BJJ in Galapagos

Duration: 14 days, 13 nights

Location: Galapagos Islands, ECU

Costs: Flight 450$, Airbnb 160$, Boats 110$, Hostel 90$

Another bucket list stop here in Ecuador were the Galapagos islands. I had to see them while I was in Ecuador.

And yes there is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I had the number of Emiliano from Carlos from Medellin.

Emilio is an 18 years’ young dude that runs the Evolution Jiu Jitsu in Santa Cruz. After the former owner left he wanted to keep on training and kept the gym alive.

He asked me to teach the classes, so did I with pleasure.

If you are ever in Santa Cruz go and visit them. They will be super happy.

Getting here

To get to the Galapagos you will take an airplane either from Quito or from Guayaquil. Before entering the airplane, you need to do some steps. First go to the Galapagos counter and get the Card which costs 20$. After that you need to scan the luggage and then you can check in our bags.

I suggest to fly in on one island and out from another so you can save money and time to not go back. I flew in to San Cristobal and left from Santa Cruz.

The transfers between the island will be done by ferry’s which costs 30$ to go on and of the ferry you will pay 1$ for a water taxi. Also entering the pier costs most of the time 1$. All ferry`s go to Santa Cruz and from there to the other islands. The operate twice a day. In the morning and afternoon.

BJJ

Food and drinks

Based in the middle of the Pacific the Galapagos are a paradise for sea food. You get everything what the fisherman catched in the night fresh on your plate. All kind of fish, Lobster, Octopus and Shrimps.

As well you will find Ceviche which is a raw fish salad made with a lemon sauce. As side dish you will always get rice, cook bananas, French fries or salad.

Empanadas are as everywhere in Ecuador available.

There are also international restaurants, I preferred to have my sea food.

San Cristobal

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands. With a total of 21 islands. Galapagos is based on the equator.

San Cristobal, is the easternmost island in the Galápagos. San Cristobal has an airport behind the city. I flew in here.

This island is the Sea lion paradise on every beach you will find them. On Playa Loberia you find sea turtles who get cleaned by the local fishes.

There is a town around the pier with a lot of shops and restaurants. Here you find 3 beaches that can be reached by a small walk. For the others you will have to take a taxi.

The Galapagos lives from tourism so it’s all about tours. I booked a diving tour to the Kicker Rock.

Isla Isabela

Isla Isabela it`s the biggest island based in the west of the archipelago. It is also the calmest island.  Some of the roads there are made out of sand.

Here you will find a lot of black Iguanas, at the right season flamingos and in the highland the big land turtles.

 I rented a bike one day and drove to the wall of tears. This is a stone wall built by prisoners that lived there. From the wall you can do a little hike to a hill where the US army had a radar during WW2. This is a perfect spot to see over the island.

In the high lands you can do a volcano hike. Sadly, I had no time for that.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz it`s the busiest and second largest island in the Galapagos and based in the center. Puerto Ayora is the island capital. At the pier you find a big amount of stores, tour sellers and restaurants.

The most beautiful beach is the Tortuga bay with the lagoon around the corner. There are people surfing if the conditions are good.

One thing that surprised me here was that you can see baby sharks at the docks. As well you see Iguanas, birds and sea turtles here.

Around 30min taxi drive, a 5min ferry ride followed by a 10min bus drive you will reach the Baltra airport based on a small island.

Diving

As said before Galapagos lives from the tourism. I took the chance to dive here.

We booked a tour to the Kicker Rock. Before reaching the dive spot we went on a beach that’s only reachable by boot and spent there the morning.

Before lunch we headed over to the rock. The fist dive we dove in to the channel between the rocks. We saw an octopus, fishes, a baby Galapagos shark and sea turtles. I was a bit disappointed because there were not more sharks.

The second dive we went to the side of the bigger rock. There were hundreds of fishes. And after a few minutes the sharks came in. we saw Galapagos shark and finally hammerheads. Everybody was here to see them. Also some sea turtles where there and in the end there was a sea lion hunting.

The dives costed 210$ witch is quite expensive but totally worth the money.

Nightlife

The islands have some bars that start playing music by night. Always a good place to be and start the night. In Isabela it`s the pink Iguana, a beach bar that plays music. In Santa Cruz and San Cristobal there is a club named Neptunus. Bongo in Santa Cruz is also a super place to go out.

Good to know

To enter the Island`s you have to pay a 100$ park fee cash as tourist.

Getting around, the best way is to rent a bicycle or by taxi.

The currency is Dollar $.