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Silver Origin anchored in front of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, where the Charles Darwin Research Station is located. The station also houses the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center for giant tortoises and land iguanas where guides interpret the centre’s captive breeding and reintroduction programs.
But first we headed for te Highlands. Santa Cruz Island reaches a maximum altitude of 864 meters, at high altitudes, weather changes creating microclimates. The species of flora and fauna found near the shoreline are extremely different from those on the highlands. Life in the highlands is much easier due to the presence of fresh water, from the constant drizzle that happens during the dry season to heavy rains that occur during the wet season. Local people take advantage of this climate to cultivate a large number of crops and giant tortoises love this ideal weather to mate, feed and rest before their next long migration to the shorelines.
We disembarked here at 8 am and went in a small coach to Montemar, a coffee plantation 15 minutes outside the town which was on a giant tortoise migration route. But the tortoise were migrating at this moment and we saw a measly six specimens, three of them in a grubby lake: So we were not much impressed after the abundance of even larger tortoises in Aldabra.
After a guided walk with our guide, Javier, we had a coffee tasting, which also included some chocolate. It poured with rain during this time, but then stopped when we walked back to the coach. By the time we were back in town, the heavens opened again, and we arrived back on the ship thoroughly drenched.
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After lunch, we went out again about 3 pm, and drove for a short, five minutes to the baby tortoise propagation centre. This was a bit like a zoo, but was actually slightly more interesting than the morning trip. Our guide on this trip was Kalena and we had to listen very hard to understand her.
We saw large hybrid males as well as the babies. Also Lonesome George's stuffed remains: he had been brought as the last surviving tortoise from another island in 1972 and lived until the 2000s..
David was attacked, quite literally, by a small mockingbird which was protecting its nest.
From here, we walked back into town and had an expensive ice cream before a very pleasant sunset zodiac trip back to the ship. We enjoyed the usual tapas with a glass of prosecco. We decided to skip the lecture as Chris always fell asleep during it and we just went down to the Explorer lounge later to hear what Paulina had to say about the following day.
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After this, there was a Venetian society talk on the deck outside the lounge, and for once the iconic firepit was lit. We were head girl and head boy with our 505 days of cruising.
This was followed by dinner with the captain and to our surprise we were his only guests. We thoroughly enjoyed this and he was really eager to hear of any way in which he could improve his ship. After dinner we went onto the back deck and enjoyed sitting around the fire, sipping liqueurs.
Click on any of the thumbnail photos for a larger version
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On to Friday 15th March - Cerro Dragon (Santa Cruz) & Bowditch Bay