Santa Cruz Island
Today was a very lovely day on the central-most island of the archipelago. We started our visit at the Charles Darwin Centre where we were able to observe the many different subspecies of Galápagos giant tortoises and land iguanas that are bred in this particular location, to help restore their populations on the original islands they came from.
After visiting the Darwin Centre, our guests visited the town of Puerto Ayora and some enjoyed shopping and supported the local economy, while others just had a great time strolling along the main avenue looking at the fishermen’s main dock, for example, where they were selling some of the fresh-caught fish. Meanwhile, some pelicans, great blue heron, and lava gulls waited for their prizes.
Around noon we took our buses to a local restaurant up in the highlands where some went for a very refreshing swim in the swimming pool and others enjoyed a volleyball game. After this an incredibly delicious lunch was served.
Our afternoon started with some options: for those who wanted to have a long alternative, we went to the pit craters and while there, we identified some types of Darwin’s finches and many other species of land birds. We also found different plants of the zone such as the giant scalesias, ferns of different types, mosses, liverworts and lichens.
After our visit to the pit craters we went to see the giant tortoises in their natural habitat and we found quite a few and the vermillion flycatchers as well. It was a very good day of tortoises, iguanas, human history and unique vegetation.
Today was a very lovely day on the central-most island of the archipelago. We started our visit at the Charles Darwin Centre where we were able to observe the many different subspecies of Galápagos giant tortoises and land iguanas that are bred in this particular location, to help restore their populations on the original islands they came from.
After visiting the Darwin Centre, our guests visited the town of Puerto Ayora and some enjoyed shopping and supported the local economy, while others just had a great time strolling along the main avenue looking at the fishermen’s main dock, for example, where they were selling some of the fresh-caught fish. Meanwhile, some pelicans, great blue heron, and lava gulls waited for their prizes.
Around noon we took our buses to a local restaurant up in the highlands where some went for a very refreshing swim in the swimming pool and others enjoyed a volleyball game. After this an incredibly delicious lunch was served.
Our afternoon started with some options: for those who wanted to have a long alternative, we went to the pit craters and while there, we identified some types of Darwin’s finches and many other species of land birds. We also found different plants of the zone such as the giant scalesias, ferns of different types, mosses, liverworts and lichens.
After our visit to the pit craters we went to see the giant tortoises in their natural habitat and we found quite a few and the vermillion flycatchers as well. It was a very good day of tortoises, iguanas, human history and unique vegetation.
