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.

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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.

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When I look at the map now, I guess I should have known that reaching Genovesa Island Galapagos from Bartolome Island would be difficult.

I agree:

• it’s easy to get on your boat and let them sail through your Galapagos island holiday.
   
• It’s also sounds easy that lots of the distance covered during our Galapagos island cruises would be done at night…

It’s just not at all easy to sleep in a rocky boat when the doors of your cabin cabinets keep on slamming…

So I strongly advice when you are looking for Galapagos cruises to ask for short island hopping trips.

I chose to visit Genovesa Island Galapagos because it is known as "Bird’s Island" and of course I am a number 1 bird lover.

We climbed all the way up the Prince Philips Steps and really that’s birds paradise! I will post pictures of the birds in my next post.

Today I just wanted to show a close up from the smallest marine iguanas living on Genovesa Island Galapagos.

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