Santa Cruz
As the sun began to rise over the horizon we started to see the town of Puerto Ayora where a day full of new experiences waited for us. It began as a cloudy day with light breeze, after breakfast we got aboard the Zodiacs and started the exploration; first we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park Service Tortoise Breeding Program that has helped most of the species present in several islands of the archipelago avoid extinction. The cloudy early morning helped us during the walk as it never got very hot. First we visited the Tortoise Breeding Program and saw the young tortoises that have hatched either this year and in recent years, the little animals were rolling around in their corrals, very active for a tortoise and moving at what can be considered for a tortoise a sprint at very “high speed,” on the area nearby several young tortoises a little bigger than the ones in the corrals walked around, getting used to the uneven terrain they will find when they go back to the island their ancestors came from. After this we had the chance to see the really big ones, including the broodstock animals that fathered all the tortoises reintroduced back on Española or Hood Island. Although some of the tortoises we observed during this visit weighted over 200 kilos they still moved around, however not as fast as the little ones we saw rolling around in the “baby tortoises” corrals.
When this visit finished it was time to see the town of Puerto Ayora, and do some shopping of course, we then met at a local restaurant to begin the next part of the adventure. A bus took us to the highlands of Santa Cruz and as soon as we began to ascend we could feel the difference in the weather, it began to drizzle. The falling water made not much of a difference as this time we were going to descend into the earth; it was the time for a lava tunnel exploration. Flashlights began to be turned on and we started to get underground, it was a little wet as we got in but later we just had some mud in some parts of the tunnel as some water seeps through the soil and a few drops reach the tunnel top. Finally after walking for some time through the tunnel we saw some light at the distance, and began to feel the rain and little sunshine again.
We had lunch at a restaurant in the highlands and after a little rest, it was time to move again, this time to look for giant tortoises in the wild, as expected we had to wear rubber boots to avoid taking a lot of mud back on board and especially to keep our shoes clean. As we reached the area where the tortoises are found it began to drizzle, even as the bus was riding along the small trail we saw a giant tortoise, which meant good news. As soon as we began to walk along the area we could see some giants at the distance, as we carefully approached them some hid and some simply continued walking and feeding. Before returning to the ship we also visited a local farm where coffee and sugar cane alcohol is produced.
After this visit we had to return to our home: the National Geographic Islander. At night after dinner a group of local musicians played a wide variety of local music for us. It was very long day, but filled with great memories and experiences.
