Santa Cruz Island
Today was a very different Galápagos experience, as shortly after dawn Polaris pulled into Academy Bay of Santa Cruz Island, the home of the Galápagos National Park Service and also of the Charles Darwin Research Station. The bay was bobbing with yachts and boats as we dropped anchor just outside the harbor, with a glimpse of lush green highlands under the clouds hanging over the islands peak.
Today was giant tortoise day, so stepping carefully over the basking marine iguanas at the national park dock, we strolled up to the giant tortoise captive breeding center. The center was set up by the Charles Darwin Research Station more than 45 years ago to rear several species of endangered giant tortoises from islands where introduced predators like rats and pigs have made natural breeding unsuccessful. Today it is run jointly by the National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Station and, as well as seeing hundreds of baby giant tortoises, we got to pay our respects to Lonesome George, the last surviving tortoise from Pinta Island, and do some close tortoise bonding in the walk-through corrals. Some of the big tortoises in the pens are probably well over 100 years old and stand over 1m tall. In the afternoon – after our usual superb and massive lunch – we waddled off to check out two big pit craters near the peak of the island, and to look for wild tortoises. We found a number of big males hanging out not far into the reserve, but failed to find any vermilion flycatchers. So I guess you just have to come back again, guys!
Academy bay is also home to a small but lively town, so we were able to enjoy a pleasant shopping frenzy among the t-shirt and carved tortoise shops. Before dinner Ros Cameron of the Charles Darwin Station came on board to give us the latest news of the conservation activities in the islands, and treat us after dinner with an exhibition Latino dance with the Expedition Leader, Lucho. And another fine day in “Polaris-land” ended with dancing to the music of a talented group of local musicians, “Galápagos Identity” playing local and Andean music.
Today was a very different Galápagos experience, as shortly after dawn Polaris pulled into Academy Bay of Santa Cruz Island, the home of the Galápagos National Park Service and also of the Charles Darwin Research Station. The bay was bobbing with yachts and boats as we dropped anchor just outside the harbor, with a glimpse of lush green highlands under the clouds hanging over the islands peak.
Today was giant tortoise day, so stepping carefully over the basking marine iguanas at the national park dock, we strolled up to the giant tortoise captive breeding center. The center was set up by the Charles Darwin Research Station more than 45 years ago to rear several species of endangered giant tortoises from islands where introduced predators like rats and pigs have made natural breeding unsuccessful. Today it is run jointly by the National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Station and, as well as seeing hundreds of baby giant tortoises, we got to pay our respects to Lonesome George, the last surviving tortoise from Pinta Island, and do some close tortoise bonding in the walk-through corrals. Some of the big tortoises in the pens are probably well over 100 years old and stand over 1m tall. In the afternoon – after our usual superb and massive lunch – we waddled off to check out two big pit craters near the peak of the island, and to look for wild tortoises. We found a number of big males hanging out not far into the reserve, but failed to find any vermilion flycatchers. So I guess you just have to come back again, guys!
Academy bay is also home to a small but lively town, so we were able to enjoy a pleasant shopping frenzy among the t-shirt and carved tortoise shops. Before dinner Ros Cameron of the Charles Darwin Station came on board to give us the latest news of the conservation activities in the islands, and treat us after dinner with an exhibition Latino dance with the Expedition Leader, Lucho. And another fine day in “Polaris-land” ended with dancing to the music of a talented group of local musicians, “Galápagos Identity” playing local and Andean music.
