Santa Cruz Island
This day began with a magnificent sunrise; as we found ourselves anchored at Academy Bay, the sun was rising over the clouds and a beautiful golden light shined on the houses in Puerto Ayora. After breakfast it was the time to start the day and finally meet the famous Galápagos tortoises. During disembarkation we coordinated the ups and downs of the Zodiacs with the right timing to get onboard these boats that would take us ashore to meet the giants of the Galápagos.
After the spectacular sunrise it got a little overcast; this was really welcomed, as the day turned out to be cooler, making our walks feel comfortable and easy. At the dock we found several marine iguanas, motionless as expected at this time of the day, and even a very small marine iguana, an iguanita. This means good news, as it shows that there are new iguanas hatching and surviving nearby.
During the visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Tortoise Breeding Center we saw the different species of tortoises and all the sizes they can reach. We began with the very small ones that just hatched a few months ago, to the giants that are moving around the corrals. These included Lonesome George, the only survivor of his species, originally from Pinta Island, and “Dieguito” the male that is used as brood stock and has fathered many of the tortoises reintroduced on Espanola, the island where he originally came from.
After the visit it was time for some of our explorers to look around and find local shops to buy different items to take back home, all the way from t-shirts to books about the Galápagos Islands. There was time for some exercising after this, and after meeting at The Rock, a local restaurant, some decided to do a little walk before getting to the restaurant in the highlands where we would have lunch, while others decided to ride a bicycle into the highlands of Santa Cruz Island.
Before lunch we also visited a sugar cane and coffee farm in the highlands, and tasted some of its products, one a very strong alcohol distilled from sugar cane, locally known as aguardiente (“burning water”), that according to some comments, really deserves that name. Others just tried the coffee produced on this farm. Lunch at the restaurant in the highlands was great, and the young explorers also had time to swim in the pool. There was a little time to rest after lunch and try on our rubber boots, used to walk on the potentially muddy terrain that we could expect during the next activity.
A shot bus ride took us to a small farm where giant tortoises are known to wander around. After a very short walk we found a giant tortoise in the open terrain, grazing on the vegetation around it. We had a lot of luck, as besides the fact that the tortoise was close, the terrain was dry, with no mud, and it was not raining at the same time, as sometimes occurs. On the way back to the National Geographic Endeavour some decided to stay in town for a little longer and do some more shopping. At night we had a visit from a group of musicians that played several songs; it all ended with some dancing.
