Very early the next morning, our group boarded a couple of speed boats that took us from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz Island. It took about two hours and many of us slept on the ride. After we arrived, we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then walked to the Charles Darwin Research Station.
There they are breeding Giant Tortoises for eventual release back into the wild. We got to see both adults and babies. Tortoise shells have rings on them like trees, but they lose rings as they age instead of gaining them. The tortoises on each island have a unique shell shape. Some curve up like a saddle to allow the tortoise to reach higher vegetation.
Others have a more traditional shell shape because they don’t need to be able to reach high for the vegetation on their island. We saw a couple different kinds of shells. We also saw Lonesome George, the last known Pinta Island tortoise in the world. He died in 2012, but his body has been preserved to show his unique shell. It was so amazing to see the tortoises in real life and to be able to compare the shells of the different islands.
In addition to the tortoises, we got to see a land iguana at the Research Station. Unlike the dark colored marine iguanas, land iguanas are more orange and yellow. We toured a little visitor’s center there, which had a display about the history of Galapagos that was was interesting to read, although it was all in Spanish, so I could only understand some of it.
After lunch we got on a water taxi and hiked to Las Grietas (The Cracks), a narrow brackish lagoon in between two canyon walls. There, we swam and explored the lagoon. We saw huge parrotfish and a few marine iguanas. It was a totally unique experience and I had a great time!
On the way back we stopped at a little beach and some people went swimming again. I enjoyed some free time at the hotel before heading to dinner and then to bed.
See below for lots more photos of the day, including many photos of tortoises!
Iguana crossing sign
Morgan Sherwood 
Cool to see the saddle-shaped shells! Interesting why they developed those, to get to higher ground. Your portraits of the tortoises seem to reveal their moods and personalities, but perhaps that’s mostly my own imagination?
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The turtle is a curious beast! Some of them have faces that look like ET. Interesting to see how they rest their neck – I wonder where all that neck does when they pull in their head… Your photos show a wide range of poses and expressions. I’m so glad you have had the “up close and personal” experiences of the remarkable creatures of the Galapagos!
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