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.

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Since lots of visitors are asking me who discovered the Galapagos Islands, let me give you 5 names of importance.

The Incas discovered the Galapagos Islands

Of course you expect western history books to mention a western name when it comes to discovering the America’s or Galapagos.

Most likely though, the Incas already discovered the Galapagos Islands as early as the 15th century. But since no Inca ruins where found on Galapagos nor any written Inca document, this discovery is merely classified as a legend.

Of course there are no written Inca documents found as the Incas didn’t have a written language in the first place, or so we tend to believe.

I mean: if I go on holiday, I do bring souvenirs, so if you are a bit smart and turn my house up side down, you will easily find out which places I have visited. No need to read my blogs nor journals!

The legend goes that Inca king Tupac Yupanqui on his voyage to the west discovery two "Islands of Fire". Some people do believe he discovered Easter Island though…

Tomás de Berlanga discovered the Galapagos Islands

In the 16th century, after the discovery of America, Tomás de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama was sailing to Peru. His ship was drifting without wind, went off course by the currents and landed on the "Galapagos Islands".

The year was 1535 and unhappy to say the least: Tomás de Berlanga stranded on an island without much water.

He didn’t bother to give the island a name and described it as:

"I do not think there is a place where one might sow a bushel of corn because most of it is full of very big stones and the earth is much like dross, worthless, because it has not the power of raising a little grass."

Of course nowadays everybody trained in survival skills knows to find fresh water on the Galapagos Islands by following the tortoise paths.

Ortelius discovered the Galapagos Islands

Ortelius was the first to name the islands Galapagos Islands, named after the giant saddleback tortoises.

In 1570, the name "Insulae de los Galopegos"
appeared for the first time on Ortelius’s world map.

Ambrose Cowley discovered the Galapagos Islands

Because the Spanish were transporting gold from the Americas to Europe, the English began pirating them. This made the Galapagos Islands an ideal hideaway for the English pirates and buccaneers.

In 1684, buccaneers Ambrose Cowley drew the first navigation chart of the Galapagos Islands and named each of them. A small islet east of Isabela still bears Cowley’s name.

Since fresh water is crucial to the survival of the pirates, it was clearly stated on those maps as Buccaneer Cove on the northwest end of Santiago.

Darwin discovered the Galapagos Islands

Darwin only visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835 but made the Islands famous because of Darwin’s famous theories like:

• the "survival of the fittest" and
   
• "all live evolved out of one entity".

Did you already discover the Galapagos Islands?

Please leave a comment if you ever visited Galapagos so we can add you to our list of people who discovered the Galapagos Islands.

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Even more romantic: sometimes you can have this beach entirely for yourself!

Now some people do have funny ideas to tempt Darwin’s survival of the fittest theories…

Survival of the fittest? …

Please do not leave anything behind, where-ever you go (on the entire planet) than your footsteps!

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Birds and all animals for that matter never encountered hostile humans, so you can really come up close and personal with the animals you want to observe and take marvelous pictures (depending on your photography skills of course).

Galapagos Flycatcher

Just have a look at this Galapagos Flycatcher: couldn’t get any closer than that!

This Galapagos flycatcher (Myiarchus magnirostris) was exceptionally bold and curious. After first sitting on the hat of our Galapagos National Park Naturalist Guide, the flycatcher went and visited the heads of most of us.

Picture taken at Post Office Beach during my visit to the Post Office Barrel on Floreana Island.

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I took a flight from Amsterdam to Quito, but we had to stop in Bonaire and Guayaquil.

It’s a "relatively" short flight: less than 10 hours later we arrived in Bonaire to stretch our legs… Then another 2.5hour flight to Guayaquil and yet another half an hour to Quito…

All in all not easy to reach (and then you are still not at the Galapagos islands) but you are in need of a good night rest!

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Frigate Birds in Galapagos and beyond are the only sea birds that are not waterproofed!

Frigate birds produce hardly any oil and therefore don’t want to land in the ocean. They do attack and rob other seabirds of their fish.

Since they are never in the sea, you will notice them up in the air: they are those large black birds looking like big black kites. And they perform a fast and amazing display when they dive after fish dropped by other seabirds.

Their body is as big as a chicken and the tallest Galapagos frigate bird can have a wingspan reaching more than 7 feet (or 2m).

Although frigate birds seems to have black feathers when you see them flying in the Galapagos sky, their feathers produce different colours when they refract the sunlight:
 

• Magnificent Galapagos Frigate Birds will refract purple colours
   
• Great Galapagos Frigate Birds will refract green colours.

Male frigate birds have a typical red patch of skin at their throat. During courtship, males will force air in this red gular pouch as if they were carrying a big red balloon.

We didn’t see any frigate birds’ courtship when we visited Galapagos, as the birds where hatching when we set foot on the North Seymour Islands.

On the picture you see a female Frigate Bird of Galapagos as females are marked with white colours below.

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The next hurdle to take was trying not to get seasick. A daunting task when you see people next to you suddenly vomiting…

Also our cabine was for 2 people: 1 bed above the other, and I advice you to take the lowest bed if you have a sensitive stomach.

Having said all this: you need to know that you will be on the sea when you travel to Galapagos, so it’s advice-able to take seasick pills with you, or to get some experience traveling on the sea before you embark on a long and costly cruise around Galapagos.

On the other hand: we already could admire a blue heron when embarking our "cruise ship" (it’s a great word for a "luxury boat" named "The Darwin Explorer")…

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Galapagos Finches are the most beautiful on the planet, but let me show more Galapagos finches in later posts. Overall: Galapagos birdwatching is a very rewarding experience: since hunting is not allowed on Galapagos, birds can come very close to you in order for you to admire them. Some will even come and sit on your hand!

Galapagos birdwatching tours are very popular in Ecuador. With its unique bird wild life and even unique "brave" animals that have no need to hide from humans, birdwatching in the Galapagos Islands is a must on any Galapagos Cruise.

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Although the boat is small, it beats the massive luxury cruises that brings you to yet another Galapagos tourist attraction.

How to eat a cactus

Every day we saw different Islands: one looks like the moon, the next looks like a volcano, the next is filled with flamingo’s, the next has real trees and the next only has one cactus next to the other…

Galapagos wildlife: iguana eating a cactus

And of course this variety leads to an equal immense variety of Galapagos wildlife animals: try to avoid the spikes when eating a cactus… It’s just amazing and as always: you are sitting next to the animal

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Cutleaf Daisy: Punta Cormorante, Floreana Island, Galapagos Islands

How unique is this cutleaf daisy? If you want to look it up on the net, look for Lecocarpus pinnatifidus It gets its name for the deeply and irregularly lobed margins of its leaves. It is one of the rarest plants in the Galapagos and of the entire world if you ask me.

Nothing will prepare you for the abundance of wildlife and the beautiful surroundings of these islands that is about 50000 square km in area.

You can get up close and personal with the wildlife there especially the marine creatures that view visitors with total disinterest.

There are plenty of ways to see the islands and you can embark on a cruise or a combination of land and cruise tour like I did to take in as much as you can of this incredible place.

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