At seven o’clock in the morning the National Geographic Endeavour was anchored in Academy Bay on a misty morning, and we passed the information on to guests to be prepared, for it looked like a wet morning walk.
By eight-thirty we disembarked at the national park’s pier, and we were all walking to the station facility. We decided to stop by the shade house where it’s possible to interpret the native garden with all kinds of endemic plants; the moisture of the area and the vivid green in the station surrounding us impressed the guests who were not expecting such lively color on the visit.
Later we went to the tortoise enclosure and a question popped up immediately: How do the station and the park service work together to improve the living conditions of such an iconic Galápagos creature? We talked about the six tortoises in the first pen, and by using this example we explained why these facilities are not considered a zoo. Most of the tortoises were collected by locals who kept them captive in their own backyards; perhaps thinking that the possession of this creature may offer them the option of making money.
We walked by the facility where Diego is kept, and this gave us a chance to talk about how his, once nearly extinct sub-species left, was repopulated through the work of the Darwin Station, and we also shared all the details of when and how we found Diego in the San Diego Zoo. Next we saw the enclosure where we used to see George; he is not among us anymore but the memories are fresh. It is good to meditate on him and what we did to try to save his sub-species, now extinct.
After the visit to the Station we walked back to town, Puerto Ayora, with a quick stop at the fish market. We then took buses into the highlands to continue this great expedition. We stopped at a local farm to see what locals use as alternatives for living, such as a coffee plantation combined with other farming activities.
A delicious lunch waited for us in the highlands, and then we kept on with program of wild tortoises in a reserve of the island of Santa Cruz. When we arrived, we had no idea of how close we could see these animals in the area. It wasn’t the only exciting activity, soon after enjoying the tortoises everybody had a chance to see another of Darwin’s finches. We spent a good amount of time just having a blast by watching tortoises and birds. All tired, we rode the buses back to Puerto Ayora to linger in town a bit longer or return to the ship.
Tomorrow the adventure will go on, this time on another, different but awesome, island.
