Special Note: This week aboard the National Geographic Endeavour we are pleased to host two high school students, Delphine Slotten and Khanh Nguyen (author of today's Daily Expedition Report). These students are traveling in conjunction with Blue Ocean Institute's "Kalpana Chawla Ocean Journey Scholarship" program, in memory of NASA astronaut, Kalpana Chawla. For more information about the program, click the link above. To read the press release, please click here.
Santa Cruz Island
Sailing south from Fernandina Island and around Isabela, we reached Santa Cruz Island just off the coast of Puerto Ayora, a quiet town with a touristic economy. Souvenir shops, internet cafes, and street vendors greeted us as we walked to the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) and the National Park Headquarters. There, we visited a nursery of native and endemic plants of the Galápagos Islands such as Palo Verde, Alternantera, and Morning Glory. However, the arboreal highlight of the morning has certainly been the two to three hundred-year old giant prickly pear cactus.
Just before lunch, Lonesome George, the last saddleback of Pinta Island, delighted us as much as the closeness to the colossal presence of five giant tortoises, which can weigh up to 800 pounds and live over one hundred years old, awed us.
Whether we were bikers or bus riders, we enjoyed lunch and basked in hammocks at Altair restaurant, a highland villa nestled in green vegetations with cool breezes. A drizzle of rain accompanied the languorous afternoon that was open to our liking: a few chose to enjoy the time in Puerto Ayora, some visited giant tortoises in Rancho Mariposa before returning to town, and many took all options that were offered.
Those who did all visited a pair of huge sink holes called Los Gemelos bordered by forests of endemic Scalesia trees, in which we spotted vermilion flycatchers, tree finches, and yellow warblers. Some were fortunate to see mating giant tortoises near the lagoons in Rancho Mariposa and two barn owls at the end of dark, damp lava tunnels.
The festive community life in the evening, present through the volleyball game at sunset, was the final goodbye to us from the inhabitants of Santa Cruz.
Our day ended with a visit and short talk from Ros Cameron, a representative of the CDRS who shared with us the purpose of the organization, its current projects, and its goals to create a sustainable and protective environment of the Galápagos Islands.
