Time to Leave the Galapagos, But There's More to Come!

On the day we left the Galapagos, we got off the ship at the southern side of Santa Cruz Island, and got on a bus to go to the airport. On the way, we stopped at the Charles Darwin Research Station.

There were lots of Giant Tortoises here. Each part of the islands has a slightly different one.

Here you can see the ones with the Dome shells (in the front) and the ones with the Saddle shells (in the back). The Saddle shells evolved so that the tortoises could reach their food on the dryer islands, where they have to reach higher to eat.

This was the home of the famous Lonesome George, the last surviving Pinta Tortoise. Unfortunately, he died in 2012 without reproducing.

There was lots of the barked cacti here.

After making our way across Santa Cruz Island, we took a ferry over to the airport on Baltra Island. Bye-bye Galapagos!

We flew back to Quito. This vacation is not over yet!

Here's a map of our route in the Galapagos. We started and ended on Santa Cruz, going counter-clockwise. There's more to come on our vacation!