Santa Cruz Island
What a wonderful day we had! The giant tortoises were our highlight today; this archipelago was known and named after these interesting reptiles. Today we saw them in the highlands in their natural habitat, roaming peacefully through the lush vegetation, just as they were when the first people disembarked on these islands in the mid 1500s.
Our expedition started early in the morning since most of the Galápagos wildlife is active at this time. We took buses to a farm and then hiked into the Tortoise Reserve of El Chato. We found over a dozen of the large, slow moving beasts, some still snoozing in their beds, as on cool mornings they are really in no hurry to get up and about. Some of us visited a lava tunnel (see today’s photo) that reminded us that these islands are volcanic. Afterwards we thoroughly enjoyed a well-deserved buffet breakfast on the farm. We had a terrific view and were surrounded by nature, which made this a really wonderful meal.
Back to the Islander, after some shopping in the town of Puerto Ayora, and we sailed to our next destination. North Seymour Island is a nesting area for both the blue-footed boobies and the frigate birds. Today we observed large chicks of both these species. In addition there were land iguanas and sea lions; this island was overwhelming with life! North Seymour is a small island but it is packed with birds and animals and is therefore a “must” in our itinerary.
As the sun sets, and we are surrounded by a large array of colors in the sky and water, we ride our Zodiac back to our home away from home, in the east pacific, the Islander. Later in the evening we sail onwards to our next destination, in the Enchanted Islands.
What a wonderful day we had! The giant tortoises were our highlight today; this archipelago was known and named after these interesting reptiles. Today we saw them in the highlands in their natural habitat, roaming peacefully through the lush vegetation, just as they were when the first people disembarked on these islands in the mid 1500s.
Our expedition started early in the morning since most of the Galápagos wildlife is active at this time. We took buses to a farm and then hiked into the Tortoise Reserve of El Chato. We found over a dozen of the large, slow moving beasts, some still snoozing in their beds, as on cool mornings they are really in no hurry to get up and about. Some of us visited a lava tunnel (see today’s photo) that reminded us that these islands are volcanic. Afterwards we thoroughly enjoyed a well-deserved buffet breakfast on the farm. We had a terrific view and were surrounded by nature, which made this a really wonderful meal.
Back to the Islander, after some shopping in the town of Puerto Ayora, and we sailed to our next destination. North Seymour Island is a nesting area for both the blue-footed boobies and the frigate birds. Today we observed large chicks of both these species. In addition there were land iguanas and sea lions; this island was overwhelming with life! North Seymour is a small island but it is packed with birds and animals and is therefore a “must” in our itinerary.
As the sun sets, and we are surrounded by a large array of colors in the sky and water, we ride our Zodiac back to our home away from home, in the east pacific, the Islander. Later in the evening we sail onwards to our next destination, in the Enchanted Islands.
