Santa Cruz Island
This morning we anchored at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. This island is the second largest in the Galápagos. Here, we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park Service area. The morning was spent visiting the giant tortoises breeding center and learning about the conservation programs carried out to protect these endangered animals.
Here, we had the opportunity to see giant tortoises from different islands. There are three main ones: the dome shaped, the saddle back, and the “intermediate,” also known as flat shells. This place offers a great variety of plants unique to the islands as well as an abundance of Darwin’s finches. After visiting the tortoises we explored Puerto Ayora on foot.
At 11:00 am we boarded our buses to explore the highlands. Once there we explored a lava tunnel and later on we enjoyed a well-earned buffet lunch. Then we headed to hike a lush forest habitat of the iconic Galápagos giant tortoises. These reptiles frequent this place because of the fresh pastures and ponds.
Later on we arrived to the evergreen Scalesia (giant daisy) forest. Here, we observed an intricate ecosystem where there are hundreds of species of ferns, lichens, orchids and mosses. All of them known as epiphytes, which entirely cover the bushes and trees.
This place is known as Los Gemelos because of the presence of two big collapsed craters geologically known as pit craters. With this visit we concluded our expedition and we headed to Puerto Ayora to board National Geographic Islander. And after dinner we enjoyed a show with one of the local bands.
