Every week is a new experience in the Galapagos. Today we had a slightly different experience as we left our new home, the Polaris, for a whole day spent exploring the island of Santa Cruz. We have already seen so much during the last few days, and our visit to Santa Cruz Island, both the coast, where we visited the research station and the largest settlement in the archipelago, and the highlands. Only five of the islands are high enough to intercept the "inversion layer" in the cool season, and thus have constant moisture, giving rise to lush greenery completely at odds with the vegetation growing around the coast and lower areas. Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos, and has both lush agricultural areas and endemic cloud forests, which are fascinating to visit.

This afternoon's visit to the highlands was excellent. We had great weather and on our different options we had the chance to see land tortoises in the wild (including a mating pair!), the spectacularly red vermilion flycatcher as well as the less brilliantly colored female, several new finch species, including the woodpecker finch. The latter was a particularly exciting sighting as this incredible bird is one of only three tool-using birds in the world, so we all returned on board very happy.

Yesterday we had also a great experience. We had the great opportunity to swim with penguins and marine turtles. It was special for all of us, and particularly fun today to compare the adaptations these close relatives, the sea turtle and the giant tortoise, have evolved to their two very different lifestyles. The marine turtle that we have in the picture is the Pacific green turtle (Chelonia mydas agassisi), which is the only species resident in the islands. These wonderful animals nest in the Galapagos from December to June, with a peak in February, so this is the perfect time of year to see them. In another three or four weeks, we might expect to see the first the hatchlings of baby marine turtles, which is often a dramatic sight as so few of the young survive. The green turtle will lay up to 120 eggs in one nest, in order to swamp the many predators. Three other species of turtle are occasionally encountered in Galapagos waters: the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea). We had a great time swimming with the green turtle, and they let us approach so very close that we all got good pictures of them, to place next to those obtained of the giant tortoise this afternoon.