Santa Cruz: Charles Darwin Research Station

Saturday, 14 July (Part II)

Before going off on the morning landing that took him to see free-roaming giant tortoises in the highlands of Santa Cruz (post here), Mui had made arrangements with Carlos, the restaurant manager, to have a tray of bland food prepared for me.  So, instead of joining him in the Darwin Restaurant and enjoying the Ecuadorian buffet my friend MBZ had told me not to miss, I had a lunch of toast, white rice, and a glass of apple juice in bed :-(

By the time the afternoon landing came around at 3:00p, I was still not up to getting off the ship.  So, as Mui headed to shore with instructions once again to take pictures for me, I stayed aboard and was rocked to sleep.  And I mean rocked — though we were anchored in a protected bay, the movement of the ship was quite noticeable.  Luckily, I didn’t end up adding a bout of mal de mer to my misery!

The arrow points to the afternoon landing site in Puerto Ayora.
[MAP COURTESY OF THE GALAPAGOSISLANDS.COM WEBSITE]

Landing once again at the municipal pier, a 5-minute bus ride took Mui’s group to the Charles Darwin Research Station/Fausto Llerena Tortoise Center to learn about the tortoise breeding program.  The Galápagos Conservancy website describes the program, which is run jointly by the National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation:

… began in 1965 to save the giant tortoise population on Pinzón.  It was quickly expanded to include other populations, in particular that of Española where only 14 individuals remained.  As of 2008, more than 4,000 young tortoises from eight different populations have been repatriated to their island of origin, with nearly 1,500 going back to Española.

Welcome to the Charles Darwin Research Station.

Though Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island tortoises, died just weeks before our trip to the archipelago, and Mui did not get to see this icon of the Galápagos Islands, the visit to the research station gave him a chance to see tortoises of all ages and sizes, as well as the two different carapaces that differentiate some of the species.

Lonesome George was estimated to be about 100 years old at the time of his death.
Though some giant tortoises have lived much longer in captivity, 100 is average for
a free-roaming tortoise.

While there are 11 surviving species of tortoises, the Conservancy website explains that:

Although there is a great amount of variation in size and shape among Galapagos tortoises, two main morphological forms exist—the domed carapace (similar to their ancestral form) and the saddle-backed carapace.  The domed tortoises tend to be much larger in size and do not have the upward thrust to the front of their carapace; they live on the larger, higher islands with humid highlands where forage is generally abundant and easily available.  Saddle-backed shells evolved on the arid islands in response to the lack of available food during drought.  The front of the carapace angles upward, allowing the tortoise to extend its head higher to reach the higher vegetation, such as cactus pads.

Tortoises belong to an ancient group of reptiles that appeared about 250 million years ago.
It’s believed that they arrived in the archipelago about 1,000,000 years ago.

Mui did take photos as requested, but I thought a short video showing these animals in motion — slow though they might be — would be more interesting.

Check out the giant tortoises that are part of the breeding program.
The video even comes with a “The End” shot!

Leaving the research station, Mui headed to Galápagos Jewelry to pick up the one I thing I wanted as a souvenir — blue-footed booby earrings.  We’d initially planned to get them from the jeweler that came aboard the ship today, but she didn’t have a pair.  As it turns out, it was a better deal to purchase them in town — not only did Mui avoid paying the 12% tax added to shipboard purchases, but he was able to charge them without the usual credit card surcharge.  (Word to the wise, Mui found the selection at the store close to the Darwin Research Station more varied than at the shop near the pier.)

I get a blue-footed booby pendant and earrings, and a bonus set of tortoises, too.

His shopping completed, Mui walked back into town, stopping occasionally to take pictures of things that caught his eye.

There’s a nice promenade leading into Puerto Ayora.

No escaping the marine iguanas; even in the middle of the street.

This land iguana was begging for selective color processing.

Colorful boats tied up not far from the fish market, where …

.. A sea lion and some penguins are waiting for scraps to be thrown their way.

Check out the action at the fish market.
What’s amazing is that they weren’t trying to steal from the counter.

And on that note, Mui made his way to the municipal pier for the zodiac ride back to the ship.

Glimpse of the municipal pier.

When Mui entered the cabin this time, he found me sitting up in bed, reading my book.  Though still a little weak in the knees, I was feeling much better.  In fact, I felt good enough to join him and the rest of our boatmates for the Best Pictures of the Cruise slideshow recap of our voyage, and the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail.  I was greeted with a lot of “missed you’s” and more than a few commiserations from fellow-passengers who’d been in the same boat as me earlier in the day … forgive the pun!

Collage of a few of the images from the Xpedition photo disk gifted to each cabin.

(Speaking of the slideshow and the disk of photos we received … the slideshow is a PowerPoint presentation; the music is not embedded.  Also, the photos on the disk are low-rez, and not all are in focus; some of the naturalists are better photographers than others.  Just a word to the wise for future Xpedition passengers to not rely on the photo disk alone for your memories of this great trip.)

Captain Fausto Pacheco wishes us all happy trails to wherever we’re headed next.

We joined the Passmans for one last dinner in the Darwin Restaurant.  It was a bitter-sweet evening of good conversation and re-hashing of memories of our shared experiences here in the Galápagos Islands.

My pitiful “special” meal and Mui’s selections from the Day 7 menu.
Yes, Mui did have two desserts; his excuse … the second one was on my behalf ;-)

We remembered to get a photo taken with the Passmans.
from left to right: Michael, Patty, Megan, and Dan.
Here’s to meeting up somewhere else in our travels!
(By the way, I’m wearing a surprise gift from Mui; check out my Blue-Footed booby tee.)

