Santa Cristobal Island
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VISITOR SITES
LA GALAPAGUERA
This important and fragile area is one of the enticing places you can visit in the Galapagos. A trail that crosses the pristine dry forest brings you into close contract with the legendary Giant Tortoises.
PUNTA PITT
The most point in Galapagos & one of San Cristobal’s top visitor site, Punta Pitt offers truly spectacular view , geology &, taken together with Pitt Islet, It is one of the few places to see all three species of Booby nesting.
EL PROGRESO
Situated in the cooler climate of the highlands, el Progreso is the farming centre of San Cristobal and the place where families escape to very Sunday to enjoy lunch or a fun game of football. Completely dead for the rest of the week, the town transforms into a bustling hub of life as children play and people chat over food
LOBERIA
To get to La Loberia, go to the airport in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and take the dirt track to the left. A small green national park sign indicates that the trail is 1km and takes roughly 15 minutes to get there.
This long stretch beach is a cunning contrast of grainy sand, turquoise waters and large chunks of volcanic rocks jutting up from the sea. The usual hosts of lazing sealions can be found lounging around a swimming playfully in the tides. As you walk along this generally deserted place with parched scrubland looming outback, you can witness huge waves crashing up to the shore which also makes this a popular surf spot. Amidst the black scraggy boulders, you can find large marine iguanas poking up lucky; you can even find these creatures crawling across the sand. Further up on the rocks you can see blue footed boobies perched up high sometimes dining for food, whilst tiny yellow canary birds flutter past and nest on delicate “Holly Stick” branches. This is a great place to retreat for some peace and makes for a good walk to clear away the cobwebs.
PLAYA DE LOS MARINOS
Situated opposite La Playa restaurant, this beach is home to a crowd of sea-lions who spend their days sprawled out sunning themselves in the sand, rolling in the waves or seeking shade beneath the abandoned boat ‘The Don Abraham’. Although its’ nice to sit on the small bridge watching the white boats bobbing in the tranquil sea it’s not really that popular with swimmers.
This is probably due to the fact that the sand is littered with small rocks and the smell of sea-lion feces is sometimes overwhelming. In saying that, I’ve often seen children practicing surfing or body boarding when there are small waves. It’s also a place where you will often see teachers from the Nueva Era organization having fun with their classes teaching English on the beach. Its’ surroundings are not really that pretty but presently there are a lot of newborn sea-lion cubs which is an amazing thing to witness.
Pelicans often sit on the jutting rocks and if you’re lucky, you’ll sometimes see a heron stood in the nearby tributary. Calypso Restaurant is situated here and it’s nice to sit and admire the beautiful sunsets that splay across the bay.
PLAYA MAN
Playaman seems to be one of the most popular beaches in Puerto Baqueizo Moreno. It's a small rocky beach that at weekends gets quite packed with people. It's rather rocky and usually littered with sea-lion waste so doesn't always smell great, but it's good for swimming and sunbathing.
The sand is always strewn with lazing 'lions´, soaking up the heat of the day, constantly wriggling until they find a comfortable spot. You can retreat from the rays underneath the large trees whose leafy branches hang down to form convenient shadows in which to sit and watch the boats bobbing in the distance. This beach is situated exactly opposite the University.