Category Archives: Galapagos, Ecuador

Tortoise or Tortuga

Tortoises and Birds: Galapagos

The Barkers arranged for a land tour on Isabella (via YachtGala Services).  Our first stop was the Centro de Crianza de Tortguas Terrestres “Arnaldo Tupiza Chamaidan.  This is a sanctuary and breeding center where their primary goal is preserving these beautiful creatures.  Each island has its own version of a tortoise sanctuary with many different breeds of tortoises.

At this particular breeding center, they have over 800 tortoises and 65  of those are breeding tortoises.  There are 5 species of tortoises in Isabella, but 2 only two of those species are currently breeding.  Most of these tortoises are endangered.

Not so easy for tortoises to breed

Not so easy for tortoises to breed

The scientists rescued the tortoises from the volcanic areas.  Most of the tortoises here are from the Sierra Negra Volcano.

The biggest threats to these gentle giants are rats and goats.  The majority of the eggs die in the natural habitat because of these threats.  So, the scientists collects the eggs, hatches them at the center, and then releases them into the wild once the tortoises are mature.

Once hatched, the babies are in cages until they are 2 years old.  Then they are divided by age, region, and population and moved into small, confined habitats until they become juveniles (4-5 years old).  Next, they are moved to the main population once they become teenagers.  They are considered mature at age 25 and will live to be over 150 years of age.

Tortoises or Tortugas

Tortoises or Tortugas

Concha de Perla:

We enjoyed a small walk to Concha de Perla, where I dutifully blew out another flip flop. Lucky for me it was soft gravel and I was able to walk barefoot.  This is a bird lovers paradise!

We saw flamingos, black neck steel birds, pintail ducks and gallenos.  There are only 350 flamingos in the Galapagos so it was a real treat to see these long legged beauties.

Concha de Perla Bird Paradise

Concha de Perla Bird Paradise

The pintail ducks have a beautiful, vibrant green strip on the inside of their wing which I happened to capture!.

After our big day, we stopped in to have lunch at the Iguana Crossing.  Leave it to Matt and Diana to find the most swankiest hotel on the island.  The hotel claimed to be booked, but lucky for us there were not many guests around.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch before heading back into town.

Right by the dock is a beach full of sea wolves.  We had a blast doing a small photo shoot.

Sea Wolves Take Over the Islands

Sea Wolves Take Over the Islands

Did you notice the marine iguana who left his imprint on the sidewalk?

What’s Next?

Don’t miss out on the next blog as we did a spectacular tour of La Tuneles with the most amazing snorkel adventure!

Santa Cruz, Galapagos

The Wild Part of Wildlife–Santa Cruz

The wildlife is everywhere!  After we reached shore, we traversed around lots of sea wolves and marine iguanas.

Matt and Diana arranged for a Santa Cruz land tour which is the quickest and easiest way to see the highlights.  This adventure would bring us to the 2nd largest active crater in the world, Tortuga Bay, and a Tortoise sanctuary.

13 YEARS

Matt and I were celebrating our 13 year anniversary, so did something we have never done before—we dressed alike.  I had purchased a bikini from Pelagic (on sale) a few months ago and the day before we left, they put the men’s swim trunks on sale.  Happy anniversary.

Matt and I Anniversary

Matt and I Anniversary

Sierra Negra Volcano:

Our first stop was the Sierra Negra volcano crater.  This is the 2nd largest active crater in the world and had just erupted 4 months ago.  When you step up to the ledge you cannot really tell if it is a crater or a giant sink hole, but either way it was impressive.  We did not have this impressive view from the ledge, but it does provide a great overview.

Sierra-Negra-2 Courtesy of Casa Natura Galapagos Lodge

Sierra-Negra-2 Courtesy of Casa Natura Galapagos Lodge

Tortuga Bay

Tortuga Bay is a national park located outside of Puerto Ayora.   Since it is a National Park, they prohibit drinking of any kind.  Of course, we did not know that as we loaded up the cooler with beer and rose.  Lucky for us the park was only staffed with one ranger. We set up camp, grabbed a cold beverage and hit the water.  When I say “hit the water” I mean up to our calves as it was COLD!

Santa Cruz Beach Day

Santa Cruz Beach Day

There is tons of wildlife in Tortuga Bay.  Lots of marine iguanas, sally light foot crabs and birds.  Alas, no tortugas.

Beach Day Santa Cruz

Beach Day Santa Cruz

EL CHATO RANCH

El Chato Ranch is an ecological, wildlife reserve where large tortoises roam freely in their natural habitat. This breed is called Galapagos Elephant Tortoises and they are the largest of the seven breeds that roam around the Galapagos islands. It was breathtaking to see these large creatures meandering across our path, eating, bathing, and hanging out.  We kept our distance as they are very afraid of humans and retreat into their shells if you get too close.

Within the sanctuary, there are lava tunnels.  These eerie formations offer a fascinating look into the volcanic belly of the island. The lava tubes were formed when surface lava cooled and solidified, while the underground hot lava continued to flow, eventually leaving an emptied cave

El Chato Rancho Santa Cruz

El Chato Rancho Santa Cruz

Yes, the plant in the center has egg shells on each stem – it is their version of an “egg plant.”

We took a few tourist shots near the Santa Cruz sign and giant iguana before heading back to the boat for some chill time.

Santa Cruz Tourist Pics

Santa Cruz Tourist Pics

Upcoming: Adventures in Isla Isabella

Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Sugar Shack was a bit late in arriving to the Galapagos, so we did not have any time to waste before moving to our next island.  Wayne was scheduled to fly into Santa Cruz the day after we arrived.  So, Matt and Diana met us on Sugar Shack to get an early start (at 0600).

The journey from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz is about 40nm.  We had light winds (12-15 kts), small seas (1 meter) and a sunny day.  We did motor sail as we thought we were running late.  Sugar Shack averaged 8kts and got us there by 1330.

In the Galapagos, you have to do formalities each time you arrive to a new island for the first time.  Our agent, Javier Plua Rizzo with YachtGala  met us on-board with an official who actually gave Diana the stink eye when she tried to capture the photo below.

Formalities in Santa Cruz

Formalities in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz:

This formality check in was a short one since we did the initial clearance in San Cristobal.  We won’t have to go through this again when we return to Santa Cruz.

After we were official, we hopped in a water taxi and made our way to The Rock, a local eatery.  Javier arranged to have someone meet Wayne at the airport and bring him to this restaurant.

Santa Cruz is the most populated island if the archipelago and has the most resources available.  Including, markets, marine stores, hardware stores, pharmacies, laundromats, etc…We did not have time to explore, but made a note of several places we wanted to visit later.

Wayne was saddled with bringing in our new radar dome.  It is not a heavy piece of equipment, but it is large and bulky.  Poor thing had all sorts of trouble with the airlines and local government.  We think every official that could, inspected the box.  It had more tape than cardboard when it arrived.

We headed back to the boat for some snacks and a drink fest.  Welcome to Santa Cruz!

Sugar Shack in Galapagos

Sugar Shack in Galapagos

Coming Up Next: Land and Sea Tours

With the Barkers and Wayne across the Galapagos.