Galapagos Islands - Installment #2 - Jan 10, 2006

Giant tortoise - "El Chato" area in highlands of Santa Cruz Island

Entering the lava tunnel

After a night of rougher seas, the 6 am wake-up call came early. But, we motivated ourselves to get moving since we were off to see the giant tortoises. The zodiacs transported us to the dock at Academy Bay on Santa Cruz Island where we boarded buses to head to the "El Chato" area in the highlands, a tortoise preserve that is part of the Galapagos National Park. Here, we hiked 2 miles to observe the tortoises in their natural setting. They are quite large animals with spectacular shells. While we saw quite a few tortoises, they were all still as we walked by. After that, we hiked through a lava tube (an underground cave-like tunnel where lava flowed at one point in time) about 1/4 mile to get to breakfast.

Giant tortoise heading off the road

Our group (about 1/4 of the passengers) arrived first so we had a nice leisurely meal before departing as the last group was arriving. As we headed back toward town, we came upon a tortoise ambling down the road. We stopped and got out for pictures and watched it for a while as it watched us and then turned off the road and into the brush. Spectacular.

"Lonesome George" at C. Darwin Research Station

Land Iguana - North Seymour

Juvenile Magnificent Frigate

Sea Lion Pup

Back in Puerto Ayora (population of ~15,000), several of us headed up to the Darwin Research Station to see "Lonesome George" (a giant tortoise) as well as the baby tortoises being bred, and some endangered land iguanas. A much more worthwhile excursion than shopping in town for two hours. After a leisurely afternoon on the boat while it sailed north to North Seymour, we dropped anchor and disembarked to hike on a difficult loop trail (very rocky). The area is very arid as it gets little rain so vegetation is sparse and low to the ground. This is mating season for the frigate birds so we watched as the males puff out their red chests into a balloon-like form to try to attract the females. We cam upon several land iguanas (different than marine iguanas and much more endangered) and watched tons of sea lions at various ages from brand new pup to a bit older climbing the rocks at the shore, playing or just lying around. An amazing variety of wildlife in such a condensed space, and with no fear of humans. Truly remarkable.