Santa Cruz Island
We arrived to Santa Cruz Island and anchored in Academy Bay early this morning. After breakfast we got on to our Zodiacs and headed towards the Galápagos National Park main dock. As we arrived we encountered a small group of marine iguanas basking under the sun.
This also seems to be the end of our rainy season and we are experiencing the last days of very warm weather. This morning was not the exception, but that did not stop us from enjoying our highlight – we came to see Galápagos giant tortoises from different islands, including famous Lonesome George, his females, the tortoises from Española Island and the rearing center. We learned about their successful repatriation program to the islands where introduced animals and hunting decimated their populations in the past.
We walked through the giant prickly pear cactus zone, and felt amazed by the size of these tree-like cacti. We also had the luck to see how active the different species of finches were so early in the day.
The afternoon was equally exiting as we found several giant tortoises in the wild, some wallowing in the volcanic mud, others feeding on grass. We also went in to a lava tunnel and observed the sink holes on the highlands where we walked through the forest of Galápagos giant daisies.
We left the highlands and returned to town. We loved our journey and all the new things we learned in Santa Cruz Island.
