Up one level Ecuador, 9 - 25 December 2007 » Galapagos -- Santiago, Bartolome, and Santa Cruz

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:

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.

_mg_3696 The Monserrat II on Sullivan Bay off Santiago _mg_3706 Marine Iguana on Bartolome _mg_3714 Members of the Monserrat II on Sullivan Bay off Bartolome _mg_3755 Lava lizard on the Sullivan Bay beach at Santiago _mg_3781 Richard behind a Lava Cactus at Sullivan Bay on Santiago _mg_3794 Lava flow at Sullivan Bay on Santiago crw_8759 Eu-Jin on the lava flow off Sullivan Bay at Santiago. Taken by Serene Koh. _mg_3798 Photographing Galapagos penguins at Bartolome _mg_3812 Eileen and Serene on Bartolome _mg_3813 Standard Bartolome landscape photo _mg_3830 Land Tortoise on Santa Cruz _mg_3845 Land Tortoises on Santa Cruz _mg_3882 Land Tortoise on Santa Cruz _mg_3902 Yawning Land Tortoise on Santa Cruz _mg_3908 Land Tortoise on Santa Cruz _mg_3916 Land Tortoise drinking on Santa Cruz _mg_3925 Do not touch the tortoises _mg_3947 Hungry land tortoise on Santa Cruz _mg_3962 Ray in a land tortoise shell on Santa Cruz _mg_3986 Marine Iguana on Santa Cruz _mg_3995 Marine Iguana eating algae on Santa Cruz _mg_4015 Baby land tortoise at the Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz crw_8770 Eu-Jin photographing a marine iguana on Santa Cruz. Taken by Serene Koh. _mg_4067 Marine Iguana chilling out on a pier on Santa Cruz _mg_4078 Marine Iguanas hanging out on Santa Cruz _mg_4080 Marine Iguanas hanging out on Santa Cruz