14th Jan 2016
Thursday morning as the sun filters through the blinds of our large panoramic windows, at all of 6 am, we awake to a new vista, Santa Cruz Island. We are in the harbour of the main port Puerto Ayora. A very pretty, almost Caribbean looking port town. Tall palm trees and coloured houses on stilts with large verandas looking out to sea. Eventually after another hearty breakfast we board the Pangas, bedecked in our blue life jackets as always, emblazoned with the Queen of the Galapagos logo on our backs and in five minutes are walking along the wooden pier to be in the middle of town. Omar our guide hails cabs for us, the island seems filled with white, Toyota and Nissan pick-up trucks. All taxis, with a driver, 4 seats for passengers and a large area at the rear for carrying anything the islanders or the tourists need i.e. Diving equipment, bales of straw, luggage, you name it, it's being transported in these vehicles.
We arrive in a matter of minutes at the Darwin Interpretation centre, where we are going to meet an awful lot of Tortoises. The centre is a hive of different activities all endeavouring to help our world. There are many countries who send scientists to the Galapagos in the name of conservation and learning. It's not at all what we expected, not the multi million pound centre we would envisage, but grit roads and paths meander through-out maybe a dozen corrals of Iguanas and Tortoises. The amazing discoveries Charles Darwin made all those years ago is helping the scientists improve our world, through the different conservation programmes that begin here.
The Tortoises are fabulous creatures, huge lumbering animals but definitely cute, all the same. The main buildings are being redesigned so will not open until maybe later this year and also they are preparing a new site and walkway in memory of 'Lonesome George' the famous Tortoise that died in 2012 and once the New York museum have finished embalming his body, he will return to the Centre where he breathed his last. He was around 170 years old and had lived on one of the northern islands Pinza, all alone for many years, the last of his species. Even though he was found and attempts to mate him with females of a very close genetic pool, by D.N.A. selection, this was all unsuccessful. So George was the end of his exact kind and so it was felt right that he should come back to Santa Cruz for all to realise how sad it is for a species to reach extinction.
We walk back to the port and enjoy wandering around the shops, laughing at the antics of a very large Sea lion and a multitude of extremely hungry Pelicans begging for scraps at the fish market. I hope you like the video I post of these funny creatures squawking and cajoling the ladies who sell and fillet the fish. We could have watched the fun for hours. We enjoy coffees and ice creams at the harbour side cafes and try to get a fraction of wifi ( our only chance in 8 days!) before heading of back to our Queen as the water taxis ply their trade and the locals come out after work to enjoy to bars and playgrounds that surround this lovely town. Just another day in paradise.