Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz is the island in the very heart of Galápagos. Not only geographically speaking, it is so in every sense. The headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Station and National Park Service reside here. This is the island that holds the largest human population, the home island of many of our staff members and Polaris crew.
I just hope that the winds of wisdom and good common sense blow to this island and get to its residents, and then, the good sense travels to the mainland, where decisions are taken for the protection of our Marine Reserve and National Park.
Santa Cruz has it all, one doesn’t need to go far to understand what Galápagos really means; in Santa Cruz it is made clear. It has one of the largest and healthiest populations of giant tortoises. In its pristine highlands, one encounters one of the most ancient groups of plants (tree ferns) and walks through fairy forests of giant daisies. There are nine kinds of Darwin’s finches, textbook bird examples of evolution, and marine iguanas and land iguanas inhabit both the shoreline and the inland cactus-populated forests. There is beauty in Santa Cruz, there is uniqueness and there is innocence. This is one island that has captivated our guests, an island that has all the good things of Galápagos, but also some of its problems. This is an island where we can prove that the dream is not just a dream, and from here, generate the seed for the preservation and restoration of all the islands in this archipelago, and the seas beneath. Let’s hope long-line fishery is never accepted in Galápagos!
Santa Cruz is the island in the very heart of Galápagos. Not only geographically speaking, it is so in every sense. The headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Station and National Park Service reside here. This is the island that holds the largest human population, the home island of many of our staff members and Polaris crew.
I just hope that the winds of wisdom and good common sense blow to this island and get to its residents, and then, the good sense travels to the mainland, where decisions are taken for the protection of our Marine Reserve and National Park.
Santa Cruz has it all, one doesn’t need to go far to understand what Galápagos really means; in Santa Cruz it is made clear. It has one of the largest and healthiest populations of giant tortoises. In its pristine highlands, one encounters one of the most ancient groups of plants (tree ferns) and walks through fairy forests of giant daisies. There are nine kinds of Darwin’s finches, textbook bird examples of evolution, and marine iguanas and land iguanas inhabit both the shoreline and the inland cactus-populated forests. There is beauty in Santa Cruz, there is uniqueness and there is innocence. This is one island that has captivated our guests, an island that has all the good things of Galápagos, but also some of its problems. This is an island where we can prove that the dream is not just a dream, and from here, generate the seed for the preservation and restoration of all the islands in this archipelago, and the seas beneath. Let’s hope long-line fishery is never accepted in Galápagos!
