Gorgeous Galapagos Islands: Santa Cruz

Welcome to the beautiful island of Santa Cruz! After a brief stay in Quito, we flew down to the Galapagos Islands.  We decided not to go on a cruise, instead we did “island hopping”, where we travelled from island to island.

We first visited the island of Santa Cruz.  This island in the Galapagos is the most popular place to live with a population of approximately 12,000 people. Santa Cruz also has the longest paved road in the Galapagos islands. Now join me as we travel around this lovely island and learn more fascinating facts!

Charles Darwin

One of the most famous scientists to visit the Galapagos Islands was Charles Darwin. He went on a five year trip onboard the HMS Beagle as the ship’s naturalist in 1831. The boat sailed around the coast of South America and through the Galapagos. Charles noticed how animals on different islands were similar but had adapted to their environments. He mainly noticed this with the finches which have been named Darwin’s finches in his honour. In his lifetime, he wrote over 20 books about his theories including “On The Origin of Species“, “Voyage of the Beagle“, and “The Descent of Man“.

On the island of Santa Cruz, the Charles Darwin Foundation was formed and has been protecting wildlife for over 50 years. This foundation found the last surviving Pinta Island giant tortoise known around the world as Lonesome George. There is a focus on other species of giant tortoises which are bred in captivity to keep them from becoming extinct. The Charles Darwin foundation has won many international awards for it’s efforts in preservation.

When we visited, we saw many giant tortoises.  They reminded us of the ones we saw in Zanzibar on Prison Island, except the turtles here had a lot more space.  We also saw the enclosure which used to house Lonesome George.  There were also many giant iguanas in different colours like yellow, brown, and black.

Twin Craters

The Twin Craters (Los Gemelos in Spanish) are very interesting formations. They were formed by the collapse of empty magma chambers from some of the many volcanoes on the islands. They are side by side so are referred to as twins. Today, they are filled with trees and many plants. They remind me of the Ngorogoro Crater in Tanzania where we went on a game drive.

The layers of rock on the crater wall

One of the birds living near the craters

Zoe and I with one of the two craters

After visiting the craters, we journeyed to another turtle sanctuary.  Here we had to wear rubber boots because of the mud and a possibility of fire ants.  We were able to get really close to the animals which was really neat.

Lava Tunnel

There are many lava tunnels around the island, but the one we went in was 2250 meters long, the second longest tunnel in South America (or so they say)! These tunnels are formed when there is a lava flow and the lava at the surface turns solid and the lava underneath stays hot and continues to flow creating the tunnels. We explored the tunnel with flashlights and headlamps and felt like adventurers! It was a lot of fun.

Starting our adventure

Travelling through the tunnel

The end is in sight!

The Pier

One of our favourite activities at night was to walk to the pier and watch the animals. We were able to see penguins swimming around, pelicans and blue footed boobies diving for fish, and sea lions hunting. The sea lions also came out of the water and lay on the docks and on benches. It was a lot of fun to see them come waddling out of the water on their flippers! 🙂  We also noticed many colourful crabs clinging to the sides of the dock and on many rocks near the water.  They looked like little jewels except with pincers!

Crabs on the rocks

Some of the crabs near the dock

A sea lion lying on the dock close to us

A pelican

An iguana closeup

Many iguanas hanging out together

The Fish Market

As we’ve been travelling around the world, we’ve seen many different kinds of markets which are all unique and fun to visit. The fish market near the Santa Cruz harbour was really fascinating and pretty entertaining. For starters, there was a huge flock of pelicans waiting around for a fisherman to drop something or throw them some scraps. There would be a big fight over the fish and the bird who had some had to move away to eat in peace!

There were also sea lions waiting around too, but the fishermen aren’t allowed to throw them any scraps. Still, the sea lions try to get as close to the fish as possible and one ended up sitting on a lady’s foot! It was eventually pushed out of the way with a crate.

Tortuga Bay

This is a beautiful beach which is popular but isn’t too crowded. There is a long well maintained brick path which is swept regularly by volunteers which leads to the beach. After about 30 minutes on the path, one arrives at Beach 1. This first beach isn’t good for swimming because there are huge waves and a strong undertow. But if one walks down Beach 1 for about 15 minutes, one comes to Beach 2. This beach is a sheltered cove so there are really tiny waves perfect for swimming. This beach isn’t crowded and we had a lot of fun spending the day here in the water and building sandcastles.

Exploring this island was a lot of fun. It was great to see how well the environment is protected and how the animals are a part of everyday life. Santa Cruz is a great island and an excellent start to our Galapagos adventures.