Santa Cruz Island
Today was another fantastic day in the natural paradise of the Galápagos Islands. We woke up early anchored in Academy Bay and ready for the first adventure of the day. After a spectacular breakfast, we climbed into the Zodiacs to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station.
The first stop was a visit at the giant tortoise common corral. We enjoyed the presence of some amazing male giant tortoises that approached us as soon as they saw us coming. It was so spectacular to see them moving around that it was impossible to stop taking pictures. The next stop was the Española tortoises’ corral. There we saw our very old friend Diego. He was there, lifting his head all the way up to where we stood as if he was asking for food. Right in front of Diego’s corral, we saw the colorful land iguanas that looked like dragons sleeping on the lava rocks. We continued our visit with the Galápagos Islands’ celebrity: Lonesome George. Then it was time to see the fabulous hatchlings. They were distributed all over the corrals. It is very amazing to see how big they come to be after being so small and fragile. Among all the tortoises at the Center, we also spotted many Darwin finches and Galápagos lava lizards.
In the afternoon, it was time to enjoy the second half of our adventure. After a comfortable bus ride to the highlands, we began our activities by crossing through an amazing lava tube. It was such an impressive volcanic formation that once in it, we felt like Mother Earth had swallowed us. Right at the end of the lava tube, we found ourselves in front of a restaurant where we would enjoy a great buffet lunch at Santa Cruz Highlands. As soon as we finished, there was no more time to waste; we got our gear ready in order to see the attraction of the afternoon: Giant tortoises in natural conditions, in the wild!
Once we arrived at the Giant tortoise reserve, we felt as if we had stepped back in time to live among walking giants, it was spectacular! There were so many tortoises, that we had to move them out of the road twice, just to stop them from being hurt by the buses. At the end of the adventure, we visited one of the most attractive cloud Scalesia forests of the entire archipelago. Right at the center of this cloud forest, two dominant volcanic structures made the perfect contrast of a spectacular landscape: “Los Gemelos,” two twin pit craters that are found at the sides of the highway. Our journey ended back at port where we enjoyed a Christmas festival taking place at Puerto Ayora. Nature speaks on its own, today we sensed what the Galápagos Islands paradise could tell us, if we listen to the sound of Nature.
