Santa Cruz Island
We anchored at Academy Bay, right by the town of Puerto Ayora; here we have a full day visiting the emblem of the National Park, the giant tortoises. Santa Cruz Island is the second largest island in the Galápagos and it sustains about 20,000 people. Here is where the National Park and the Research Station have their administrative offices and is where all the efforts to protect and understand this wonderful place start.
Today we are headed to have a close-up view of two famous tortoises: Lonesome George, the last survivor of Pinta Island; and mighty Diego, the prolific proud father of 1600 baby tortoises. Many of his little offspring brought a smile to our faces as we see the progress that humankind makes for restoring these reptiles back to their original numbers.
Today we were lucky to have an inversion layer, a sheet of low clouds which serve like a natural shade for us to comfortably walk under. We felt we were lucky to be at the end of the dry season.
Soon after our free time in town – shopping and also drinking soft drinks or a cold local beer – we rode a bus to the highlands for an array of options like bike riding, visiting a local school, and visiting Trapiche, a farm in the highlands where we saw the processing of different products out of sugar cane, like melaza (brown sugar) and agua-ardiente (distilled liquor).
Our lunch at 900 feet was simply delightful, surrounded by finches and lush green vegetation; we shared our morning experiences while we also got ready for our next adventure. Like a safari adventure, we searched for giant tortoises in their natural state. These shiny boulders move slowly among the grass, and sure enough, there they were, just as the first colonizers saw. We felt privileged to see them and to understand how lucky we are to observe and see that these reptiles have a great chance of survival.
We continued to a higher elevation, around 2000 feet, to visit the pit craters. These two geological features were the admiration of all. No pictures can convey the immensity of such a structure, made by Mother Nature as a reminder of her mighty presence.
Back to the town we drove and our Zodiacs took us to the ship; we were all eager to share our pictures of such a wonderful day. We are now heading to the northern part of Santa Cruz Island where there are many more adventures waiting for us.
