We landed on the largest of the Galapagos Islands. We saw civilization from the ship and soon thought about a different Galapagos, the one where conservation now jumps into the main focus. We had a dry landing on the Pier of Puerto Ayora and continued on a bus ride toward the Tortoise Breeding Center of the Galapagos National Park. We encountered many specimen of Giant tortoises from a few different sources, some of them had a saddle shaped shells and others had domed shells. Some land iguanas were also spotted in captivity within this facility.
After an interesting visit and learning about all conservation efforts being done in the Galapagos to help restore the dynasty of the Giant tortoises, we spent some time along the waterfront of Santa Cruz Island. We soon got ready to go to the highlands of Santa Cruz, riding a bus for about a 25 minute ride. Some of us chose to go biking to our destination instead on a length of approximately 3 ½ miles.
At the highlands we stopped at a small family owned hacienda where there is a sugar can press and we had the opportunity to learn about the processing of brown raw sugar, sugar cane alcohol, and also the processing of how to make coffee from the moment they pick the beans from the plant until the process of roasting.
After lunch we visited a different area of the highlands where we encountered several giant tortoises around the greenery of the humid zone. Some of these tortoises were cooling off in a rainwater pond, while others were grazing off the ground and shading under trees.
An underground expedition was also done through a large lava tube. We entered the fascinating geological feature to learn about basaltic lava composition and its solidification processes.
After a great day, we returned to the National Geographic Islander to continue our expedition.
