Galapagos, Santa Cruz Island

Once back on Santa Cruz we found a hotel for the next few days. The early ferry may have been smoother, but it did leave us all very tired. After a short nap we were ready to head out. That day we went to the Charles Darwin research center which is basically another turtle breeding center. Once again we saw turtles in various sizes. There were also some displays on conservation and the Galapagos.

Giant Tortoise at the research center

Iguanas at the research center

The next day we arranged a taxi to go into the highlands. The first stop was to hike through a lava tunnel which is an underground tunnel. It was a bit muddy, but a fun walk.

Entrance to the Lava Tunnel

Inside the Lava Tunnel

Next we went to Rancho Permiso where we put on boots and wandered through muddy trails to find giant tortoises. We ended up finding five. Even without finding the tortoises I think our kids loved walking through the mud in the boots. After we took the boots off we tried on tortoise shells. I was surprised how heavy they are.

Our fashionable boots

Walking through the mud looking for tortoises

We found a big tortoise

And another one

Our boots got pretty muddy

Cleaning off our boots

Tying on the tortoise shell

What a nice tortoise

 Our last stop was to see the craters called Los Gemelos which are actually giant sinkholes instead of craters.

Seth by the sink hole

Our third day we rented snorkel gear and walked to Turtle Bay. The path there was paved and a fairly easy, but long walk.  After about 45 minutes we arrived to find a beautiful bay. The snorkeling wasn't the best so we rented a kayak instead and took turns going further out in the bay where we saw turtles, and rays. I guess we just didn't go out far enough with the snorkel gear. We had a great time there and returned to our hotel mid afternoon ready for a shower to find no water in our hotel. A few hours later it was back on so we could finally shower.

Shark sculptures on the beach

There are lots of black marine iguanas on the rocks

Walking along the beach

Birds at the beach

Jenna

We really liked our time on Santa Cruz and really could have used one more day, but we already had ferry tickets so it was time to more on.

A few other random photos from Santa Cruz.

Golden Rays seen from the boat dock

At night the street is closed and the restaurants move tables into the street

Crab near the dock

Church on Santa Cruz