High clouds carpeted the sky as the guests of the National Geographic Endeavour awoke this morning in Puerto Ayora. Home to around 18,000 residents, the town has grown up around the tourism industry – and is the economic hub of the archipelago. Our destination for the morning, El Manzanillo, was literally in the clouds we awoke to today. El Manzanillo is a property located at the heart of the migratory route for the Western Santa Cruz Tortoise (Chelonoidis porteri) – and after a 40 minute drive from the dock into the cloud canopy – we arrived in a pastoral setting that was literally crawling with the giant tortoises. There we had the luxury of spending the entire morning with the tortoises and were able to explore many different approaches to finding the perfect photograph of this magnificent creature.
Following a delicious lunch at El Manzanillo, we rode to Cerro Mesa on the eastern side of Santa Cruz island where a new species of Eastern Santa Cruz Tortoises (Chelonoidis donfaustoi) has very recently been identified. There we were fortunate enough to encounter not one, but two tortoises from this population! The scientific name of donfaustoi is a reference to Don Fausto Llerena, a park ranger who has dedicated his life to giant tortoise conservation.
After returning to the ship, we were treated to some incredible music from musicians in Puerto Ayora, who gave an after dinner performance in the ships lounge.
