Today we visited my home island, Santa Cruz, the most inhabited island of the Galapagos Archipelago. Our guests had the opportunity to learn about the human history of the Galapagos. This is a story of failures and also successes, covering the problems caused by the arrival and settlement of men, as well as the incredible support of scientists from all over the world in order to preserve this unique archipelago.
Santa Cruz Island is home to the famous Charles Darwin Research Station, established on 1954, and the Galapagos National Park Headquarters. In the morning, we visited the most successful program of restoration of endangered populations: the Galapagos giant tortoise breeding center. It is a great joy to see the baby giant tortoises in their special pens, as well as the adult giant tortoises from different islands. After this visit there was time to wander around Puerto Ayora town, with many shopping possibilities and an opportunity for the explorers a visit to the fishermen’s dock.
Next, we boarded our buses and headed towards the highlands of Santa Cruz, to pay a visit to a sugar cane mill known as “El Trapiche”; however, some of our adventurers took the option of a 3 miles bike tour. Once we all were together again, we could enjoy the hospitality of the owner of the place, Mr Adriano; from him we learned about processing brown sugar and sugar cane moonshine. From this place we went to a private farm for lunch, and right afterwards our exploration continued towards the giant tortoises’ natural reserve. This afternoon was just unbelievable. We encountered a very friendly male tortoise, who was even posing for the pictures! Then, two males decided to start a fight in front of us, and what is more, a big male decided to show us how to enter a water pond. In this area there is a beautiful lava tunnel, a great geology class as we went through it and when we thought we were done with our awesome visit, the Galapagos giant tortoises started to mate!!! Santa Cruz Island indeed has a lot to offer.
We finished an incredible day aboard the National Geographic Islander with a delicious dinner and the performance of local dancers, “Grupo Cenda”, who delighted our guests and brought them to dance too. Today was another great day in Paradise!
