For those like us that get seasick easily on long cruises, Santa Cruz Galapagos is a welcome island to stretch your legs, visit villages with real people and keep off your cruise ship for a few days.

This Santa Cruz map shows you the second biggest of the Galapagos Islands (only Isla Isabela is bigger) with an area of 986 km². Isla Santa Cruz is actually a large dormant volcano with a maximum altitude of 864 meters.

We reached its harbor Puerto Ayora which has the largest human population on the Galapagos islands. The best news however is that this island has many hotels, so you can say goodbye to your cruise ship cabine and enjoy solid ground under your feet for as log as you stay.

Lots of things to see and to do on Isla Santa Cruz Galapagos, we especially enjoyed our bike-rides. Of course there is the Charles Darwin Research Station with Lonesome George – the very last tortoise of his particular species from Pinta Island – and many other giant tortoise preserves.

On a funny note: although Santa Cruz houses the Charles Darwin Research Station, Charles Darwin himself never set foot on this island!

But best of all: Santa Cruz Galapagos is a great place to be when you are not used in sailing for days on the sea like me I will post what we did exactly in Santa Cruz in my next post.

Technorati Tags: cruise ship, cruises, Galapagos, isla santa cruz, isla santa cruz galapagos, real people, santa cruz, santa cruz galapagos, santa cruz galapagos islands, santa cruz map, welcome island

In order to enjoy South Plaza island the fullest, you need to arrive before the tourists arrive. That means early in the morning greeted by the sea lion colony on the coast and with a lovely sunrise.

The night however from Genovesa Island Galapagos to South Plaza in our little Galapagos cruise was tough: we needed to take 2 and a half tablet of Primatour in order not to get too seasick. But all that was well worth the early arrival: a beautiful sunrise, sea lions, land iguanas and even another blue footed booby.

South Plaza island is famous for it’s typical vegetation: pear cactus trees make the "opuntia cactus forests" and "sesuvium" grows at ground level. It’s red from  June till January and green during the rainy season. Sesuvium is the main nourishment for the large colony of "grazing" land iguanas on South Plaza Island.

A little bit of snorkeling with the awesome sea lions and off we went towards close by Isla Santa Cruz.

Technorati Tags: Galapagos, Galapagos Cruise, galapagos islands, land iguanas, plaza sur, sea lion, sea lion colony, south plaza, south plaza island, sunrise, tourists

For underwater adventurers, Galapagos Island diving offers thriving reefs, marine life and the best underwater visibility on Earth! Diving for divers of all skill levels and extreme fun diving with the sea lions.

Visibility when diving in Galapagos can go to 30 meter or about 100 feet! This is partially due to the fact that around 70,000 square kilometers of Galapagos islands: the marine areas are protected far enough out of the way to make the destruction of this environment less likely.

Galapagos tours for diving cater for everybody, but due to strong currents, many dive areas are much more appropriate for intermediate and advanced divers. The most impressive dive experiences I had were at about 20 to 30 m deep.

I found the water to be warmer than on the Great Barrier Reef, but do ask the experienced divers on these Galapagos tours for their opinion. It could get as cold as 13 degrees Celsius when you descend to 20 to 30 m. Snorkeling at the surface is fun in water between 18 to 30 degrees Celsius throughout the year.

Since the Galapagos Islands are protected for hunting, expect an enormous variety of marine life: I managed to see lost of reef fish, some sharks, sea lions and even a whale shark!

All in all you should at least snorkel in the Galapagos islands to have an idea of the marine life underneath your cruise ship. For more experienced divers, Galapagos Island diving is a must do for a few days.

Technorati Tags: diving, Galapagos, galapagos island, galapagos island diving, galapagos islands, island diving, reefs, sea lions