Galapagos -- Santiago, Bartolome, and Santa Cruz
After Genovesa, we sailed overnight to Santiago and it was a rough night; not many people slept well. The itinerary for this section was:
- Day 3: Santiago - Sullivan Bay, Bartolome - summit
- Day 4: Santa Cruz - Puerto Ayora, Land Tortoise Reserve, Charles Darwin Station
We anchored in Sullivan Bay and did a short boat ride to see the Galapagos penguins before landing on Santiago for a short walk on the lava fields. We also snorkeled in Sullivan Bay along the lava fields where the visibility was quite good. While snorkeling, we saw a Pacific Green Turtle swimming leisurely near us, as well as larged marbled rays and other colorful fish. After lunch, we landed on Bartolome for a short walk up to the summit to get the classic Galapagos landscape view. After Bartolome, we sailed on to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz the same day.
Half the tourists on the boat got off at Puerto Ayora because they had signed up for the shorter 4 day trip and were replaced by new 5-day tour members. We visited the Tortoise Reserve on Santa Cruz and it was our first encounter with the amazing giant land tortoises. The land tortoises were slightly more afraid of humans than the other species but you could still get very close to them. In the afternoon, we visited the Charles Darwin Station to see more land tortoises; we thought it was a little disappointing after having earlier visited the tortoise reserve where there were more tortoises and hardly any other tourists.
