Santa Cruz Island
Today we explored the Galápagos Islands in a slightly different way than what is our tradition. Shortly after breakfast we disembarked on a floating jetty constructed by the municipality of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island.
This was our first contact with the growing human population of the islands. The town of Puerto Ayora was our gateway to discovering the projects and research that the Charles Darwin Research Center (CDRS) has developed for the last forty years to aid the populations of giant tortoises. Our visit to the CDRS was very successful in many different ways, as we not only got to know about the projects, but we got to see the giant tortoises from the different races up and close!
Once done with our guided visit, the majority of the guests started their journey through town for their shopping adventure. Lost of colorful t-shirts and hand made crafts were adorning the windows of every store along the way, making the choice difficult.
Our afternoon was dedicated to exploring the natural habitats of giant tortoises, so we headed to national park land hiked way above fifteen hundred feet and found our goal, more giant tortoises, but this time in the wild.
As for the bird lovers, our afternoon in the forest turned out to be extremely rewarding due the presence of several species of finches and vermilion flycatchers.
Once satisfied with the amount of wildlife that we encountered, we headed back to the ship, leaving behind the warm Galapagenian people and the only town that we would come across during this expedition.
Today we explored the Galápagos Islands in a slightly different way than what is our tradition. Shortly after breakfast we disembarked on a floating jetty constructed by the municipality of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island.
This was our first contact with the growing human population of the islands. The town of Puerto Ayora was our gateway to discovering the projects and research that the Charles Darwin Research Center (CDRS) has developed for the last forty years to aid the populations of giant tortoises. Our visit to the CDRS was very successful in many different ways, as we not only got to know about the projects, but we got to see the giant tortoises from the different races up and close!
Once done with our guided visit, the majority of the guests started their journey through town for their shopping adventure. Lost of colorful t-shirts and hand made crafts were adorning the windows of every store along the way, making the choice difficult.
Our afternoon was dedicated to exploring the natural habitats of giant tortoises, so we headed to national park land hiked way above fifteen hundred feet and found our goal, more giant tortoises, but this time in the wild.
As for the bird lovers, our afternoon in the forest turned out to be extremely rewarding due the presence of several species of finches and vermilion flycatchers.
Once satisfied with the amount of wildlife that we encountered, we headed back to the ship, leaving behind the warm Galapagenian people and the only town that we would come across during this expedition.
