20240606 Celebrity Galapagos and Machu Picchu trip, Day #8 - Galapagos, Santa Cruz Island

Celebrity Xpedition Galapagos and Machu Picchu trip - Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos - Tortoise Treasures

Today was an entire off-boat kind of day. We were off at 8 AM, taking Zodiacs to Santa Cruz Island for a full day all about tortoises. Well, that and laundry. We sent out two bags of laundry this morning so we can have nice, clean clothes for the remainder of the trip.

The Zodiac dropped us at the dock where we boarded buses and headed to the Charles Darwin station and giant tortoise breeding center.

Our naturalist, Vicky explained our day and location

The center raises endangered tortoise species from various islands around the Galapagos and then introduces them back into the wild in their respective geographies.

These are pens where hatchlings are raised for about two years to protect them. Each pen contains tortoises from a specific island.

Santiago

Floreana

Santa Cruz

They are all numbered in specific colors for identification

Once old enough, they are released into larger areas where they learn to navigate the natural lave formations.

After five to six years, they are released to their specific islands. The center has achieved a 70%-90% survival rate and has introduced over 9,000 tortoises back into the wild.

By manipulating the temperature of the eggs, they can skew the birth rate to more heavily female, allowing for more egg production, and helping to continue to grow the species. The females produce an average of six and up to twelve eggs.

These are saddleback giant tortoises - you can see the distinctive shape of their shell.

This area was set aside to protect three tortoises from Floreana Island that are severely endangered

Throughout the day, we found many interesting lizards around.

No tail

Vicky explained how the temperature of the eggs controls the sex of the offspring

From the tortoise area, we walked to the center where there is a small museum.

A whale skeleton

An Arlona tortoise

A blue-footed booby skeleton

Arlona Darwin

Garry Darwin

We had free time for a while so we walked from the center into Puerto Ayora.

Vampire ground finch

There was a nice variety of street art throughout the town.

We stumbled upon this small marine iguana that had wandered up from the water.

Charles Darwin was mentioned nearly everywhere

We passed a marina where fishermen were cutting fish. This attracted pelicans and a single sea lion. Iguanas and a single heron were also standing by and looking for any available handouts.

We did a little shopping and supported the local economy.

At the end of the walk, we saw this juvenile marine iguana - its spikes had not come in yet

It was time to board the bus for our lunch venue, Manzanillo Ranch. Our bus driver had to dodge giant tortoises that decided to hang out on the road.

Of course, I had to try a Boobies Beer

I opted for the Blonde Ale

We enjoyed a nice lunch buffet.

After lunch, we were treated to a folkloric performance of traditional local dances.

This particular dance was quite interesting. The four ladies all had a bottle filled with liquid balanced on their heads. The dance was high-energy with arms waving skirts, shaking hips, and such. Not one bottle fell.

They reached up and took down their respective bottles to show they were not attached

It was just a regular bottle - no gimmicks - these were very talented dancers

Finally, they got several guests up for a quick dance

The final activity at the ranch was a walking tour to see the giant tortoises that live there.

They had a shell with a tortoise skeleton in place

We had to wear these stylish boots as there was potential for mud or other stuff

Guava trees were introduced into the area. It turns out that tortoises love guava. They eat the guava. Guava has seeds. They then poop out the seed with a nutrient-rich growth pile. This has proven to be a problem as guava is not endemic to the Galapagos and now, guava trees are popping up everywhere.

This is the other stuff - look at all the seeds

When they get frightened, they retreat into their shell

These are big animals

They are herbivores - more wrinkles on the neck means they are younger

They tuck their tails under when they stop

Another introduced species, the smooth-billed ani has proven to be detrimental to the local environment

Tortoises don't swim but they can float in ocean currents - that is how they believe tortoises were originally introduced to the Galapagos

We left the tortoises and made the 30-minute drive back to the port where our Zodiacs were waiting to whisk us back to the Xpedition. Upon returning to our room, this was waiting for us.

The dreaded luggage tags signaling the end of the cruise

But!  Ours say "Peru". That means that this first portion of the adventure will come to an end in two days as we will be continuing on to Peru and Machu Picchu. 

Before tonight's excursion briefing, Vanessa, the Guest Services and Housekeeping Manager conducted a Galapagos, general knowledge, world places, and music trivia. Folks divided themselves into teams and worked together to answer the questions. In the end, our team, Team "We Love Boobys" was victorious scoring 16/20. Celebrity was gracious enough and provided a few t-shirts and socks for the winners. We celebrated by having dinner together in Darwin's Restaurant.

L-R, Greg, Linda, Colin, Pat, Arlona, Garry, Laura, Tim (who waiter, Juan cut off in the photo)

It was a fun evening, wrapping up another terrific day in the Galapagos Islands.  Tomorrow, we'll be visiting Española Island for more adventures and our last full day in the Galapagos.