Our tour guide, Carlos, had previously mentioned that the waters were getting rough and we should prepare ourselves for a choppy boat ride to Santa Cruz island. One of our tour group, Linda, was happy to dish out sea sickness pills which I happily took - knowing only to well how ´green´I felt on the diving boat trip the day before. The 2 hour boat ride was indeed extremely choppy, as the boat buffeted up and down with the strong ocean currents and rain. However with this change in weather, we got to see a ´water spout´ which is basically a tornado over open water! It didn´t quite reach the ocean surface but you could definitely see the water being kicked up from the water spout. Quite incredible! - esp. with a rainbow in view at the same time.
Santa Cruz was the last island we were to visit on this amazing trip. So far each island had had its own different look and feel. Santa Cruz was no less. The most densely populated of all islands (due to the airport on the north end of the island, Isla Batra), Santa Cruz was home to some 20,000 people. Coming with this population was of course a dense urban centre - unlike anything we had seen on the previous islands. The city clearly catered for tourists on the cruise liners with many international restaurants, hotels and souveneir shops.
On our approach to Santa Cruz, we spotted a 2-day-old new ship wreck. Apparently the luxurious sail boat had run aground on rocks, likely as a result of the storms and strong currents. There was even some speculation that the storms were caused in part due to the aftershocks from the recent Chilean earthquake. While docking at the pier, we were all treated to an aerial display of diving blue footed boobies. The 3 boobies team circled in unison, before diving head first in to the water to catch fish. It was like the Red Arrows! Great fun to watch.
By this time it was only mid-morning and our first excursion on Santa Cruz was to visit the giant tortoises in the wild. We donned wellies and squelched through thick mud to hunt out these giant beasts in their natural habitat. The tortoises´size were very impressive. We were fortunate enough to get quite close (say just a metre away) for a proper look at these wonderful animals. By this point in our trip, we´d amassed a fair knowledge of tortoises and were practising recognising males from females, guessing their age and even their species! Back at the farm house, Navita cheerfully slipped in to a tortoise shell... all for the camera of course!
Next, we visited a massive lava tunnel - 100m long and 5m high at the opening. It was nothing liek the little tunnels we had seen on Sierra Negra... this one had been formed over 2 million years ago and in fact the volcano that would have caused it on Santa Cruz was now nothing but a grassy mountain. Extinct! - phew! We walked through the tunnel, in amazement of the sheer size - we didn´t go all the way through as the tunnel height dropped to c. 1 foot and it was too damp from the recent rains.
That evening, we had dinner together at a newly opened Italian restaurant - Navita was pleased to have an entire vegetarian section of the menu to choose from... hurrah! After dinner, we went to a bar that promised an 80s night but the music soon turned to rock and we sloped off about midnight having not succeeded in dancing.
DAY 7:
It was our last full day on the Galapagos islands and I think everyone in the group was sad to see it come to an end. Fortunately, Carlos had saved the best for last... we visited the Charles Darwin centre in the morning; home to the world-famous Lonesome George.
The Charles Darwin centre is an education centre for all visitors to the islands - they clearly explained the uniqueness of the islands and how important it was to protect the natural habitat and endemic species. It also had a breeding centre for giant tortoises - much like the one we saw on Isabella island, but for different species. Once again, we were astounded at the size of the tortoises and efforts taken to protect and reintroduce them to the wild. We spent quite some time mesmerised by these giant animals; how slowly they moved and yet how powerful they were to survive to such an old age and not have any natural predators. The centre also had land iguanas - the first we had seen on this trip. Land iguanas are bigger than their marine counterparts and also coloured red and yellow.
After touring round the centre for over an hour, we were disheartened to find Lonesome George´s pen empty. Just as we were about to leave, out from behind the trees crept good ol´ George. Let us dispell some more myths: George is not the oldest nor the biggest tortoise. He is however the last of the Pinta island tortoises. Scientists had previously thought all Pinta tortoises were extinct but a miraculous discovery in the 1970s found George - surrounded by butchered carcasses of his fellow species members (they had all been poached for meat). Since then, scientists have spent years trying to find a suitable mate for George (at age 80, he was still capable of reproducing). Unfortunately they have not yet been successful, and without a mate, George will soon die, ending the Pinta species forever. Here are some theories for why George won´t mate:
- no female Pinta tortoises exist
- altenate females (whose DNA closely resembles that of Pinta tortoises) just don´t do it for George
- the stress of being alone for many years / decades on Pinta island may have made him sterile / celibate
- maybe he just needs to be left on his own to go about his own business in private... when the urge strikes etc etc!
Thrilled at being able to see George up close and personal, we took pics and watched him lumber forwards to sip on the pond water. It was amazing just how long his neck could extend - check out the pics below!
That afternoon, we began our final journey back to San Cristobal - our flight back to Quito was the following morning. En route to San Cristobal, we stopped for our last snorkel at Santa Fe island. It was a great snorkel because the water was sheltered from the main island, very clear blue and warm. We spent a lot of time swimming with sea lions as they playfully hopped from the rocks in to the water. It was like we were in a giant fish tank, surrounded by lots of beautifully-coloured tropical fish all around. It was easy to loose track of time as we just watched all the marine life around us. We really would miss the wonderous sights of Galapagos.
That night, to celebrate our last dinner together, we had a big asado - Spanish for BBQd meats, seafood and fish served with rice, salad and spaghetti for us vegetarians! We thanked our guide and tour organisers. A fellow British couple from the tour group wrote a dogrel verse which was really entertaining.
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Galapagos Islands has to be seen to be believed! Although it was an expensive trip, we loved every minute of it and feel so fortunate to have had this experience. Truly, it was a spectacular highlight of this trip. For those of you who are envious - all we can say is ´save the pennies and go see it for yourself!´
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