Santa Cruz Island
The island was clear from top to bottom when we woke up at anchor off Puerto Ayora in the southeastern corner of Santa Cruz Island. This was our island for the entire day, and we made the most of it.
As we wandered around the Charles Darwin Research Station, the focus was on the giant tortoises both large and small being raised in captivity. By enormous effort over the years, the Galapagos National Park in conjunction with the research station have succeeded in repatriating many young tortoises to their native islands. The saddle-backed tortoises from Espanola Island were stars of the morning, as was Lonesome George and his girlfriends.
But not only tortoises are found at the Station, land iguanas are also being raised here. This is the season that the males and females are paying quite a bit of attention to each other, and their adjoining enclosures showed them mooning over each other through the mesh windows, until such time as thought to be good before letting them interact as nature calls.
The afternoon was spent visiting the endemic forest of Scalesia trees with its denizens: tree finches, vermillion flycatchers and Galápagos doves. The highlight, however, was the sighting of a woodpecker finch. On rare occasions they can be seen holding a tool made of a thorn or fine twig in order to poke around under bark and into holes for grubs and other invertebrates, today it was investigating the woodwork without tools.
Wild tortoises (as opposed to those in the breeding program) were seen ambling around the lands adjacent to the park lands in the highlands, access gained by using the road of a local farmer to find them.
A full day of sightings and new experiences was followed by a chance to hear about other conservation programs by a staff member of the Darwin Station who joined us for recap. And topping off the day were talented musicians who visited us on board after dinner. Phew!
The island was clear from top to bottom when we woke up at anchor off Puerto Ayora in the southeastern corner of Santa Cruz Island. This was our island for the entire day, and we made the most of it.
As we wandered around the Charles Darwin Research Station, the focus was on the giant tortoises both large and small being raised in captivity. By enormous effort over the years, the Galapagos National Park in conjunction with the research station have succeeded in repatriating many young tortoises to their native islands. The saddle-backed tortoises from Espanola Island were stars of the morning, as was Lonesome George and his girlfriends.
But not only tortoises are found at the Station, land iguanas are also being raised here. This is the season that the males and females are paying quite a bit of attention to each other, and their adjoining enclosures showed them mooning over each other through the mesh windows, until such time as thought to be good before letting them interact as nature calls.
The afternoon was spent visiting the endemic forest of Scalesia trees with its denizens: tree finches, vermillion flycatchers and Galápagos doves. The highlight, however, was the sighting of a woodpecker finch. On rare occasions they can be seen holding a tool made of a thorn or fine twig in order to poke around under bark and into holes for grubs and other invertebrates, today it was investigating the woodwork without tools.
Wild tortoises (as opposed to those in the breeding program) were seen ambling around the lands adjacent to the park lands in the highlands, access gained by using the road of a local farmer to find them.
A full day of sightings and new experiences was followed by a chance to hear about other conservation programs by a staff member of the Darwin Station who joined us for recap. And topping off the day were talented musicians who visited us on board after dinner. Phew!
