Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz

To talk about Santa Cruz, you need to talk about the volcanic formation of the island. During different periods, the lava and eruptions are different. Santa Cruz's creation was from more oozing than eruptions. There are many lava tubes on Santa Cruz. Most of the tours were around the lava tubes, or the collapsing of the lava tubes. The best one for me was Las Grietas. It is a collapsed lava tube that was close to the ocean. It filled with water, some from the ocean and the rest from rain water runoff. We enjoyed the snorkeling and swimming at Las Grietas. It was a long hike through the marine iguana nesting ground. Each iguana was competing to have the best place to lay their eggs. It was quite comical. The landscape looked as if on another planet.

We also hiked through one of the lava tubes that was discovered when an errant pig was heard squealing from down in a hole. The tube had two large entrances or exits, covered by vegetation. We walked from one to the other. We recently hiked a lava tube in Arizona and were expecting a similar experience. The tubes here are mainly shallow and run along parallel to the ground. The one in Arizona just keep getting deeper.

This is where the pig was found, the shot is straight up

What would a tour on Santa Cruz be without the land tortoise. The tortoise roam free on the privet ranches. One of the pictures is of a male chasing a female. Our presence did distract him and she eluded him. The guide was very entertaining as he climbed into a shell and demonstrated how a tortoise would mate. To his chagrin, there wasn't any female takers in our tour.