Happy St. Patrick's Day. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day by having corned beef and cabbage. I even got dressed up for the occasion. The corned beef was a little too salty, but the rest of the food was great.

We crossed the equator just before midnight. It was so exciting. I put some bead necklaces on and ate cake. Now that I have crossed the equator I will have to get a gold earring.

Land Ho! After 18 days at sea I am finally back on land. My favorite animal on the island is the giant tortoise. They are really big. Did you know that Giant Tortoises can live to be 180 years old? We also hiked up to see a statue of Charles Darwin. He was very, very tall.

Santa Cruz Island has lots of hiking opportunities. One day we hiked to the top of Puntudo, an extinct volcano. The view from the top of the volcanic crater was amazing. Near the base of the crater there were broken lava tubes which collected water for the plants that now live in them. When hiking along the trail near the crater you could hear your footsteps echo. It was scary thinking that the ground beneth your feet could break at any moment, and you would end up in a lava tube. On the way to see more Giant Tortoises and land iguanas, we found an arch that had all kinds of creatures on it. Can you find me?