"The Plazas" Top 5 Page for this destination Galápagos Islands Things to Do Tip by SanguiniA

The Plazas are two islands, North and South Plaza, off the coast of Santa Cruz. North Plaza is closed to the public due to ongoing scientific research, but South Plaza is a visiting site for tourists.

South Plaza is most popular for the dizzying population of land iguanas - the largest population throughout the archipelago. This must be related to the large amount of prickly pear cacti present here - the fav food of land iguanas. Here another strange phenomenon concerning iguanas occurs - a hybrid iguana. This is the offspring of a marine iguana and a land iguana. Hybrid iguanas live the lifestyle of a land iguana though.

Other wildlife you can expect to see on this island are sea lions, swallow tailed gulls, frigatebirds, red-billed tropicbirds and audobon shearwaters.

The trail on this island takes you from the dry landing site ( a rocky beach) up to the cliffs - where the scenery is quite nice.

Snorkelling here is also great with the usual encounters with Sea Lions, plenty of tropical fish, sharks and turtles.