Galápagos: Day 4

Today was spent in Santa Cruz, one of the oldest islands in the Galapagos and most populated (but still not a lot of people).

We went to the Charles Darwin Research Station in the morning after breakfast with our new guide, Pablo. At the research station, they breed the giant tortoises. They're endangered, and some extinct, . Part of the reason is because pirates and sailors used to take them onto their ships because they can go months without food and water, so they'd take them onto their ships and kill them once they needed oil and/or food. We learned about how the station breeds the tortoises by bringing the adults to the station to mate, and then once the female lays the eggs, the researchers protect the nest and then collect the eggs and incubate them. They breed 50% male and 50% female and they do this by changing the temperature of the incubator, 28° for males and 29.5° for females. I remember learning that last year watching a documentary with my class. It's the same for sea turtles. After incubation, they hatch over 2-6 days and then it's 30 days for their shell to finish forming and then they're ready to go to a small pen to get bigger. Once they are a couple years old they go to the training ground where they learn how to climb over rocks, navigate terrain, and eat.

The little babies that hatched this year were so cute and small, about the size of my palm for some of them! We ended our walk at the station by visiting George, the last Pinta turtle that was discovered in the 70s, but they discovered he was infertile so the Pinta turtles have all died now. George was taxidermied and you can see him in a room; the last Pinta tortoise. Before walking back to town we popped our head into the museum.

The town is cute, but we didn't take time to explore yet so we weren't late to meet the guide and continue our journey to the highlands. We bid farewell to the rest of our travel mates and got on a bus with our new group to the highlands.

We stopped at El Chato Park for lunch and to see the giant tortoises roaming in the park area. There were so many! They mostly just walk a little, eat some grass, walk a little farther to some grass, and eat some more... or lie in the mud if they are too hot. It was so cool seeing them up close and watching them. I could sit and watch them eat grass for hours, it's strangely peaceful to observe them in the complete silence (fire ants weren't so peaceful though).

After visiting the tortoises, and trying on some tortoise shells, we headed toward a lave tunnel. It was about 500m long and was very high and wide at the start, and then all of a sudden just got super small. At one point we had to crawl on our hands and knees under one section. It stayed smaller, but we could stand up the rest of the way out of the tunnel. The little hut that controls the lights for the tunnel had two barn owls sleeping in it which was pretty cool to see up close.

It was a short drive back down from the Highlands and we had some free time in the town. I walked around and looked at some shops while Allan (finally) got a haircut and a shave, cave man no more! I bought a cheap Christmas ornament and some blue footed booby earrings. I've felt like my face has been missing something this whole trip and I think it's earrings! Definitely been missing all my fun earrings. I also stopped for a guava and coconut swirl soft serve, it was very tasty 😋.

Before we met the group we also managed to sneak in a small beer at the Santa Cruz Brewery - the first beer brewed in the Galápagos!

The evening was pretty much a repeat of the first night. We got back to the boat, had snacks and information about the boat, had our briefing and welcome cocktail with the crew and then dinner. It was a pretty chill day, and I was glad for a bit of a break from snorkeling 🤿.Baca lagi