San Cristóbal is the easternmost of the inhabited islands and the provincial capital, yet it feels smaller and slower than Santa Cruz. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno curves around a bay where sea lions have taken over the beaches, the benches and occasionally the boats; the long waterfront leads to the Interpretation Center and up to Cerro Tijeretas, where Darwin first stepped ashore in 1835. The island’s headline is Kicker Rock, a split tuff cone an hour offshore where snorkelers and divers meet hammerheads, turtles and rays in the channel. Farther out lie Punta Pitt, the only site where all three booby species nest together, and Española, the oldest island, with its albatrosses. The highlands hold a freshwater lake and a tortoise reserve reachable by taxi.
