Santa Cruz is the most central and most populated of the Galapagos Islands, with most people living in the town of Puerto Ayora, where the Charles Darwin Research Centre is also found. It includes a visitor centre and a giant tortoise breeding programme, and was the home of Lonesome George, for years the sole survivor of the Pinta Island subspecies but now sadly deceased.
There are a number of interesting visitor sites on Santa Cruz including Bachas Beach (good for swimming), Black Turtle Cove (young white-tipped reef sharks, spotted eagle rays and golden rays), and wild giant tortoises and interesting geological formations including pit craters and lava tubes seen in the island’s highlands.
Baltra Island, which is separated from Santa Cruz by a narrow channel, is one of the two main airports serving the Galapagos Islands.
