Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz Island was our destination for today, the land of the giant tortoises. We disembarked at 7:30 and visited the rearing center where we raise them in captivity to restore the dynasty of these gentle giants.
Giant land tortoises of the Galápagos happened to be, for a couple of centuries, the source of food and blubber for early sailors, whalers and early settlers. From our naturalists we learned well the efforts that the Ecuadorians are doing to preserve this unique species. Galápagos has one of the most successful breeding centers to grow wild animals in captivity.
We photographed the huge adults as well as the cute tiny babies, the size of our palms, which have hatched this year.
The afternoon highlight was of course seeing the great greenery up at the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, finding the giant tortoises roaming freely in the wild, walking though the lava tubes, and of course taking a refreshing shower in a torrential tropical rain.
We also did great shopping in the little town that offered a big array of nicely done souvenirs. This was a great day in paradise.
