Santa Cruz Island
Today we visited Santa Cruz Island and had the thrill to meet the Galápagos giant tortoises. The day began finding our ship anchored at Academy Bay in the southeastern side of Santa Cruz Island. We disembarked at the Galápagos National Park Service dock where welcomed by a group of marine iguanas, two of them were resting on a mangrove tree.
On the way to the breeding center we had the chance to see some of the biggest Opuntia cacti in the world and do some bird watching as well. Two endemic Galápagos flycatchers posed right in front of us, as different species of Darwin’s finches moved between the trees. The weather was nice; a light breeze, not much sunshine, and every now and then some clouds that helped to keep the temperature confortable.
After a short walk to the “Fausto Llerena” Tortoise Breeding Center and the Charles Darwin Research Station we finally had the privilege to see the giant tortoises. We began with the young ones that are bred under controlled conditions so more females than males hatch. The latter is being achieved by regulating the incubation temperature. The young hatchlings were very active and moved all over the corrals, eating their meals.
One of the most exciting moments was when we approached Lonesome George’s corral; he is the only remaining specimen from Pinta Island, and was alone for some time, but not anymore—now he has company. As part of an effort to save this species two attractive female tortoises from Espanola Island have been placed in the same corral. Lonesome George was in the open and we could see him… well he is not so “lonesome” anymore and not far from him we could see one of the two females that share his home. However he was asleep, not paying much attention to this attractive lady, and just stayed resting next to his heart shaped pool..!
After watching George we visited the other corrals where bigger tortoises, some probably weighing 250 to 300 kilos, were resting and some were moving….but as you would expect from a tortoise, especially from a giant one, moving very, very, very slowly. The most interesting part was comparing the difference in carapace shapes between the tortoises in the different corrals, especially when the ones from Espanola Island were moving and one decided to extend its head up; all of us could then appreciate the advantage of having a different shape in the carapace so they could reach higher.
After this visit we had the time to walk in Puerto Ayora and do some sightseeing and shopping, taking home handicrafts and t- shirts and other items as memories of this fantastic expedition. As we prepared for the next activity the weather changed and we felt the consequences of the “garúa” season—a light rain fell for some time, but that did not stop our intrepid group of bicycle riders from starting their cycling trip in the highlands of Santa Cruz. Others choose to take a ride in a bus to see a farm where locals make “aguardiente” (equivalent to a local moonshine alcohol) from sugar cane. The farmers also showed us how coffee is processed. The intrepid ones tried some of the local “moonshine” and after this visit we went to a nice restaurant in the highlands for lunch. After a delicious lunch, we had to try our rubber boots for the next adventure: visiting a local farm that has tortoises in the wild. The bus ride to the farm took 25 minutes, upon arrival we saw numerous tortoises and had a relaxing walk amongst these giants.
A light cool breeze and beautiful sunshine kept us moving along this terrain, where our boots proved to be very useful. After this visit we headed back to Puerto Ayora and some decided to continue shopping while others returned back on board. During dinner we had the visit of a local musical group and after a very active day it was time to rest to get ready for another day in these fantastic islands.
