Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
We had a wonderful time visiting the central realm of the archipelago. During the morning we went to the highlands of Santa Cruz and got near to the tortoise reserve, a perfect place for the observation of these reptiles. We encounter about twenty tortoises along the road and the surrounding areas.
This morning we had the persistent garua, the mist typical of the dry cold season which brings enough humidity for the green lush vegetation of the uplands, and for the formation of mud pools where giant tortoises usually spend some time cooling off or keeping bugs away from them.
One of the very attractive highlights of this location is a lava tunnel that can easily be explored and just being able to walk through it is enough to realize about the forces of nature and how volcanoes can change our own entire environment.
We enjoyed a very well deserved breakfast surrounded by large green trees in a local farm and then departed to Puerto Ayora where we all had a chance to explore it, and had time for shopping or just sit and watch all the activity in this small town.
For the afternoon we arrived to the spectacular North Seymour Island and observed some Galápagos sea lions, Galápagos land iguanas, many blue footed boobies trying to display for their mates and even though some were rejected they kept trying over and over again knowing that sooner or later a mate will stay for the mating season.
There were many magnificent frigate birds showing their red gular sacs to some flying females while others were already sitting on eggs and some even had chicks.After this wonderful day we got back on board and enjoyed our recaps.
We had a wonderful time visiting the central realm of the archipelago. During the morning we went to the highlands of Santa Cruz and got near to the tortoise reserve, a perfect place for the observation of these reptiles. We encounter about twenty tortoises along the road and the surrounding areas.
This morning we had the persistent garua, the mist typical of the dry cold season which brings enough humidity for the green lush vegetation of the uplands, and for the formation of mud pools where giant tortoises usually spend some time cooling off or keeping bugs away from them.
One of the very attractive highlights of this location is a lava tunnel that can easily be explored and just being able to walk through it is enough to realize about the forces of nature and how volcanoes can change our own entire environment.
We enjoyed a very well deserved breakfast surrounded by large green trees in a local farm and then departed to Puerto Ayora where we all had a chance to explore it, and had time for shopping or just sit and watch all the activity in this small town.
For the afternoon we arrived to the spectacular North Seymour Island and observed some Galápagos sea lions, Galápagos land iguanas, many blue footed boobies trying to display for their mates and even though some were rejected they kept trying over and over again knowing that sooner or later a mate will stay for the mating season.
There were many magnificent frigate birds showing their red gular sacs to some flying females while others were already sitting on eggs and some even had chicks.After this wonderful day we got back on board and enjoyed our recaps.
