Today we started our day in Academy Bay on the south end of Santa Cruz Island. After our breakfast we headed to the giant tortoises breeding center, which is one of the most successful conservation program in the whole planet. There we learned how the National Park rangers succeeded in the laborious mission of breeding tortoises in captivity, simulating the same conditions that they find in the wild. Also we got the chance to meet the most famous tortoises in the world, Diego (the most successful breeder from Espanola Island). The weather was hot, making the visit a little bit demanding. Later on we continued our journey to the highlands of Santa Cruz. We did a stop at a locally owned sugar mill, where we learned how they process the sugar cane into several very tasty products such as raw sugar, sugar cane liquor and organic coffee. After this very instructive stop we continued higher up into the highlands to visit Miguel Angel Arias Farm; located in the migrating path of the giant tortoises, where we had a succulent Galapagos style lunch.
In the afternoon we visited Johnsy’s farm, which is great place to find tortoises. This place has an incredible geological formation know as a lava tunnel; we got the chance to enter the tunnel and learned about the formation of these islands. Giant tortoises are the largest reptiles that move in this vast green lands where food supply is available at any movement. This is the reason of why this farm decided to leave a preserved area for this great herbivorous. Some of them may reach 180 years old and weigh 500 pounds. Males are the largest, and females are smaller with some shiny carapaces and some are recognizable at the distance. The day was sunny at that time, typical condition of the “hot raining” season.
At the end of the afternoon some of our guest decided to head back to the National Geographic Islander. Meanwhile others spent more time in Puerto Ayora town for a last call shopping. We had a great day in Santa Cruz Island.
