For the first time in the trip, the National Geographic Islander visited an island populated by people. Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos, home to the largest population. Here we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park Breeding Center for Giant tortoises. Also, we moved to a local farm where there were demonstrations of coffee making and sugar cane distilling from the plantations.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 19 May 2017
Santa Cruz Island, 5/19/2017, National Geographic Islander
- Aboard the National Geographic Islander
- Galápagos
Enrique Silva, Naturalist
Enrique was born on San Cristobal Island, which is the political capital of the Galapagos. His parents moved from mainland Ecuador in the 1980’s, as did many other Ecuadorians, in search of better work opportunities.
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North Seymour & Rabida Islands
Relatively small and low compared to neighboring Santa Cruz, North Seymour is located to the north of Baltra. The island is dry with predominantly low shrubs, like prickly pear cacti. The incense trees are bare during the dry season. Seabirds like frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies nest on the island, and sea lions rest on the sand when they are not fishing. Land and marine iguanas also live here. Rabida is in the middle of the archipelago and has a striking red sand beach. We observed a small colony of sea lions of all ages resting or nursing. Behind the beach, American flamingos nest in a brackish lagoon. This island is full of contrasts and wildlife that we enjoyed observing during this day of expedition.