Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - Santa Cruz, Tuesday May 14th and morning of Wednesday May 15th
Santa Cruz is our fourth and final Galapagos Island (assuming you don't count the airport island of Baltra, which is just a short ferry ride away). This is the real heart of the Galapagos, with the largest population, the busiest harbour and a great mural depicting the history of the islands, incorporating pirates, Charles Darwin (and a Darwin finch), the Bishop of Panama (who discovered the islands) and modern-day tourists.
Whilst we have seen occasional giant tortoises by the roadside in Isabela, Santa Cruz gives us many more opportunities to see them roaming around in the wild, wandering through the woods and beside a lake bursting with pink algae.
We leave the tortoises behind for more kayakking from Garrapaterro beach, during the course of which we see turtles and their nests on the beach, a solitary marine iguana crossing another deserted beach, various turtles poking their heads above the waves and a variety of birds soaring overhead and alongside the kayak, including some very pterodactyl-esque pelicans. Our barbecue lunch at the Garrapaterro campsite also attracts a few Galapagos gulls, eager for scraps - the only grey gulls in the world.
Our final hours on Santa Cruz are spent walking around the Charles Darwin Research Centre - a sprawling research centre, which incorporates another giant tortoise breeding programme and marine iguana pens, as well as the former corral of celebrity tortoise/ conservation symbol Lonesome George, who has been usurped post-mortem by a more virile male tortoise called Diego, apparently on a one-tortoise crusade to maintain the species by energetically mating with as many females as possible. The frenzy of feeding giant tortoises clambering over each other (complete with loud clacking noises) to reach the tastiest food has to be seen and heard to be believed.
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