Santa Cruz Island
Early this morning, we woke up in Puerto Ayora, the largest of the Galápagos Islands, where we would be spending our time with the Galápagos Giant Tortoises. We would be heading down to the Charles Darwin Research Station in the morning while in the afternoon we would see them in their
“natural habitat” in the highlands.
After breakfast we went ashore to visit the captive breeding center, where we learned about the program that saved the tortoises from going extinct; years of work have done it! Today this very well known institution can proudly announce to the world that different populations of Giant Tortoises from the Galápagos Islands have been saved from extinction and are on their way to keeping the numbers of individuals steady. We also talked about the captive breading program for land iguanas that has had the same kind of success as with the tortoises. Lonesome George and Super Diego were a highlight in the morning…
After the Darwin Center our guests enjoyed walking along the streets of Puerto Ayora. The fishermen’s dock was an obligatory stop for everybody. It was very nice to see how the pelicans, frigate birds and sea lions were enjoying the scraps of fish they got from the fishermen that
had come back from one of their fishing trips. Puerto Ayora is a clean pretty little town; its main street filled with shops makes it very attractive to our visitors that spent some time looking at all the handcrafts that are for sale here.
We boarded buses and headed up to the highlands; we explored the lava tunnel and had a delicious lunch in an open air restaurant. While eating, we could see vegetation that covers most of Santa Cruz island and some of the islands nearby. Pinzon and Isabela were clearly visible. What a magnificent way to have a meal…
After lunch we searched for giant tortoises in the wild. There were quite a few there, and we did not have to go far to find them. Some were wandering through the vegetation by themselves while a group was enjoying a bath in the lagoon. White cheek pintail ducks chasing each other around the water also kept us busy…
“Los Gemelos” in the highest part of the island gave us the opportunity to talk about geology once again; the walk delighted us with a carpenter finch busy trying to get the warms out of Scalesia bark; a warbler finch also almost landed on our heads!
What an extraordinary busy day… filled with things to do and learn. It really made our voyage worthwhile...