By the time dinner was over, I was worn out, but there was one more thing we wanted to do before returning to the cabin — make a donation to the Galápagos Conservancy.  Not only is this a worthwhile endeavor to support, the gift is tax deductible for US citizens.  On top of that, we receive an equivalent amount as onboard credit to use on a future Celebrity cruise.  I understand it takes several weeks before we will receive the OBC certificate, but that’s OK; we don’t have any leisure cruise plans in the near future.

We’d done most of our packing already and just needed to put a few more things in our bags before setting them outside our door as requested.  That’s the sign that we’re being kicked off the ship tomorrow!  Quito … here we come!

Santa Cruz: Free-Roaming Giant Tortoises

Saturday, 14 July (Part I)
Temps: 81F (27C) / 72F (22C)

The inhabitants … state that they can distinguish the tortoise from different islands; and that they differ not only in size, but in other characters. Captain Porter has described those from Charles [Floreana] and from the nearest island to it, namely Hood Island [Española], as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James Island [Bartolomé] are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked. CHARLES DARWIN (1845)

We were up early, excited about the day on Santa Cruz Island, which held the promise of seeing the iconic Galápagos tortoises both in the wild and at the Darwin Research Center.  The only problem — my GI system wasn’t feeling up to snuff.  Determined to tough it out, I got dressed and went to breakfast.  By the time I was finished with a bland meal designed to keep my system settled, I knew my hopes were for naught — I wasn’t going to be able to go ashore.  Drat and double drat!!!

What I didn’t know then was that I wasn’t alone in my misery and that there were a number of other passengers sharing my affliction.  Obviously something we all ate last night did a number on our digestive systems.  Hoping I’d feel better by the afternoon landing rolled around, I took an Imodium and went to bed.  After seeing me settled with a couple of bottles of Gatorade, Mui went off on the morning landing with instructions to take photos for me.

THE ARROWs POINT TO the two sites Mui visited on the morning LANDING ON Santa Cruz.
[MAP COURTESY OF THE GALAPAGOSISLANDS.COM WEBSITE]

In 1959, the Ecuadorian government declared the entire archipelago a national park, putting a halt on any new settlements, except where they already existed.  Puerto Ayora, today’s site for both the morning and afternoon landings, is one of those settlements.  In fact, it is the largest settlement in the islands.

So, I dragged a few words out of Mui to describe his morning.  Upon landing at the municipal pier in town, the group boarded a 20-pax bus for a 45-minute ride through farmlands and mist-covered forests to observe free-roaming tortoises in the Highlands.

William Cox gives Mui the thumbs up as he waits his turn to board the bus.

Access to the tortoises was from a private farm, where everyone was offered muck boots to wear on the walk.  I’d encouraged Mui to wear his trail hikers, because I had heard there was the possibility of fire ants in the highlands, but the muck boots were a better option since it was drizzling and muddy on the trail.  A word to the wise — take socks with you or be prepared to put on boots that might still be warm from the previous occupant (yuck).

You receive your boots on the left; useful to know your European shoe size.
you put the boots on and leave your shoes on the shelves in the room on the right.

The conditions on the trail apparently weren’t the greatest, but the reward of seeing the most recognized symbol of the islands — the giant Galápagos tortoises — was worth the sticky, muddy conditions endured during the hike.

The trail through the Highlands is wet and muddy.
And no, that’s not a statue of a tortoise, but a real one.

Weighing over 500 pounds (250 kg) and carrying shells measuring 59 inches (1.5 m), these tortoises are some of the largest on earth.  It is believed that they came to the islands from South America by rafting on driftwood carried here by ocean currents.  Of the 15 sub-species that once lived in the archipelago, only 11 remain.  The Pinta Island sub-species is the latest to go extinct with the death of Lonesome George just a couple of weeks ago (24 June, 2012; my post here.)  Due to the conservation efforts that were established by the Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora, 10 of the 11 species that were once endangered have been brought back to what is considered a “guarded level.”

Half of Two to Travel gets a photo op with a giant tortoise.

The Santa Cruz tortoises are one of the two largest of the giant tortoises,
and they have a dome shaped carapace.

Able to live on little food and water, the tortoises of the archipelago survived for millenia.  Then whalers, fishermen, and other seafarers arrived and hunted them for their meat and oil.  (Even Darwin comments in the quote above about the tastiness of their meat.)  Mankind’s impact on a species that once numbered in the 100,000s didn’t end there.  They also introduced species, such as goats, pigs, cows, and horses, which became a further threat to the tortoises because they ate the vegetation and crushed the tortoise eggs underfoot.

The Galápagos conservancy estimates that there are 20,000 to 25,000
tortoises living on the islands of the archipelago.

Another photo op rounds out the hike.

When they returned to the starting point of the hike, the bulk of the group went shopping.  Instead of joining them, Mui walked over to an area where he found a couple of tortoise carapaces that are used for show & tell discussions; not today, though.

these Carapaces are big enough to accommodate an adult human.

The next part of the trip took the group to see and walk through an extinct lava tube.  These tunnels are natural conduits through which lava once traveled beneath the lava flow.  “It was nothing special,” was Mui’s assessment.  I’m sure someone with an interest in geology would disagree.

Left & Center: Glimpses from inside the lava tube.
Right: The Galápagos Barn owl is one of two resident owls in the islands.

From the lava tunnel, the group was returned to Puerto Ayora.  Knowing there would be an opportunity to wander around town in the afternoon, Mui opted to return to the Xpedition to check on me — awwwww :-)

Heading back to the Xpedition!

When Mui quietly entered the cabin, I was awake, but quite weak and more than a little drowsy.  His response to my query about his trip — he enjoyed seeing the free-roaming tortoises.  At the same time, he felt that if I was going to be sick, this was probably the best day for it to happen as I would have been totally miserable on the hot, humid hike.  He knows I don’t tolerate either well, so perhaps providence had a hand in matters today.