We awoke this morning at anchor in Academy Bay, located at the south end of Santa Cruz Island. It was a beautiful morning and by 8:15 all of our guests had already landed ashore and were on their way to visit and learn about one of the most successful and iconic programs on ecological restoration of the islands, the Giant Tortoise Rearing Center. This is a program that is jointly run by the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the Charles Darwin Research Station, which works to breed these endangered animals in captivity, with the intention of eventually repatriating them to their islands of origin. After this visit, our guests had the chance to walk through the community of Puerto Ayora, where some of them did some souvenir shopping, others went for ice creams and others spent some time at a cyber café.

At 11:00 am our guests boarded buses and headed to the high lands of Santa Cruz Island to enjoy a visit to a sugar cane mill called El Trapiche.  Here we enjoyed a fun experience with a local family and their lifestyle. We tried some of the sugar cane juice as well as the moonshine that is produced at the farm. Other guests decided to visit Tomas de Berlanga Schooll, which we support through our Lindblad-National Geographic Fund.  After the visits, we all got back on the buses and headed to the Aquellarre restaurant, where we had a delicious lunch.

After lunch, our guests continued by bus until we reached a private property, owned by local galapagueños, which is located at the boundary of a giant tortoise reserve. Here everybody had the chance to observe these magnificent reptiles in their natural habitat and learn about their natural history.

By 4:30 in the afternoon everybody was back to town. Some of the guests decided to return directly to the National Geographic Endeavour II, while others stayed later to spend time glancing through the many souvenir shops or trying the street side cafés of Puerto Ayora.  By sunset everybody was back on board.

At the end of the day, right after dinner, our guests were joined our visiting musicians and dancers for some entertainment at the lounge.