We awoke to find the National Geographic Islander anchored in a calm harbor off the town of Puerto Ayora at Santa Cruz Island. Dozens of ships, boats and yachts shared the anchorage with us and “pangas” of all sizes ferried groups of tourists and locals across the bay. The morning was sunny, breezy and cool and after breakfast we rode the Zodiacs into the National Park docks. We followed our naturalists – Walter, Christian and Jonathan - along a narrow cement cobble road to the giant tortoise breeding center. Here we enjoyed seeing and photographing tiny hatchling tortoises stumbling around their lava rock enclosures. They are hatched, raised and protected until they are safe from introduced predators like rats and cats and then they are released on the islands of their origin. Hundreds of tortoises have been returned to the wild and several species that were in danger of extinction are now on the road to recovery.
We walked at our own pace through town past numerous colorful souvenir boutiques where we browsed and shopped, but the biggest attraction of the morning was undoubtedly the fish market! The day’s catch was being cleaned and filleted by several fishermen and at least a dozen juvenile pelicans flapped and squawked as they attempted to steal a fishy tidbit. A couple of young, fat sea lions pushed, stretched and appeared to almost even beg for a handout. We snapped countless photos and then walked on down to The Rock café where we gathered for a refreshing glass of blackberry juice.
Buses took us into the lush green highlands of Santa Cruz and our next stop was at the dark mouth of a lava tunnel. We climbed down slippery rock steps and ducked inside and - the non-claustrophobic among us - crossed a quarter of a mile underground to pop-out at a rustic restaurant where the rest of our group was waiting for us to start lunch. The buffet table was piled with assorted salads, vegetables and meats and we had fresh tangerines, bananas and oranges, too, beside some sweet desserts.
After this repast we had fun taking turns backing into an old empty and dry tortoise shell and taking some very funny pictures. We joked that it might have been wiser to try on the shell before lunch, rather than after that big meal… Then we boarded the buses and drove lower down the island to find tortoises in the wild. We must have seen at least a dozen tortoises, and a couple of them were really huge old males. Everyone took many photos and we thoroughly enjoyed the outing.
Back down in town again, most of us returned to the ship via the Zodiacs for showers and a cool drink in the bar before dinner. I talked about finches during tonight’s recap, and showed a short video about the tool- using woodpecker finches. Only a few of the guests had ever heard of the vampire finches; I explained that they peck the boobies for blood during droughts on the northernmost islands.
Following a buffet dinner we were well entertained by a local group of musicians and dancers: EcoArte. It turns out this group of guests could dance, too! I was surprised they still had so much energy after all we have been doing each and every day here in the magical Islas Encantadas! Tomorrow we are going to hike, snorkel, kayak and then hike again, so I imagine everyone will head off to bed soon after this party is over tonight…
