Santa Cruz Island
Today we woke up at Academy Bay. This is the anchoring site where many tourism boats arrive to get supplies for the rest of their trip, and also visitors’ sailing boats remain for few days before they continue to their final destinations. After breakfast, everybody took the black limousines (Zodiacs) to be led at the disembarking area. This was a marvelous day because it was the first time during our trip that we got to see the giant tortoise in the wild.
Nothing else seemed more important than seeing the giant tortoises at the time. We got off the bus to follow a trail that took us deep in the forest, where several species of finches were found. As we continued our hike, we were gladly surprised by a lovely female tortoise, and just a few minutes later, a male one was spotted as well. We got lost in time a little when observing these ancient reptiles, and of course we got back in track to continue our expedition and to explore more of the surroundings.
During our afternoon, we sailed to North Seymour where another surprise was waiting for us. As soon as we got on land, many of the frigates birds visited us as if they wanted us to see their beautiful courtship display. We also saw many baby sea lions resting on the beach, waiting to be fed by their mothers when they come back. Finally, after all this exciting adventure, we can appreciate a little bit more why this enchanted paradise is called a living laboratory of evolution.
Today we woke up at Academy Bay. This is the anchoring site where many tourism boats arrive to get supplies for the rest of their trip, and also visitors’ sailing boats remain for few days before they continue to their final destinations. After breakfast, everybody took the black limousines (Zodiacs) to be led at the disembarking area. This was a marvelous day because it was the first time during our trip that we got to see the giant tortoise in the wild.
Nothing else seemed more important than seeing the giant tortoises at the time. We got off the bus to follow a trail that took us deep in the forest, where several species of finches were found. As we continued our hike, we were gladly surprised by a lovely female tortoise, and just a few minutes later, a male one was spotted as well. We got lost in time a little when observing these ancient reptiles, and of course we got back in track to continue our expedition and to explore more of the surroundings.
During our afternoon, we sailed to North Seymour where another surprise was waiting for us. As soon as we got on land, many of the frigates birds visited us as if they wanted us to see their beautiful courtship display. We also saw many baby sea lions resting on the beach, waiting to be fed by their mothers when they come back. Finally, after all this exciting adventure, we can appreciate a little bit more why this enchanted paradise is called a living laboratory of evolution.
