Genovesa Island, 2/15/2018, National Geographic Endeavour II
Aboard the
National Geographic Endeavour II
Galápagos
The golden finale of this expedition, on board the National Geographic Islander, around the Galapagos Islands, was to visit the famous Genovesa Island. Here there are thousands of seabirds of several different species. We landed on Genovesa both in the morning and again in the afternoon, looking for boobies, frigates, and petrels.
Enrique was born on San Cristobal Island, which is the political capital of the Galapagos. His parents moved from mainland Ecuador in the 1980’s, as did many other Ecuadorians, in search of better work opportunities.
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This morning National Geographic Endeavour II was anchored along the northwest coast of Santa Cruz Island. During the morning our guests explored a Galápagos dry forest in search of Palo Santo trees, giant Galápagos prickly pear cactus, and Galápagos land iguanas. In the afternoon we explored Borrero Bay, a mangrove ecosystem where some guests kayaked and others went on Zodiac rides.
We had a day full of wildlife encounters mixed with unique and fun cultural experiences on Santa Cruz Island. From the town of Puerto Ayora, we got on buses to visit El Trapiche Farm. It’s an interactive farm where our guests had the opportunity to learn about the process of sugarcane, cocoa, and coffee production. These activities are displayed by a local family that has followed these traditions for many generations. Our guests took part in these activities by helping to extract sugarcane juice, roasting coffee in an old-fashioned way, and distilling sugarcane liqueur. It was definitely a fun way for our guests to interact with the locals while learning how they make a living from farming. And as an extra bonus, we saw a barn owl sitting on a beam of the interior of the building’s roof. After visiting El Trapiche, our guests had a great time seeing the emblematic giant tortoises roaming freely by Manzanillo Ranch. We saw tortoises wandering around, some inside a mud pond, and even a mating couple. It was a spectacular way to end another day in the Galapagos.
Today was our second full day exploring the islands and we started with a fantastic prebreakfast hike. Punta Cormorant is famous for the presence of a brackish water lagoon where greater flamingos can often be observed. As we hiked a mile inland, we arrived at a beautiful coralline beach, a nesting site for green sea turtles. Some individuals were basking at the shoreline and a couple of turtles were mating not far from the breakers. What a show! We saw boobies diving, sea lions playing, lots of fish, rays, and reef sharks while snorkeling. In the afternoon, we went kayaking among sea turtles and rays. Post Office Bay, well known for a traditional posting system used by early sailors, was the late afternoon activity, finishing off an amazing day on our expedition.
