Santa Cruz Island
The most populated of the islands, Santa Cruz, is home to over 20,000 people. Puerto Ayora is a colorful, friendly and fast growing town. This morning, our guests were eager to visit the Charles Darwin Station to see the endangered giant tortoises that are kept in captivity here for breeding purposes. We landed at the National Park pier and walked through the arid zone vegetation of Opuntia or prickly pear cactus. Here on Santa Cruz the Opuntia have a tree-like trunk that may be as much as 5 meters tall.
We followed a wooden boardwalk through the Charles Darwin Station tortoise breeding center. Here we saw both adult and young giant tortoises of different species from the islands where they are endangered. One of the most famous reptiles, well-known around the world, is Lonesome George; he is the last surviving individual of the tortoises of Pinta Island. Recently the two closely related female tortoises that share George’s corral laid eggs – and we all rejoiced in the hopes that George would have offspring – not pure Pinta descendants – but close enough. However, the eggs were not fertile, so George remains the last of his kind.
Here in the breeding center there are other “stars,” like Super Diego, from Espanola Island. In the mid 60’s scientists realized that the number of adult tortoises on Espanola was exceedingly low – they located 12 females and 2 males and moved them from the wild to the breeding center. Diego was returned to Galápagos from the San Diego zoo. There are now more than 2,000 giant tortoises roaming Espanola, individuals that were born in captivity and have been repatriated to their island home upon reaching 5 years of age and about 20 centimeters. This is one of the Darwin Station’s most successful programs.
For lunch today we headed to the highlands and an area known as “El Chato” or the “high plateau.” Here we found ourselves surrounded by lush greenery in contrast to the arid costal area we had thus far visited. We were at about 400 meters in elevation and on a farm owed by a Galápagos cattle rancher. We descended into a lava tunnel and hiked for about a half kilometer 20 meters underground! The tunnel was lighted with a string of electric bulbs and was cool and somewhat damp. Very interesting!
Lunch was served; a healthy and tasty buffet of vegetables, salads, grilled chicken and beef. Afterwards we explored and hiked through the lush vegetation in search of giant tortoises. We found them sleeping, eating, and drinking water from a small pond. We also observed a number of white cheeked pintail ducks, yellow warblers courting, and a fearless, endemic Galápagos flycatcher.
Continuing higher up the island by bus we reached a new vegetation zone where the dominant plants are Scalesia pedunculata trees up to 20 meters in height. These are the endemic daisy trees that are found nowhere else on earth. The trunks and branches of these unusual trees were covered with epiphytes, mosses and liverworts, ferns, and orchids. This area has abundant seeds and insects; ground finches, tree finches, and the elusive woodpecker finches were found by our guests who participated in the finch identification with bird attraction calls and their binoculars.
Here we also found two pit craters, geological formations on either side of the road that are called “los gemelos” or “the twins.” Returning by bus to town, some stayed on for more shopping time while others headed by Zodiac to the ship.
By sunset at 1800 we had all returned to our “home sweet home” for this week - the National Geographic Islander. After this full and wonderful day, we gathered in the lounge to light the Hanukah candles and enjoy cocktails.
The most populated of the islands, Santa Cruz, is home to over 20,000 people. Puerto Ayora is a colorful, friendly and fast growing town. This morning, our guests were eager to visit the Charles Darwin Station to see the endangered giant tortoises that are kept in captivity here for breeding purposes. We landed at the National Park pier and walked through the arid zone vegetation of Opuntia or prickly pear cactus. Here on Santa Cruz the Opuntia have a tree-like trunk that may be as much as 5 meters tall.
We followed a wooden boardwalk through the Charles Darwin Station tortoise breeding center. Here we saw both adult and young giant tortoises of different species from the islands where they are endangered. One of the most famous reptiles, well-known around the world, is Lonesome George; he is the last surviving individual of the tortoises of Pinta Island. Recently the two closely related female tortoises that share George’s corral laid eggs – and we all rejoiced in the hopes that George would have offspring – not pure Pinta descendants – but close enough. However, the eggs were not fertile, so George remains the last of his kind.
Here in the breeding center there are other “stars,” like Super Diego, from Espanola Island. In the mid 60’s scientists realized that the number of adult tortoises on Espanola was exceedingly low – they located 12 females and 2 males and moved them from the wild to the breeding center. Diego was returned to Galápagos from the San Diego zoo. There are now more than 2,000 giant tortoises roaming Espanola, individuals that were born in captivity and have been repatriated to their island home upon reaching 5 years of age and about 20 centimeters. This is one of the Darwin Station’s most successful programs.
For lunch today we headed to the highlands and an area known as “El Chato” or the “high plateau.” Here we found ourselves surrounded by lush greenery in contrast to the arid costal area we had thus far visited. We were at about 400 meters in elevation and on a farm owed by a Galápagos cattle rancher. We descended into a lava tunnel and hiked for about a half kilometer 20 meters underground! The tunnel was lighted with a string of electric bulbs and was cool and somewhat damp. Very interesting!
Lunch was served; a healthy and tasty buffet of vegetables, salads, grilled chicken and beef. Afterwards we explored and hiked through the lush vegetation in search of giant tortoises. We found them sleeping, eating, and drinking water from a small pond. We also observed a number of white cheeked pintail ducks, yellow warblers courting, and a fearless, endemic Galápagos flycatcher.
Continuing higher up the island by bus we reached a new vegetation zone where the dominant plants are Scalesia pedunculata trees up to 20 meters in height. These are the endemic daisy trees that are found nowhere else on earth. The trunks and branches of these unusual trees were covered with epiphytes, mosses and liverworts, ferns, and orchids. This area has abundant seeds and insects; ground finches, tree finches, and the elusive woodpecker finches were found by our guests who participated in the finch identification with bird attraction calls and their binoculars.
Here we also found two pit craters, geological formations on either side of the road that are called “los gemelos” or “the twins.” Returning by bus to town, some stayed on for more shopping time while others headed by Zodiac to the ship.
By sunset at 1800 we had all returned to our “home sweet home” for this week - the National Geographic Islander. After this full and wonderful day, we gathered in the lounge to light the Hanukah candles and enjoy cocktails.
