Santa Cruz Island
Early in the morning we arrived at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, the economic capital of the Galápagos. We wanted to see giant tortoises!
The beginning of the morning was taken by our breakfast and soon we disembarked on the pier belonging to the Galápagos National Park. The famous Charles Darwin Research Station was on site. We entered the reproduction and repatriation program of the Galápagos giant tortoises, run by the National Park breeding center. We met the largest tortoises in captivity in the world. They are old and wrinkled, but very active during the mating season. Some individuals are 600 pounds! We also saw baby tortoises the size of a tennis ball. We then went to town to shop and explore, and met at the far end of the main street where our transportation was waiting to take us up into the green highlands.
After lunch, we had the incredible opportunity to walk deep into an area of National Park known as “El Chato” tortoise preserve, and after three Ecuadorian miles our naturalists found “the booty”: wild tortoises in their natural habitat! Although many have migrated down to the arid zones to nest at this time of year, we were able to see a great many, some of them the largest tortoises we had ever seen or even imagined!
The visit to the highlands continued as we drove higher up into what remains of our endemic Scalesia cloud forests, a fascinating ecosystem so different to anything seen so far, surrounding a couple of giant pit craters.
Once back on board we reviewed our day’s learnings during the course of our long-time tradition, recap time, and dinned happily and satisfied, awaiting another day in paradise!
Early in the morning we arrived at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, the economic capital of the Galápagos. We wanted to see giant tortoises!
The beginning of the morning was taken by our breakfast and soon we disembarked on the pier belonging to the Galápagos National Park. The famous Charles Darwin Research Station was on site. We entered the reproduction and repatriation program of the Galápagos giant tortoises, run by the National Park breeding center. We met the largest tortoises in captivity in the world. They are old and wrinkled, but very active during the mating season. Some individuals are 600 pounds! We also saw baby tortoises the size of a tennis ball. We then went to town to shop and explore, and met at the far end of the main street where our transportation was waiting to take us up into the green highlands.
After lunch, we had the incredible opportunity to walk deep into an area of National Park known as “El Chato” tortoise preserve, and after three Ecuadorian miles our naturalists found “the booty”: wild tortoises in their natural habitat! Although many have migrated down to the arid zones to nest at this time of year, we were able to see a great many, some of them the largest tortoises we had ever seen or even imagined!
The visit to the highlands continued as we drove higher up into what remains of our endemic Scalesia cloud forests, a fascinating ecosystem so different to anything seen so far, surrounding a couple of giant pit craters.
Once back on board we reviewed our day’s learnings during the course of our long-time tradition, recap time, and dinned happily and satisfied, awaiting another day in paradise!
