Santa Cruz Island
With a beautiful sunrise we arrived to Academy Bay. After six days of being in direct contact with the flora and fauna of the Galápagos Islands, it was time to get some interaction with human civilization. Puerto Ayora, a town that is known as the metropolis of the Galápagos Islands, is the largest in the archipelago with around 18,000 people. The economy of the town is based mainly on ecotourism, fisheries and agriculture. Norwegians inhabited the island of Santa Cruz in 1926 after failing in their intention to colonize and built a fish-canning factory in Floreana Island.
Puerto Ayora houses the headquarters of the Galápagos National Park Service. On our morning trip, we headed to the “Fausto Llerena” giant tortoises breeding center. Here there are tortoises’ subspecies from Santa Cruz, Santiago, Española, Pinzon and Pinta Islands. The objective of the breeding program is to reproduce the tortoises in captivity and then repatriate them to zones that have been affected by human beings. The legendary lonesome George, which is the last individual from Pinta Island, was very active this morning; all of us had the chance to get some good picture of him. Later in the morning we walked back to town and passed by the fishing ward where the artisanal fishermen showed visitors the different kinds of commercial fish that is consumed by the community. Others guests where hanging around with the graceful sea lions, pelicans, herons and frigate birds that where there begging for fish.
Heading by bus to the highlands we enjoyed the different vegetation zones; we also did a quick stop at Bellavista village where we learned about the processing of sugar cane. Besides sugar cane juice and Ecuadorian alcohol-punta (a kind of string liqueur), we also tried organic coffee from the Galápagos with cinnamon and chocolate bread. We arrived to the Tortoises Reserve area where a wonderful lunch was waiting for us. Before to go to the restaurant; we took a shore walk into a lava tube that was formed approximately 1.5 million years ago when the volcanoes in Santa Cruz Island were still very active.
The Tortoise Reserve “El Chato” is located 241 meters above sea level. Walking through the humid zone with dense vegetation we were expecting to find the giant tortoises in their natural habitat. We spotted few of these gigantic friendly animals that were opening their own path through the dense vegetation like a war tank. Also, on our walk we found several species of land birds that with their singing made us to fall in love of them. Darwin’s tree finches were all over the area. Others such as white-cheeked pintail ducks, cattle egrets, and a Galápagos rail were also found at the end of the trail in a fresh water lagoon. To finalize our afternoon expedition we took a walk through a unique forest. The area was all covered by one of the most important trees in the highlands of Santa Cruz, the Scalesia (Scalesia pedunculata). This tree plays a very important role in the island’s ecosystem because it traps the rainwater and acts as a substrate for epiphytes such as orchids, lichens and bromeliads as well.
Our outstanding day ended in Puerto Ayora. We tried a delicious homemade ice cream while we observed the locals playing the popular Ecuadorian volleyball.
