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As I stared through the small opening of a cave-like structure, I spotted a small brown barn owl perched on a beam with its eyes squeezed shut. I was on the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos archipelago, just outside a lava tube formed by a volcanic eruption long ago. I was expecting to see animals—sea lions, penguins, tortoises, and blue-footed boobies—but a barn owl was not on my list. But my guide, Mario, informed me that this was also a special species endemic to the islands: the Galapagos barn owl is one of the world’s smallest and can only be seen here.
Had I been on a cruise of the Galapagos, it’s unlikely I would have seen this special owl. We had been tramping around Santa Cruz island all day, spending much more time here than most visitors do because our hotel, Pikaia Lodge, is located on the island. All Galapagos guides, including Mario, are freelance, but Pikaia Lodge requires them to have 15 years’ experience and thus, they seem to know all the land-based hidden gems and secret animal hideouts better than most. In all, 98 percent of Pikaia’s staff are from Santa Cruz.
Like many people, a trip to the Galapagos has been on my bucket list for years. I’m an animal lover, and the idea of seeing multiple endemic species up close, in a protected area, was thrilling. However, I’m not a boat person. Though I can enjoy a short sail or kayak, I’m also prone to seasickness. The mere thought of being and sleeping on a boat for days on end makes my chest tighten. Therefore, I assumed I would probably never see the Galapagos—or at least not without a lot of medications. It never occurred to me that I could do a land-based trip, so when I learned about Pikaia, I knew I had to go.
Pikaia Lodge is one of several hotels on the island of Santa Cruz, which is one of the four inhabited islands of the Galapagos along with San Cristobal, Isabela, and Floreana—all of which also have hotels. But Pikaia is known as the most luxurious, and it’s the only Relais Chateaux member in the archipelago. This means that at Pikaia—which has 14 gorgeous rooms with stunning views of a plant-filled crater, an award-winning restaurant featuring locally sourced food (not a thing on a cruise), and a breathtaking spa that gave me one of the best treatments I’ve ever had—guests can experience ultimate comfort and luxury as well as complete control over their itinerary. Pikaia Lodge is the only hotel with its own yacht (other hotels contract out to local boat owners) so each guest is given a luxe cabin to rest in for the day.
After all, even a land-based Galapagos trip should involve at least some island-hopping. The Galapagos Archipelago consists of nineteen islands, and as Darwin discovered, each one has several unique, endemic species. With Mario, I spent time on Bartolomé and North Seymour islands, as well as Santa Cruz, where we snorkeled with Galapagos species of sea lions, sea turtles, rays, and penguins; observed blue-footed boobies with their babies and frigate birds performing a mating dance; spotted lava lizards, marine iguanas, and lightfoot crabs; and saw and learned all about giant land tortoises. I definitely got my typical Galapagos wildlife trip—but I also got so much more.
While a land-based Galapagos excursion is arguably more sustainable (travelers who sleep in island hotels have a lower carbon footprint than those constantly at sea), it also offers travelers the ability to connect with and support local people and businesses. Land-based visitors tend to engage more with locally owned restaurants, shops, and outfitters, and can learn more about the local culture and communities—yes, people really do live in the Galapagos.
Indeed, some of the best parts of my visit were exploring Santa Cruz, the most populous island of the archipelago: I spent one morning at the Charles Darwin Research Station, which focuses on giant land tortoise breeding, and an afternoon discovering the charming town of Puerto Ayora.
I ambled the streets, popping into shops like Chocolapagos, which uses Ecuadorian-grown cacao beans in its tortoise-shaped chocolates. As owner and chocolatier Juan Daniel Navarro plied me with samples, I learned that he sources locally grown beans from places like Hacienda Victoria in Guayaquil, the mainland gateway to the Galapagos, which works to protect the Ecuadorian Cacao Nacional Arriba bean, and Costa Esmeraldas Cacao Co., an award-winning estate in Esmeraldas that works to rehabilitate cattle pastures and single-crop plantations into diverse agroforestry systems where cacao is planted alongside fruit and local trees, in order to improve soil structure and resiliency while providing diversified income for farmers.
Did I expect to learn about and taste Ecuadorian cacao in the Galapagos? It hadn’t occurred to me. But it certainly enriched my trip.
When I wandered into Samay, which sells beautiful handcrafted items by local artisans, I was thrilled to discover paintings by Santa Cruz residents Tatjana Angermeyer, Magno Bennett, and Nina Lempenauer. In addition to paintings, the store carries everything from handmade hats, sweaters, and leather bags to wooden utensils, jewelry, and sculptures. Owners Paola and Martin Leguisamo first owned a gallery in town for 20 years before opening this shop in 2020.
Later, I stumbled on the (tiny) local fish market. Customers chatted as the bold resident pelican and two lounging sea lions waited for scraps. Two land iguanas stalked by as pedestrians avoided stepping on them.
On my last day, after we left the secret barn owl, we headed to Tortuga Bay, a local beach only accessible via hike, ensuring its pristine waters remain clear. At the beach, we kayaked, picnicked, and swam with the locals—both human and marine.
At the end of the day, we were handed baby scalesia trees by the entrance to Pikaia. The lodge, which was formerly a cattle pasture of only grass, has been planting the native trees since 2010, and there are now over 11,000 of them, creating a new endemic forest on the island. As I sank my hands into the soil and nestled my tiny tree into the shallow hole, I felt a sense of connection to the land and community. I wasn’t just floating around it on a boat, I was digging in.
