Santa Cruz Island is the second largest volcano in Galapagos, and it has many visitor sites all around its coastline. It is covered in white or black sandy beaches, some of which are very important nesting ground for Pacific green sea turtles.

This morning we disembarked on the northern side of the Island, at a point known as Dragon’s Hill. Our mission was to search for Galapagos land iguanas. Introduced species such as goats, dogs and cats dramatically disturbed the population of these terrestrial reptiles over the past few decades, and so this area is now under management, making sure the iguanas are safe in their home.

For the afternoon we continue exploring the northern site by Zodiacs, and we had the chance to see blue-footed boobies, pelicans, frigatebirds and a black-tipped reef shark in their nursery.