Guests spent the day exploring the island of Santa Cruz. The day began with a tour of the Charles Darwin Foundation, where we learned about all of the research that is being done at the CDF and saw some of Darwin’s finches along the way. We also visited the giant tortoise captive breeding program, where guests saw the famous Super Diego, the most successful tortoise sire. Afterward, visitors got a close up encounter with the youngest tortoise giants, some of which were less than a year old. The Charles Darwin tour ended with a viewing of our beloved Lonesome George.

Next stop of the day was El Trapiche, a family-run farm in the highlands that produces modest amounts of chocolate, coffee, cheese, and sugar cane products. Guests learned how caña is made, and had the chance to meet the owner of the farm, Don Adriano.

Our last stop was El Chato II, where guests experienced close encounters with the Santa Cruz giant tortoises in the wild.