Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
Today, we had a marvellous day in the central realm of the Galápagos Islands. Early in the morning, we took buses to the highlands of Santa Cruz and headed to the tortoise reserve, to an area known as “El Chato.” At this time of the year, Galápagos land tortoises are starting to migrate slowly to the lowlands where they will soon mate and nest.
On our walk, we enjoyed the lush vegetation and hundreds of Darwin finches that we spotted feeding in the early hours of the day. The giant land tortoises were just waking up and leaving their resting places to commence looking for the nutritious plants they love to eat.
After visiting the tortoise reserve, many of our guests went for a walk through an extraordinary lava tunnel that goes under ground for about half a mile. Once, a long time ago, lava flowed along and then out of this tube and one can still see the signs of the volcanic history of Santa Cruz Island.
After a delicious breakfast in an open air restaurant, we returned to the town of Puerto Ayora. Here we had a chance to go shopping, explore the town or visit the Charles Darwin Centre.
In the afternoon, we disembarked on the island of North Seymour and took a wonderful walk along a rocky trail. We observed marine iguanas sun bathing, sea lions playing, and magnificent frigate birds nesting and displaying their brilliant red gular sacs. We were delighted to find a colorful endemic Galápagos land iguana! He came out from under the bushes and stayed in front of us for a long time allowing us to observe and photograph him.
We returned to the ship with lots of good memories which we shared with each other during recap time. We had thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this day!
Today, we had a marvellous day in the central realm of the Galápagos Islands. Early in the morning, we took buses to the highlands of Santa Cruz and headed to the tortoise reserve, to an area known as “El Chato.” At this time of the year, Galápagos land tortoises are starting to migrate slowly to the lowlands where they will soon mate and nest.
On our walk, we enjoyed the lush vegetation and hundreds of Darwin finches that we spotted feeding in the early hours of the day. The giant land tortoises were just waking up and leaving their resting places to commence looking for the nutritious plants they love to eat.
After visiting the tortoise reserve, many of our guests went for a walk through an extraordinary lava tunnel that goes under ground for about half a mile. Once, a long time ago, lava flowed along and then out of this tube and one can still see the signs of the volcanic history of Santa Cruz Island.
After a delicious breakfast in an open air restaurant, we returned to the town of Puerto Ayora. Here we had a chance to go shopping, explore the town or visit the Charles Darwin Centre.
In the afternoon, we disembarked on the island of North Seymour and took a wonderful walk along a rocky trail. We observed marine iguanas sun bathing, sea lions playing, and magnificent frigate birds nesting and displaying their brilliant red gular sacs. We were delighted to find a colorful endemic Galápagos land iguana! He came out from under the bushes and stayed in front of us for a long time allowing us to observe and photograph him.
We returned to the ship with lots of good memories which we shared with each other during recap time. We had thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this day!
