Santa Cruz & North Seymour Islands
It was early in the morning, (five o’clock to be precise, but don’t worry… I would not dare to wake up anybody at that time!) when I looked through my window and already saw the morning announcing itself. It was barely any morning light at the distance and I remember thinking how tough it would be to match the day before. Then I realized that there is nothing that could compare to what was coming next and that I had the perfect plan and the perfect ace under my sleeve, giant tortoises!
It was six in the morning when I did the official wake up call, but to my surprise that only awoke half of the ship. The other half was already up and shining and enjoying a rather substantial breakfast that was set up in the lounge. Freshly baked bread rolls and fresh coffee was all what the most of us needed to embrace the first part of the morning. Our goal was too important to be delayed, and off we went to the encounter of what it was up until today only a myth. Traveling in a bus through the green abundant vegetation of Santa Cruz Island is quite an experience on its own, but it becomes even a better experience when the landscape comes to life with the sightings of giant tortoises here and there.
I don’t even know how many giant tortoises we saw, but what I know is that “seeing many” was not the point here. The important mission this morning was the total understanding of how an ancient creature like a tortoise could evolve and survive in total isolation. A walk through the grassy fields was enough to understand the well balance connection that these animals had maintained with their surroundings for millions of years.
The rest of our morning was dedicated to explore the surroundings of Puerto Ayora town, the South American capital of T-shirts!
Our afternoon took us to a northerly destination known as North Seymour Island. The nearby waves were challenging our landing, but as soon as we did, we understood how special this place really is. With one of the largest populations of sea birds, North Seymour has situated itself among our favorite destinations during the week. There were simply too many species of animals to look up at the same time, but we managed to take a picture of every single one of the creatures that inhabit this piece of paradise on earth.
It was early in the morning, (five o’clock to be precise, but don’t worry… I would not dare to wake up anybody at that time!) when I looked through my window and already saw the morning announcing itself. It was barely any morning light at the distance and I remember thinking how tough it would be to match the day before. Then I realized that there is nothing that could compare to what was coming next and that I had the perfect plan and the perfect ace under my sleeve, giant tortoises!
It was six in the morning when I did the official wake up call, but to my surprise that only awoke half of the ship. The other half was already up and shining and enjoying a rather substantial breakfast that was set up in the lounge. Freshly baked bread rolls and fresh coffee was all what the most of us needed to embrace the first part of the morning. Our goal was too important to be delayed, and off we went to the encounter of what it was up until today only a myth. Traveling in a bus through the green abundant vegetation of Santa Cruz Island is quite an experience on its own, but it becomes even a better experience when the landscape comes to life with the sightings of giant tortoises here and there.
I don’t even know how many giant tortoises we saw, but what I know is that “seeing many” was not the point here. The important mission this morning was the total understanding of how an ancient creature like a tortoise could evolve and survive in total isolation. A walk through the grassy fields was enough to understand the well balance connection that these animals had maintained with their surroundings for millions of years.
The rest of our morning was dedicated to explore the surroundings of Puerto Ayora town, the South American capital of T-shirts!
Our afternoon took us to a northerly destination known as North Seymour Island. The nearby waves were challenging our landing, but as soon as we did, we understood how special this place really is. With one of the largest populations of sea birds, North Seymour has situated itself among our favorite destinations during the week. There were simply too many species of animals to look up at the same time, but we managed to take a picture of every single one of the creatures that inhabit this piece of paradise on earth.
