Santa Cruz
Today we docked National Geographic Islander outside of the town of Porto Ayora (population 18,000) and took the Zodiacs ashore to spend the entire day on Santa Cruz Island. We started with a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station, which organizes many of the conservation efforts throughout the islands. We saw local Galápageno schoolchildren learning about the biodiversity of the area as a part of the Center’s outreach and education program, where they are also promoting the use of native plants in landscaping throughout the islands. We learned about the tortoise captive breeding program, which has been tremendously successful in restoring some of the healthy populations of tortoises on the islands reduced by human predation and introduced species. The success on Española Island is thanks in large part to Super Diego, the tortoise donated by the San Diego Zoo who has fathered over 2,000 tortoises, helping to re-establish his species in the Galápagos!
More sobering was our encounter with Lonesome George, the last known individual from the northern island of Pinta. So far, scientific efforts to get him to breed have been unsuccessful, although two new females of a closely related species were introduced into his enclosure in January. Looking into the eyes of the last individual of a species that existed for millennia before human influence is an inspiration to carry on the conservation efforts that make the Galápagos the only essentially intact island community in the world, with 97% of its original species still present, and to expand conservation efforts to reverse the alarming trends in the loss of biodiversity worldwide.
After our visit to the Charles Darwin Station, we boarded buses to the highlands for lunch with a sweeping view of the neighboring islands to the south, exploring an underground lava tube and learning about the geology of the region on the way. We then headed out to search for giant tortoises in their native habitat. The outstanding luck of our group continued, as we spotted nine tortoises on the short bus ride to the hike, and five more of the giant creatures in a half-hour hike, grazing in the grass not far from cattle doing the same!
Next we headed up near the highest point on the island to see Los Gemelos, the twin pit craters formed by volcanic activity in the islands over centuries ago. The pits are surrounded by plants from the largest plant family, the sunflowers (Asteraceae). However, rather than the tiny daisies that these plants are probably descended from, today these species have evolved into towering trees over 4 meters (12 feet) tall — an excellent example of insular gigantism.
We wrapped up the day with some free time in town to browse and enjoy a coffee in the sidewalk cafes before returning to the ship for a preview of the outstanding half-hour documentary of our adventures this week produced by our onboard video chronicler, Brian. We enjoyed yet another excellent dinner (many of us noting that our belts were feeling a bit too tight after nearly a week of eating so well!), followed by a performance of traditional Ecuadorian music and dancing from a band from town. We were lulled to sleep by the rocking of the ship, looking forward to our last full day in the islands tomorrow.
