Day 407 – San Cristobal
Free Sites of San Cristobal
Today we had a self made breakfast at Hostal Suiza, before venturing out to visit some of the free sites around San Cristobal.
We wanted to walk to the Interpretation Center. Along the way we stopped at the San Cristobal Pier. The water was such a nice blue and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day. Playa de Oro was full of sea lions resting, which was cool to see. The sea lions were even sleeping on the seats at the nearby restaurants. We walked past Playa Mann, which was also full of sea lions sunbathing.
Interpretation Center
The Interpretation Center is a short walk from Playa Mann. It is free to enter and has several rooms. The information is in Spanish and English. Various sections go through the natural and human histories on the islands. There is also some super interesting information about the impact of tourism on the islands.
From the centre is a path that goes to a beach and snorkelling spots. We decided to go to the furthest point first and then make our way back.
Mirador Cerro Tijeretas
We walked up some stairs to a viewpoint. The viewpoint overlooks the beautiful blue waters below of Cerro Tijeretas. We could even see a turtle swimming around. Frigate Birds were soaring above us.
Kicker Rock
Playa Baquerizo
From the viewpoint , there is a path that is around 2km long. It follows the coast and ends up at a beach called Playa Baquerizo.
Along the way, we saw heaps of birds, marine iguanas and sea lions.
At the beach there were marine iguanas eating the moss on the rocks and sea lions lying on the beach.
We went snorkelling for a while. There were heaps of spiky sea urchins that we needed to watch out for. A few marine iguanas got into the water to swim, but they never ventured close to us.
As we were walking back towards Cerro Tijeretas, we saw several birds diving into the water to find food. It was really cool. We also stumbled upon a bird meeting point. In a small area were at least 30 birds from different species including, frigates, boobies and pelicans.
Muelle Tijeretas
Once we reached Muelle Tijeretas, we went snorkelling again, hoping to see the turtle. However, we only saw a lot of fish swimming around. Normally this would be enough but I think the Galapagos has spoiled us with all the wildlife.
While we were in the water, we met a Irish couple that we did Los Túneles with on Isabela Island. We made plans for dinner with them and after swimming for a bit more before we decided to leave.
Punta Carola
The next point of interest was the beach Punta Carola. It was a beach with heaps of sea lions on it. We didn’t spend too much time here as we were really hungry by this stage.
Playa Mann
It was really late by the time we came back to Playa Mann, but the few restaurants there, were still open and serving menus of the day. It was nice and filling and just what we needed.
After lunch, we had the option to go to another beach called La Loberia, but we opted to just have some drinks and relax at a restaurant called Muyu Restaurant. This is close to Playa Oro, where all the sea lions were relaxing.
We went back to our hostel to let our clothes dry and to relax. Later that night, we met up with the Irish Couple for drinks and dinner. They were really cool and interesting.
It was a super awesome day on San Cristobal Island