Santa Cruz Island
Early in the morning the Polaris dropped anchor in Academy Bay, located at Santa Cruz Island. Shortly after breakfast, we headed towards one of the most important visits during our trip around the Galápagos archipelago, the visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS).
The expectations of visiting one of the most important research centers in the world were really high among our guests. The CDRS is located in Puerto Ayora, which is the largest town in the Galápagos Islands with a population that well surpasses ten thousand inhabitants.
The wet season in the Galápagos has started, and with cloudy skies we started our walk towards the giant tortoise corrals. They (the giant tortoises) greeted us all while feeding on a flat stony platform that we respectfully avoid in order to not contaminate the food.
While we were all watching their “feeding techniques” (by the way, no refined manners on the table) one of them decided to walk onto the platform and do what I interpreted as an act of war… it mooned us! The tortoise decided to stay for a while in the previously written position and after a little bit, it left the platform.
That was the continuation of a very interesting day, because earlier, and shortly after disembarking on the National Park dock a marine iguana had decided to take a ride in one of our Zodiacs. It had to be literally pushed off the Zodiac to convince it to leave and start a short swim back to the dock.
Today has been a day of the unexpected and I was so glad to be here to witness another beautiful day in paradise!
Early in the morning the Polaris dropped anchor in Academy Bay, located at Santa Cruz Island. Shortly after breakfast, we headed towards one of the most important visits during our trip around the Galápagos archipelago, the visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS).
The expectations of visiting one of the most important research centers in the world were really high among our guests. The CDRS is located in Puerto Ayora, which is the largest town in the Galápagos Islands with a population that well surpasses ten thousand inhabitants.
The wet season in the Galápagos has started, and with cloudy skies we started our walk towards the giant tortoise corrals. They (the giant tortoises) greeted us all while feeding on a flat stony platform that we respectfully avoid in order to not contaminate the food.
While we were all watching their “feeding techniques” (by the way, no refined manners on the table) one of them decided to walk onto the platform and do what I interpreted as an act of war… it mooned us! The tortoise decided to stay for a while in the previously written position and after a little bit, it left the platform.
That was the continuation of a very interesting day, because earlier, and shortly after disembarking on the National Park dock a marine iguana had decided to take a ride in one of our Zodiacs. It had to be literally pushed off the Zodiac to convince it to leave and start a short swim back to the dock.
Today has been a day of the unexpected and I was so glad to be here to witness another beautiful day in paradise!
