A Giant Tortoise slowly wondering around the woodland
The carapace acting as a built in umbrella
But they certainly show no signs of minding the wet.
Our next destination was some Lava Tunnels. They are formed when the outside of a lava stream cools and sets, the hot lava inside continues to run through the tube that is formed.
Inside a lava tunnel with Hugh and Annie from the Yacht Vega who are also travelling to New Zealand
For much of the tunnel the ceiling was between 5 and 10 metres high, we had been warned it was very low in one place, but hadn't quite expected this!
Hugh crawling through the lowest part of the tunnel. We emerged with considerable amounts of black grit on our hands, knees and elbows.
Annie and Ian emerge from the tunnel
There are also places on the island where huge craters have been formed by the collapse of the surface rock due to deeper volcanic action , almost as if giant bubbles of the earth's surface have burst.
Los Gemelos pit crater on Santa Cruz
An hour's walk from Santa Cruz took us to Tortuga Bay - a path had been built through the volcanic terrain which gradually changed from scrubby bushes to cacti as we got nearer the beach.
Heading for the beach
The amazing Cacti Trees
As the Cacti mature, the trunks loose their spines and become more like pine trees
And finally we get to the beach - miles of white sand, carefully marked Sea Turtle nests and lots and lots of Marine Iguanas
Like most of the creatures on Galapagos, the Marine Iguanas totally ignored us and went about their business - walking across the beach and going for a swim.
This really is the sea, not a swimming pool.
And warming up on the rocks after their swim.
Even the crabs here seem more exotic, and they are the only creatures that seem to have any sense of caution - they scuttle for cover as soon as you move anywhere near them
We went for a second Galapagos Scuba Dive when we were on Santa Cruz - again we were not disappointed.
We saw several White Tipped Sharks - luckily they were not too interested in us
The Sea Stars are more exotic than anything we came across in the Caribbean
Yellow Tailed Surgeonfish - and even the barnacles on the rocks are five times the size of any others we've ever seen
The turtles ignored us to the extent we had to avoid them, but the sea lions again came to have a good look at us, zooming up and then bearing away at the last second. Again they really seemed to be enjoying the game.
And finally, no trip to Santa Cruz would be complete with out a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station - there is much information about the ecology of the islands and explanations on the efforts of conservation and restoration, and also another Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre.
There is also an entire unit devoted to Lonesome George, the last surviving Pinta Tortoise. He lived for over 100 years and after be was brought to Santa Cruz many attempts were made to find him a mate of different sub species but sadly although eggs were laid, none hatched. He passed away in 2012 and his remains are kept in a specially air conditioned room where he remains on display as a symbol of conservation efforts not only in Galapagos but the rest of the world.
Lonesome George, the last of his kind
There are plenty more sights on the island worthy of mention, but we plan to move on to Isabella in a couple of days. Tomorrow we have booked to go on a snorkelling trip to Santa Fe, one of the smaller islands that can only be visited with an official guide, hopefully we will also see more blue footed boobies, sea lions, rays and sharks.
As always we have been keeping an eye on the weather. The photo above shows a recent forecast - the scale at the bottom right shows the key to the wind strength - and we are in a blue bit. In fact the Doldrums extend much of the way to the Marquesas, our next destination, so we really need to wait a bit for a weather window as we carry about 500 miles of fuel, not 3,000. There are worse places to be stuck!
Next stop ... Isabella Island
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