Galapagos Islands
Galapagos, Santa Cruz Island
North of Bellavista is the national-park land known as the highlands. A footpath from Bellavista leads toward Cerro Crocker and other hills and extinct volcanoes. This is a good chance to see the vegetation of the Scalesia, Miconia and femsedge zones and to look for birds such as the vermilion flycatcher or the elusive Galapagos rail and paintbilled crake.
Conway Bay situated on the northwestern shore of Santa Cruz close to the islet of Eden , Conway Bay is an excellent location for viewing sea lions. The visit will most likely be a private one for your group, as most boats do not include this visitor site in their tour of the islands.
Cerro Dragon was recently opened by the National Park and a growing number of boats include Daragon Hill in their itineraries. After a dry landing at a adock, the whales takes you to a hypersalinic (saltier than the ocean) lagoon behind the beach, often frequented by flamingos. The trail then leads up a windings trail to Dragon Hill, which offers a great view of the bay. This area serves as a nesting site to a growing number of land iguanas. So far, most of the growth is not exactly natural, as many of these iguanas were repatriated from The Charles Darwin Research Station.
There is no landing site in Black Turtle Cove, which is normally visited by panga (small boats) ride. The cove has many little inlets and is surrounded by mangroves, where you can see lava herons and pelicans. The ain attraction is in the water: marine turtles are sometimes seen mating, schools of golden lustard rays are often present, and white tipped sharks may be seen basking in the snallows. It makes a very pleasant change to visit a marine site in a panga instead of walking. This site is occasionally visited by day boats from Puerto Ayora. The nearby Las Bachas beach, although popular for sunbathing and swimming, is often deserted.
The Whale Bay is located on the western coast of Santa Cruz, Bahia Ballena is not landed on as much as it is pointed out from the boat as a navigational and historical landmark (going back to the days of the piratesand whalers). continues...
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San Cristobal Island
This 558-sq-km island is the fifth-largest in the archipelago and has the second-largest population...
