Cindy's Ecuador adventure: Thursday, June 16

Today was a chill day. The activities were not strenuous, and we spent some downtime in Porto Ayora on Santa Cruz.

Started with breakfast at 7 am. We were three shy of our total since they had breakfast at 6 am and took off for the airport for an 11:30 am flight.

There are only 10 of us so there was space in the pangas going to shore. After we got to the pier, we took a bus to the Charles Darwin Research Station where we learned about its vital work boosting the threatened populations of unique Galapagos species including the giant tortoise.

The tortoises don’t grow very quickly so we saw baby tortoises that were born in 2022, infants born in 2021 and teenagers born in 2020. It takes them 25 years to mature and reproduce. They keep them at the facility for four years, teaching them how to climb on rocks and other sundry maneuvers so they can live in the wild. Then they release them, although there were several rather large ones on site.

There are two kinds of tortoises: the dome tortoise and the saddleback tortoise. The dome tortoise has a short neck as it just eats grass (they’re vegetarians) on the ground. The saddleback tortoises have very long necks as they live in a desert-like environment and must eat vegetation that is above their head.

After spending about an hour at the facility, we walked back to Porto Ayoro. It wasn’t strenuous but it probably was about two miles. We mosied down the main street, bought a few things and met the group at the pier to go back to the boat.

We did pick up four more folks on our way to the research facility so we’ve a total of 14 passengers now. One couple is from LA, the other is from British Columbia. We had a delightful visit the BC folks at lunch.

We took the panga back to the pier after lunch and took a half-hour ride on a bus to the highlands. We climbed to about 1,000 feet, and we were in a cloud the entire time. It misted on and off.

We visited a private ranch that abuts the national park where the tortoises roam free so we walked through the area watching the tortoises drink, eat and lie in the water.

Then we went through a lava tube. When a volcano explodes, it creates a lava river, and the tube is what is left. It was probably about 75 feet below the surface, and it’s actually a tube – not a cave. There was one spot in which I had to duck so as not to knock my head on the ceiling of the tube. At one point, I could stick my head above it – and well, it looked like the rock was choking me.

We loaded back onto the bus and went back into town. Spent an hour there people-watching. Beth browsed some stores, all of which had the same tourist goods.

As we waited for the panga to arrive at the pier, we watched baby sharks swim around.

We also ran into a young woman whom we met on the plane who was traveling by herself. She attends a university in California, and is a master’s student in some kind of engineering. We visited with her on the plane from Guyaquil to Baltra on the Galapagos Islands. Didn’t think we would we see her again but there she was in Porto Ayura. She really likes the village, is renting a room at the hostel for $25 a night and is taking day trips.

We had our briefing at 6:45 pm – going to Floreana tomorrow, which is a 6-hour “drive.” They take the anchor up around 11 pm and be there before breakfast tomorrow. Going to do a walk, and a snorkel that promises sting rays and sharks before lunch. After lunch, we’re doing another walk during which we may see flamingos then a beach snorkel before coming back to the boat.

Our first stop was the Charles Darwin research facility. Here is Venus, our guide, explaining the process of taking giant tortoise eggs and incubating them until they're old enough to be returned to the wild.

This is a saddleback tortoise at the research facility. These tortoises live in desert-like environments which requires them to eat things above their heads, thus their long necks and a shell that accommodates their reach.

These tortoises were born in 2020. Not very big yet.

This is Lonesome George, a domed tortoise that lived to be over 100 years old. They tried unsuccessfully to mate him, and when he died, they had a taxidermist in New York prepare him for display at the research facility.

Beth in the lava tube.

Me in the lava tube.

Giant land tortoises relaxing in the water on the private ranch.

People - they have to get their picture taken with the tortoise.

This was how close we got to the tortoises. Many of them moved so we gave them space to do so (well, some of us did - it's amazing how some people are stupid).