Santa Cruz Island
Our vessel anchored in Academy Bay at Puerto Ayora. The Bay was named after The California Academy of Sciences came to Galápagos in 1905 and spent a year here. Puerto Ayora is the biggest town in the archipelago and it is part of the three percent of the land area that is colonized.
In the morning, we went to the Galápagos giant tortoise-breeding center. On our way to the center we had an enjoyable walk through arid vegetation zone. The most conspicuous endemic plant species that we could see were two types of cacti: giant prickly pear (Opuntia echios var. gigantea) and candelabra cactus (Jasminocereous thouarsii). At the center, we saw different tortoise species, with a variety of morphotypes and several ages, including the ones that were born just a few months ago!
Our adventure continued in the highlands of Puerto Ayora. On the way to the highlands, we stop at El Trapiche. El Trapiche is a sugar cane mill that is owned by Mr. Cabrera and his family; it is a family business. They own a sugarcane plantation among other crops. He invited us to see how they make different products from it, such as: Moonshine, (distilled artisanal liquor), panela (like sugar), and melaza (syrup). We had a great time up there learning how people make their lives in the Galápagos. Later on we headed to the restaurant where we had our barbeque and some of the young explorers had a quick dip into the pool.
In the afternoon, we took a short bus ride to look for giant tortoises at Primicias Ranch. We were very fortunate due to the number of tortoises we saw. The type of tortoise is dome-shape and it is endemic to Santa Cruz Island (Chelonoidis nigra). We didn’t have to walk far to find them. In one of the freshwater ponds, we found a male tortoise that barely moved and we could take many photos of him. We saw at least ten giant tortoises, an unexpected number, therefore we accomplished our outing.
We came back to National Geographic Endeavour to dine. Afterwards, we gathered in the main lounge to enjoy live music performed by a local folk band named Eco-arte. We had a lovely ending to a perfect day!
