Everything is more expensive on the islands, and restaurants were no exception. We were trying to stick to a tight budget while we were there and had planned to cook in our hostel kitchen, but frankly it was disgusting. We ended up eating at a restaurant with a deal of set meals - a burger for Justin, and calamari and chips for Em. Average. We also managed to get two craft beers for $10. After dinner, we had  a wander down the pier where there were a few sealions lolling around and amazingly, dozens of baby reef sharks swimming, illuminated by under water lights! 

With one free day on Santa Cruz, we opted to take a walk to Tortuga Bay. It took us a couple of hours to reach the bay along some national park trails, and regretted completing the endeavour in our crocs. We had to walk along a long white sand beach to reach the bay, and strangely there was a big sea turtle dying in the surf. It was very sad as, when we returned back along the beach, it had died. The bay was beautiful, with crystal clear, blue sea, and lined with mangroves. We had brought our snorkels but there wasn't much to see here. We eventually made it back to town with very sore feet, found another cheap almuerzo and then relaxed in town until we met up for dinner with our friends, Ravina and Christian, who had just arrived before their cruise around the islands. 

After our horrendous experience on the boat to Isabella, we decided to instead take a propeller plane to our final island, San Cristobal. This was quite expensive, but Em would have paid any amount of money to never get on one of those boats again. The airport was tiny, basically just a room and a scale to weigh your bags. There were 6 other people waiting for the flight. There were supposed to be two flights, one with Emetebe (ours) and one with ESAV. However, 10 minutes before we were due to take off, one of the airline staff ran in announcing that there had been a "small accident" with the ESAV plane and everyone would be put onto the Emetebe plane. There was no further explanation of what the accident was, and we all followed him out onto the runway and nervously boarded the tiny propeller plane. There was only room for 4 rows of two people directly behind the pilot. The pilot turned around and introduced himself, wearing the thickest glasses we've ever seen and looked a bit like Danger Mouse's sidekick, Penfold, which didn't particularly fill us with confidence. It was a bit of a bumpy ride and watching Penfold twiddle with dials right in front of us was a bit disconcerting. It was also super loud and we had to wear ear defenders. After 40 minutes of flying, we arrived at San Cristobal safe and sound. Googling the "small accident" later, it turned out it was actually a double engine failure which resulted in an emergency landing. Luckily, everyone was OK, but had we known about this, and indeed the numerous other incidents there have been on these planes, I think we would have been a little more hesitant to board! 

We had an Airbnb a little out of town on San Cristobal for 3 nights. The island has the most beautiful beaches, so we spent our time snorkelling at free spots with yet more turtles and sea lions, sunbathing, and watching sunsets. We had booked another tour, Kicker Rock, which was out in the open water, but decided last minute not to go as we weren't feeling 100% and didn't want to spend the day on a boat. Instead, we had a lovely day at the beaches with the sea lions. Despite people keeping their distance from the wild animals, they sometimes approach people and even lay on towels and bags on the sand! While we were standing on the edge of the water, one launched itself out of the sea and ran at Justin, barking. He quickly bolted but stepped on a rock, which caused a nasty bruise and he couldn't put weight on his foot for about a week! We spent our final night at the Post Office Bar on the water's edge, enjoying craft beer and fish and chips. As we were one of the last to check in for our return flight to the mainland, we ended up in the premium seats on the third row. A bougie end to an unforgettable experience!