Santa Cruz Island
This morning around 8:00 am, we landed our Zodiacs in Puerto Ayora, a town of about 10,000 on Santa Cruz Island. Puerto Ayora, or Academy Bay, is the economic center of the archipelago.
We spent the first part of the day at Charles Darwin Research Station, the scientific center for conservation in the Galapagos. CDRS works closely with the Galapagos National Park Service to ensure the best possible management of the islands’ unique plant and animal communities. While at the Station, we learned about the Center’s extensive giant tortoise breeding and repatriation program. We saw tortoises of all ages including Lonesome George (Jorge Solitario in Spanish), a 100-year-old bachelor from Punta Island. Sadly, he is the last of the Punta Island race of giant tortoises.
After lunch at a pleasant open air restaurant in the highlands, we were fitted with rubber boots for a muddy walk through a most unusual pasture. Unusual, because several giant tortoises were making their way, slowly but surely, on their seasonal migration. On the bumpy return route, some of us were treated to the brilliant color of a vermilion flycatcher.
Our last stop involved a walk through highland Scalesia forest to a pair of huge pit craters, quite dramatic in the mist. Scalesia spp. are the plant kingdom’s version of Galapagos finches from an evolutionary point of view. As if to emphasize this concept, numerous Darwin finches flitted from branch to branch. While walking through the forest, we admired the lush vegetation with its abundant mosses and ferns.
The skies finally cleared and we experienced yet another beautiful evening as we returned to Puerto Ayora and then Polaris. This evening, Roslyn Cameron, coordinator of public support for the Charles Darwin Research Station, explained their work in more detail. After dinner we were treated to the local music of Galapagos Identidad.
This morning around 8:00 am, we landed our Zodiacs in Puerto Ayora, a town of about 10,000 on Santa Cruz Island. Puerto Ayora, or Academy Bay, is the economic center of the archipelago.
We spent the first part of the day at Charles Darwin Research Station, the scientific center for conservation in the Galapagos. CDRS works closely with the Galapagos National Park Service to ensure the best possible management of the islands’ unique plant and animal communities. While at the Station, we learned about the Center’s extensive giant tortoise breeding and repatriation program. We saw tortoises of all ages including Lonesome George (Jorge Solitario in Spanish), a 100-year-old bachelor from Punta Island. Sadly, he is the last of the Punta Island race of giant tortoises.
After lunch at a pleasant open air restaurant in the highlands, we were fitted with rubber boots for a muddy walk through a most unusual pasture. Unusual, because several giant tortoises were making their way, slowly but surely, on their seasonal migration. On the bumpy return route, some of us were treated to the brilliant color of a vermilion flycatcher.
Our last stop involved a walk through highland Scalesia forest to a pair of huge pit craters, quite dramatic in the mist. Scalesia spp. are the plant kingdom’s version of Galapagos finches from an evolutionary point of view. As if to emphasize this concept, numerous Darwin finches flitted from branch to branch. While walking through the forest, we admired the lush vegetation with its abundant mosses and ferns.
The skies finally cleared and we experienced yet another beautiful evening as we returned to Puerto Ayora and then Polaris. This evening, Roslyn Cameron, coordinator of public support for the Charles Darwin Research Station, explained their work in more detail. After dinner we were treated to the local music of Galapagos Identidad.
