We headed due north from Floreana around midnight, and anchored in Academy Bay off Santa Cruz Island just before dawn. This morning, following a hearty breakfast, we boarded the Zodiacs and motored to shore where we disembarked on the main dock of Puerto Ayora. Buses took us to the entrance of the National Park Service headquarters and Charles Darwin Research Station lands. Following our naturalists – Enrique, Juan Carlos and Antonio – we visited the tortoise breeding center and learned of the brilliant success of this repatriation project. Several species of seriously endangered tortoises have been brought back from the brink of extinction. Most notably, the population of the southeastern-most island was down to 12 adult females and 3 adult males (including the big male we affectionately call “Super Diego,” who was returned to the Galapagos in the mid 70’s from the San Diego Zoo); now there are more than 2000 tortoises wandering in the wild again on Española!
We walked through town shopping and/or sightseeing, stopped to take photos of the pelicans and fat sea lions that begged for fish scraps at the seafood market, and gathered for a cool glass of lemonade in The Rock café. Boarding the buses again, we drove through the lush green highlands of the agricultural zone of Santa Cruz and toured a family run coffee and sugar cane farm. A placid little donkey circled and turned the press to squeeze the cane, we sampled molasses and cheese, plucked sweet bananas from the stalk and some of us tossed back some of the potent sugar cane liquor! A sleepy little barn owl – they are smaller than the ones found on the mainland and are considered an endemic race or subspecies – sat in the rafters under the roof and blinked at us as we photographed him.
We drove in a downpour to a highland restaurant where we had tasty grilled chicken for lunch. Then went by bus to a farm where huge tortoises roamed and we were able to photograph these giant reptiles in the wild. We walked through a double decker lava tunnel, imagining the hot magma flowing out and leaving this empty tube, and were grateful that the weather held and that somehow, all day long we managed to dodge the rain!
We returned to town by the midafternoon, some returned to the ship and others stayed to shop a little more or watch the town return to activity after the noon siesta. By 1800 we were all back on the National Geographic Islander, happy, tired and satisfied following yet another full and unique day in the Islas Encantadas!
