We were all excited to start with determination, joy and energy our first day of the new year. The National Geographic Islander is anchored at Academy Bay on the southern slope of Santa Cruz. This island has the largest town in the archipelago.
Today we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station, and had the opportunity to understand the natural history of the Galapagos giant tortoises and the human history. Here we also learned about the conservation programs carried out by the Galapagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Research Station. Within the corrals were able to identify two types of tortoises: the saddle back and the dome shaped as well as some hybrid tortoises separated at different corrals.
After our visit to the breeding center we boarded buses to explore the cloud forest of Santa Cruz. As we headed to the highlands we stopped to visit a local family that runs a small sugar and rum business. They have been doing this for decades along with the production of coffee. It was very interesting to learn about the life of the local farmers and also to taste their produce.
At the highlands it was green and misty and it was certainly amazing to see the humid zone covered with a green carpet and giant reptiles all over. We saw several giant tortoises roaming out in the wild and most of them were over 450 pounds.
We had also the opportunity to do an underground expedition into a lava tube where we learned about the interesting geological features and the geological composition of such a majestic occurrence in the islands.
