| Galapagos 2025 part 4: Santa Cruz: Highlands, Charles Darwin Center | |
|---|---|
|
Slide show option — just for looking at the pictures. | |
|
Wednesday's sunrise came over Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, the largest city of the Galapagos. As the main port (and home port for the Nemo), there were many boats at anchor and water taxis coming and going most of the day. For folks on shorter trips, this is the day to switch. In our case, everyone was there for the full week. Also this is the only day we stayed out of the water. In the morning we took a bus up into the highlands to a giant tortoise reserve, El Chato 2 Ranch. The tour there started with lava tubes. Jerry, our resident spelunker, was in his element. |
|
|
|
|
| Back outside, the tortoises were happy in their pond. Their size and number lived up to expectations. And Jonathan ensured everyone had an iconic photo with Galapagos tortoises. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On our way back down to town, we were temporarily delayed by a tortoise jam. They are big enough to take up a good portion of the narrow road. And once in town, we had a few minutes for shopping. While the airport had shirts, shorts and swim suits to replace some of the missing clothes (in our missing bags); Puerto Ayora had underwear and other sundries. |
| After lunch on board, we headed back to town and took a short bus trip to The Charles Darwin Center. Here they work to educate about ecological problems challenging the islands and their wildlife. They are also raising giant tortoises to repopulate the islands. Each group of tortoises, raised in their own enclosures, are destined for a particular island to help rebuild those enclaves. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We walked the short walk back through town (allowing for more shopping — and ice cream). Clearly they are used to tourists :) Back on board, we had time to relax, check out the baby black tipped sharks in the bay and enjoy dinner under an almost full moon as the boat headed out of port and on to Isabella. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Part 5: Thursday 1/16: Isabela: Moreno Point, Urbina Bay. | |
|
Table of contents
| |
Vacation notes:
Home | Personal | Professional | News and Updates | Robert | Vacations | Genealogy | Search | |
