Originally Posted by
JDiver
Thanks for the information.
What is this “needless ferry ride” you speak of? These are islands, and the only way to get between islands and to Baltra is by boat. Santa Cruz is home to the Charles Darwin Research Station and most land-based touring, and though you can bus to the north you still have the Itabaca Channel.
San Cristobal is another major island in the Galapagos. Very worth visiting, and much quieter than the main island of Santa Cruz (which, as you say, is connected to the primary Galapagos airport, Baltra, by a short ferry ride). Unless you have no interest in visiting San Cristobal (and you should, it's a good destination) you'd want to fly into one airport and out the other so you don't have to go back and forth by boat, which takes a few hours. Kind of like if you're visiting Maui and the Big Island, it would make sense to fly into one and out the other to save yourself an inter-island flight.