Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Our first stop in The Galapagos was the island of Santa Cruz. This is the birthplace of the Theory of Evolution. In 1835, Charles Darwin came to these volcanic islands and noticed how different the birds and animals were from the mainland of South America.

It is not surprising that Darwin would design his theories here, of all places. The land is mostly dried lava. The vegetation is thorny. It is located 700 miles from the continental mainland. How could it support any life? How did the animals get here? Why are they so big? Many of the animals are unique to The Galapagos - the blue-footed boobies, the marine iguana, the flightless cormorant, Darwin finches, and the frigate birds with the red bellies. This is also the most northern location in the world to find penguins.

September is off-season here - and admittedly not the best month to come if you want warm weather and sunny skies. There are 3 main currents running through the islands at different times of years - each bringing their pros and cons. We happened to be there for the Humboldt Current, bringing very cold water from Antarctica to The Galapagos. With it, come the benefits of nutrient rich water and biodiversity. To translate - the best snorkeling I’ve ever done, easily accessible, and pretty much guaranteed to see incredible diversity. While it rained every day, we were still fortunate to have some sun each day. But don’t be fooled by the pictures. The air was mostly cool and the water was freezing. I mean, it was shockingly cold - a warm wetsuit is much-needed and very appreciated!

Day 1 Snorkeling: The Bahia

We took a tour to explore the land and sea with an expert. This first brought us to Las Grietas - a grotto of lava fissures forming two stone walls and crystal clear water between them. We went snorkeling here and saw colorful fish.

More impressive was the milky green color of the next grotto - Canal del Amor. The color is really striking - we all gasped when we first saw it. This is a very short boat ride from the prior grotto.

While we went to the Canal de los Tiburones (Shark Canal) on Santa Cruz, we didn’t see many sharks at this time. This wildly contrasted the shark canal on Isabela - more on that in the next post!

Our last stop was at Playa de Los Perros. There so many iguanas here. They blend into the lava rock so it is hard to spot them. Our most common comments while here - and in The Galapagos, in general - were, "Watch out for the iguana" so you don't step on one. And "how many iguanas do you think are in that pile?" They are literally everywhere and they don't move much. So, as you are walking down a path, street, or beach, you can come very close to stepping on these dinosaur-like creatures. They may glare at you, but they don't bite.

Guess how many iguanas you can see in this photo? Hint: There are more than 20

On the way home, we saw some blue-footed boobies. I was surprised that I couldn't find a onesie for Zander saying, "I love boobies" with this bird. (They only had these shirts in adult sizes.)

Day 2 Snorkeling: Isla Santa Fe

This was definitely a highlight of our time on Santa Cruz. The water was gorgeous, crystal clear, and even more fish were visible above the water than in it. The most fun experience was snorkeling with sea lions. I was surprised by how playful they are. We are seemingly the spectacle for them, not vice versa. There was a sea lion which kept swimming up to me - one time I thought that it was going to swim right into me, but just before colliding, it quickly turned. It was amazing to play with the wildlife so intimately.

A pregnant sea lion tending to its family. There are a bunch of pups around, which they take care of for 1 year.

Here we also saw the sea lions tending to their pups, sun bathing on the beach, and feeding each other. At home in Sausalito, we have a lot of harbor seals. The main difference is their ears and how sea lions walk on their fins. Sea lions are pretty agile animals on land too, actually. They walk rather than slither.

Jonah and Dashiell went snorkeling with eagle rays. A group of rays is called a fever - there must have been 20 in this fever. While the visibility was kind of poor within the water - once we looked from the boat you could see them all in the shallow water.

Once again, you can see so much wildlife without going into the frigid water. I think that Imogen was relieved that she didn't have to go in after hearing how cold we were upon return. At one point, we had to swim in pairs. I stayed behind with "the littles" while Jonah went out with Dashiell. Neither would get back into the water for my turn - it was just too cold. Luckily, the view from the top was also awesome!

The skies cleared and the water turned into a beautiful turquoise color.

And the boys had fun once they warmed up.

I was really impressed by the kids. Dashiell turned into a fish - he loves being in the water. The cold is off-putting, but he still goes right in. Imogen can’t swim, so she couldn’t join us snorkeling, but she could see so many fish from the boat that it didn’t matter. Imogen expressed no jealousy that Dashiell can do more than her - she just keeps saying that she can do it all when she “is bigger” with a huge smile on her face. Baby Zander seems to love the adventures. He sleeps, eats, and smiles through them all.

Day 3: Tortuga Bay

The island has a really nice path from town to the beach (about a 2 mile walk). Once you hit the beach, there is a gorgeous, empty white sand beach. We were the only ones there (benefits to off-season travel!). While it was enticing, this was not the main attraction. At the end of the beach is a path to a protected beach, perfect for kids. Imogen and I took a kayak out and spotted rays and sea turtles from the kayak.

Scroll to see all the pictures of the white sand beach and Tortuga Bay.

And let's not forget our favorite game - how many iguanas are in this pile?

Day 4: The Tortoise Reserve

There is a lot of effort on The Galapagos to preserve the turtles. Both the Darwin Institute and various tortoise farms have programs to raise the tortoises until they are 6 years old. At that point, they have fewer predators on the island and can live in relative safety. Without these programs, most of the tortoises would die. This nearly happened when the tortoises were taken by pirates, Spaniards, and various sailors as food by the hundreds of thousands. Today, if you kill a tortoise intentionally, the jail sentence is the same as killing a human.

Our takeaways from Santa Cruz, Galapagos:

Jonah:

• I expected the islands to be more lush. I'm surprised by how arid they are - the dominant species is cactus.

• I also didn’t expect the blue footed boobies to have feet as bright blue as they are. Why are they blue?

Dashiell:

• the giant tortoises can grow to be huge! They can weigh up to 140k - Lonesome George weighs almost the same as Dad!

• Surprised when I saw how many iguanas there are here. I knew that there would be a lot - but not this many!

Imogen:

• While on a call with Grandpa, I said “We saw giant turtles today.” Imogen to me, “No Mom, they were tortoises!” Corrected by a 2-year-old! (In my defense, "tortuga" is both turtle and tortoise in Spanish.)

Jill/me:

• Naive of me, but I didn't realize that the theory of evolution by Darwin was conceived here.

• You can see more fish now, but man is it cold! Brrr. If only you could have both the incredible array of wildlife and the warm weather at the same time!

• The sea lions are so playful. They aren't afraid of people - they like to swim with us and hang out. I befriended one on land.

I'm ending this post with some cuteness of Baby Zander and Imogen. He's trying so hard to crawl. At this point, he has mastered the baby swim stroke. Perhaps he has been observing us snorkeling.

Up Next - Isla Isabela in The Galapagos.