The next day in Pueto Ayora, I wanted to visit Tortuga bay and do a little self-tour of the island, so I started by hiring a bike from across the road from my accommodation. I nipped into town to Acai bar, which serves vegan coffees (oat latte) and vegan acai bowls, it was delicious, then I headed out towards Tortuga bay. It wasn’t very far along the trail until I saw that I had to leave my bike and continue on foot. So off I went.
The trail was quite long actually, and although it was well sheltered from the sun thanks to the tall trees flanking the path, this made it incredibly hot as there was just no breeze at all. By the time I got to the beach, I was soaked in sweat and certainly ready for a swim!
I did see quite a lot of wildlife on the trail though, lots of little lizards, and many inquisitive (ballsy) birds, which stayed very close to me, they were not scared of humans at all it seemed!
The beach was much choppier than I had imagines actually, the waves were quite rough on the South-facing longer beach. But I strolled over to the West beach, which was a more secluded cove, and the waves there were very quiet and peaceful. On the way to this beach, and to cool down, I did find some other more secluded pools, which had… baby sharks! They were amazing to watch, baby black-tip reef sharks. So adorable!
On the other beach I lay down and had a little rest and chill, people watching, seal watching, and shark watching in the shallows.
I walked over to the far right of the beach, close to the mangroves, hoping to spot more baby sharks, and I did! 2 amazing baby black-tips were swimming in the shallows here, and you could just about make out some larger white tip sharks (or tintoreras) just sleeping on the bottom.
I wanted to see if I could spot more sharks, and had heard maybe even baby hammerhead sharks congragate here, in the safety of the mangrove forests, so I hired a kayak and went out searching in the bay, sticking to the mangroves. I did see a few sharks, but not as many as I hoped, and no hammerheads 😦 but it was a lovely end to the morning.
After returning the kayak, I headed back up the trail towards my bike. I had wanted to visit the highlands of Santa Cruz, and ideally find some giant land tortoises. I had read online that it was quite popular to get a pick-up truck taxi to take you (and your bike) up to the highlands and to a Reserve, then after the visit you basically free-wheel it all the way down the hill back into the town. So I did this. I found a pick-up taxi straight away, and asked him to take me to Cerro Mesa Eco Reserve in the highlands.
There was a lovely circular bike route around the park and I saw several HUGE giant tortoises, as well as massive craters/sink holes and some ponies as well. There was also a few really nice viewpoints up here.
I stopped for lunch here too, and had amazing vegan taco and patacones.
The bike ride home was lovely too, through many little villages. The roads were amazing too, very smooth, and I certainly tested the brakes a lot, as the road was very steep at some points. But I got back to town quite quikly really after a long, hot, but amazing day, with a sore bum and sunburned forehead! haha
You can see the video for this day here:
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