Santa Cruz Island
Beautiful weather to start an exciting day on the most populated island of the Galápagos, we went into town for some shopping. Guests bought several items like handicrafts made out of wood, ceramics and hand painted clothes.
After this, we boarded local buses to go the highlands which present a more tropical panorama of these mostly semi- deserted islands. On the way to our final destination, we went through a couple of small villages whose people are dedicated either to agriculture or cattle farming.
We finally arrived at a place called Cerro Mesa, where a fantastic viewpoint allowed us to see the shoreline and several other islands that appear closer than they really are. Exotic plants like bananas, passion fruit and hibiscus mix with the very few yet interesting endemic ones, like the unique tree daisy also known as Scalesia, Croton and Galápagos orchid.
The very famous Darwin finches, Pintail ducks and moorhens were seen on our way to a geological formation called sink hole, which is the result of the collapse of the rocks on top of an empty magma chamber, or lava tube, giving it the form of a mini crater. Even tortoises can sometimes be seen around the area depending on the season, this time we saw one, but on the following months we’ll see more cause the return here from their nesting grounds located at lower elevations.
It was almost lunch time, so we returned to the buses to head for a restaurant about five miles away. Some guests wanted to exercise a little bit, so they were given the option of a three mile bike ride, walk or jog. Many guests did it and all succeeded. After that we had to charge batteries to continue our long highland expedition that consisted of learning from the locals how to make liquor out of sugar cane in the old traditional way, also how to grind coffee in the Galápagos way which will later be sold in local and international. That was so cool!!
That was not all, because we still had to go to the Charles Darwin Station to visit the very famous tortoise Lonesome George who is the last of his kind. All efforts are made to have him reproduce with females of the nearest species. We also met Super Diego who is the father of many of tortoises born in captivity, an example of a very successful breeding program.
When we returned to town some choose to have another shopping opportunity, while others went back on board to finish a truly exciting day.
