Santa Cruz Island

Today we woke up anchored in Academy Bay. Looking through our windows we saw houses and many boats. Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Archipelago and the most populated. The morning was spent visiting the breeding center of giant tortoises and the headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Station. Here, we learned about the conservation efforts the National Park has been doing in order to recover, conserve and protect all the different ecosystems on our islands.

We saw many types of giant tortoises, including the very famous Lonesome George and Super Diego. We enjoyed time walking in town, before taking buses to the highlands. Once there, we walked through a lava tunnel and enjoyed a delicious lunch.

In the afternoon, we explored the highlands looking for giants tortoises. Later on, we arrived at the ever-green Scalesia forest. We saw many interesting plants during our walk. This area is known as Los Gemelos because of the presence of two huge sink holes. After our busy day, we headed back to Puerto Ayora and the National Geographic Islander.