Today we arrived at Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island, to cloudy skies and a warm welcome. All of our guests were very excited to see the unique wildlife on the island. Our first stop was to the Charles Darwin Station, which is home to several hundred giant tortoises. It is also the important last resting place of Lonesome George.
At the rearing center, we saw little hatchlings that will to be repatriated to their islands of origin within a few years. Our guests learned a lot about the island’s conservation projects and all the things that are done locally to restore the populations of giant tortoises in the Galápagos. Besides the hatchlings, we encountered full-sized adult tortoises and land iguanas.
We then boarded buses to discover the highlands of Santa Cruz which was very different to any other place we have seen so far in the Galápagos. The lush vegetation and tall trees told the story of a cloud forest. Before going to a local restaurant for lunch, we visited El Trapiche which is a sugarcane mill owned by a local farmer. He gave us a tour and showed us the products made out of sugarcane juice, such as panela and aguardiente.
After a wonderful lunch we went to look for the giant tortoises. It was a successful outing with many guests seeing and photographing tortoises of many different ages and sizes!
It was a great day and it was topped off with a show back on board the ship from local musicians and dancers (we had three birthday celebrations tonight).
