Early this morning we anchored in Academy Bay in the southern realm of Santa Cruz Island. After breakfast we headed towards the Galapagos giant tortoises breeding center. Here we saw some of the different varieties of land tortoises as well as Galapagos land iguanas. Our walk also allowed us to observe some of the famous Darwin´s finches hoping around the bushes and the ground as they were looking for food. We also got a chance to see the juveniles land tortoises in their “training corral,” and these are juveniles from many different islands.
This morning we also saw Diego, the tortoise from Española, which has been very successful reproducing with his five females. As soon as their eggs are laid, they will be collected and placed inside an artificial incubator; as the young tortoises hatch they will be kept in captivity until the age of 4 years old. These juveniles will then be released back on the island of their parent’s origin.
We observed the unique saddleback shell which is a characteristic of tortoises from dry, low and arid islands such as Española. As we left the breeding center, we then headed to the town of Puerto Ayora; there we explored the town at our own pace and learnt a bit more about the way the locals live in Galapagos.
Before lunch up in the highlands we stopped by a local farm which is locally known as “Trapiche,” and there we learnt about the process to roast coffee and visited their local distillery. We sampled their coffee and some of the “aguardiente” produced here.
After lunch we headed to another local farm to look for wild Galapagos giant tortoises. We found several tortoises - some were feeding, others resting, and some were enjoying a volcanic mud bath. This is the way tortoises avoid insect bites and is also how they can cool down a bit after a warm sunny day.
After this exciting day we returned aboard and had a great evening with some of the local dancers and musicians that entertained us.
