Volcanic activity has long since ceased on Santa Cruz, the second largest of the Galapagos Islands and located in the center of the archipelago. The name Santa Cruz is Spanish for “Holy Cross,” but its English name — Indefatigable — was named for the British vessel HMS Indefatigable. Santa Cruz has a long history of human settlement and agriculture, which has left the landscape permanently altered by invasive species. Human development began in the 20th century on Santa Cruz when settlers from the United States and Europe moved to the area between WWI and WWII. The variety of geology, wildlife, and vegetation attracted settlers. The small towns of Bellavista and Santa Rosa were established in the humid highlands, where farmers raised cattle and planted crops such as avocados, coffee, sugarcane, bananas, oranges, and lemons. Santa Cruz is the main tourism hub for all of Galapagos, given its proximity to the airport on Baltra to the north. It is the only island in Galapagos where tourists can readily experience the interior and higher elevations of a Galapagos island. Santa Cruz has the longest paved road in Galapagos, which runs north-south across the island, taking people from the airport ferry at Itabaca Canal on the north coast into the highlands and through a few smaller towns on its way down to Puerto Ayora, the island’s largest city located on the southern coast of the island in Academy Bay.
