Santa Cruz Island
In the early hours of the day, we anchored and woke up in Academy Bay. This bay was named after the California Academy of Sciences visited the Galápagos Archipelago and made important collections for scientific studies. We love to visit Santa Cruz Island. Here we can explore the largest port town of the islands, Puerto Ayora; this town is considered to be the economical capital of Galápagos province.
This morning we had the opportunity to learn and observe the Galápagos giant tortoise captive breeding program at the Charles Darwin Research Center. This program is run by both the Darwin Center and the Galápagos National Park Service. The main reason, tortoises are bred here is because their populations were greatly diminished by man. During the times of pirates, privateers and whalers, thousands of tortoises were taken as food to their ships.
Today we can see the results of those efforts. Even though their numbers are still low, some of their populations are no longer considered in danger of extinction. We visited the different areas where we saw the juveniles and adult tortoises as well as Galápagos land iguanas. We enjoyed watching the very famous “Lonesome George”, with his two females in their corral.
After visiting George and observing other tortoises in their pens up close and personal, we left the center and went in to Puerto Ayora. We explored the streets of Puerto Ayora, which has the largest human population in the whole archipelago. We had such a great time here. Towards the end of the morning we all gathered at the main town’s plaza to board our buses. We headed to the highlands and explored the interior of a lava tube. This tube ended right where “El Chato” restaurant was located; we loved being surrounded by so much green vegetation and the cooling breeze which followed us all day.
After a delicious lunch, we looked all over for wild giant tortoises. We found about eleven, some sleeping, others taking a refreshing bath in a pond. Some were friendlier than others, but at the end we all felt very excited and privileged to sit and watch them so close to us.
One of the most satisfying aspects of today was seeing a woodpecker finch, looking for insects with a small tool in its beak. We walked through the Scalesia or giant daisy forest, which was in full bloom. The trees were covered with lichens, mosses and ferns, and for a while it felt as if we were in a rain forest.
This was a lovely day in the Galápagos archipelago.
In the early hours of the day, we anchored and woke up in Academy Bay. This bay was named after the California Academy of Sciences visited the Galápagos Archipelago and made important collections for scientific studies. We love to visit Santa Cruz Island. Here we can explore the largest port town of the islands, Puerto Ayora; this town is considered to be the economical capital of Galápagos province.
This morning we had the opportunity to learn and observe the Galápagos giant tortoise captive breeding program at the Charles Darwin Research Center. This program is run by both the Darwin Center and the Galápagos National Park Service. The main reason, tortoises are bred here is because their populations were greatly diminished by man. During the times of pirates, privateers and whalers, thousands of tortoises were taken as food to their ships.
Today we can see the results of those efforts. Even though their numbers are still low, some of their populations are no longer considered in danger of extinction. We visited the different areas where we saw the juveniles and adult tortoises as well as Galápagos land iguanas. We enjoyed watching the very famous “Lonesome George”, with his two females in their corral.
After visiting George and observing other tortoises in their pens up close and personal, we left the center and went in to Puerto Ayora. We explored the streets of Puerto Ayora, which has the largest human population in the whole archipelago. We had such a great time here. Towards the end of the morning we all gathered at the main town’s plaza to board our buses. We headed to the highlands and explored the interior of a lava tube. This tube ended right where “El Chato” restaurant was located; we loved being surrounded by so much green vegetation and the cooling breeze which followed us all day.
After a delicious lunch, we looked all over for wild giant tortoises. We found about eleven, some sleeping, others taking a refreshing bath in a pond. Some were friendlier than others, but at the end we all felt very excited and privileged to sit and watch them so close to us.
One of the most satisfying aspects of today was seeing a woodpecker finch, looking for insects with a small tool in its beak. We walked through the Scalesia or giant daisy forest, which was in full bloom. The trees were covered with lichens, mosses and ferns, and for a while it felt as if we were in a rain forest.
This was a lovely day in the Galápagos archipelago.
