The National Geographic Endeavour dropped its anchor today at 6:00 a.m. in Academy Bay, Santa Cruz Island. After an early breakfast we disembarked ready to spend the whole day on the Island doing various activities.
In the morning we visited the headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Station, which is the institution that’s been helping the Ecuadorian government with scientific studies about the fragile flora and fauna of the Galápagos. The National Park’s rearing center of giant tortoises was also visited and became the highlight of the morning. A lot of pens full of baby tortoises and adults were seen, and most importantly our guests were able to learn about the conservation efforts done at this site to restore the population of giant tortoises in the wild.
In the afternoon, after stopping at el Trapiche (a sugar cane mill), we went for our lunch at a local restaurant located in the highlands of Santa Cruz. Shortly afterwards we continued exploring the highlands and went in search of the endemic specie of giant tortoise from this Island, considered to be the second largest after the ones from Isabela Island.
Our tortoise search was very successful. We found many tortoises actively roaming around and feeding on plants. Some of the biggest tortoises we encountered must have been nearly five hundred pounds. Watching them move up close was a marvelous show!
After all our activities we returned to the town. During this day our guests were given two opportunities to walk in the town of Puerto Ayora—many went shopping and also enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about the local people of the Islands.
