Today is traveling day to Galapagos. I woke up very early to get to the airport for my morning flight. The Domestic Terminal was busy with big groups of kids going on trips. However, check in was easy and fast. In addition to the typical airport security, there was an additional check to make sure my luggage was free of fruits and insects.
My flight, in the aging 727, was beautiful. Shortly after leaving Quito, we got excellent views of the volcanoes surrounding the city, and in particular Cotopaxi. A bit later, as we were approaching Guayaquil, the landscape changed to jungle. After a brief stopover in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador, we continued over the Pacific ocean to Galapagos.
At the airport, I quickly connected with my guide from Nautidiving, Leandro. We took the free bus from the airport to the ferry crossing, took the ferry, and then he drove me to Puerto Ayora. In the way there, we stopped at "Los Gemelos", two impressive volcanic sinkholes just by the road. Around the sinkholes we saw a Galapagos Short-eared Owl. Thanks to the lack of competitors, this is the only diurnal owl in the world. The drive to Puerto Ayora was longer than I thought, close to an hour on a good paved road.
After arriving at town, he dropped me off in my hotel, Mainao. The hotel is built in a Mediterranean style with nice common areas and simple and very clean rooms. After drinking the welcome glass of "tomate de arbol" juice, I settle down and decided to go for a walk.
My guidebook recommended going to Tortuga Bay. I got directions to the trailhead just to the edge of town. The trail is a paved path built in the middle of a forest of cactus and poisonous trees. Without that trail it would be virtually impossible to get to Tortuga Bay from land. There were many opportunities to see lizards and birds, including the famous Darwin Finches (below) just at the edge of the trail. Animals in Galapagos do not perceive humans as threats, so it is possible to get very close to them.
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After about 40 minutes, I was at the bay. Tortuga Bay is a beautiful stretch of white sand beach. Most of the Galapagos Islands are volcanic, but some of the land was uplifted from the bottom of the ocean. The uplifted land is rich in shells and corals that have been converted in beautiful white sands. In the case of Tortuga Bay, it is very fine white sand. Notice behind the picture the line of volcanic black rock which is also typical of the island.
While I was walking on the sand, I noticed very colorful crabs that would peak from holes and hide the moment I approached them. These are the Galapagos Ghost Crabs. I tried to get a picture of them by standing very quietly at the edge of the hole and waiting for them to pop up. However, just the tiny movement of my finger to trigger the camera was enough to send them darting down the hole. After several attempts, I have to content myself with using the zoom and getting a picture from far away.
At the end of the beach, I found my first Marine Iguana. This was a special treat as it was swimming next to the Mangrove trees. Marine Iguanas are well adapted be found in almost every island of the archipelago. Marine iguanas are usually black, so they are camouflage when laying on the black volcanic rocks of the islands. They are related to the Land Iguanas of Galapagos and the Green Iguana of the Ecuadorian coast.
Nearby there was a huge group of resting Marine Iguanas, including several babies. Marine Iguanas have an interesting behavior, they get ride of excess salt by "spitting" it violently out of their noses. Beyond that, they do very little on land, just laying there warming up under the equatorial sun.
After spending an hour at the Bay, it was time for me to return and meet Leandro who took me to the Darwin Research Station.
The station is known for their program to save the Giant Tortoises. These animals were exploited in such numbers that some of the subspecies went extinct and others were reduced to such small numbers that it is unlikely that they could recover on their own. Tortoises were taken by ships when it was discovered that they would remain alive for over a year, without water or food, if kept upside down in the hull of a ship. This additional source of protein was more than welcome by sailors, so they were taking in great numbers. In fact, the ship that carried Darwin, the Beagle, took 45 of them. 42 were used for food and 3 were kept alive to be brought to London (the last one of those three died just a couple of years ago). In addition to this, the turtle needs to compete with three invasive species: pigs, cats, rats, and goats. Pigs and cats are very efficient in finding tortoise eggs and eating them. Rats (as well as pigs) kill and eat the young tortoises. Finally, goats compete with adult tortoises for food, stressing the adults and contributing further to reduce their numbers.
The center captures adults and breed them. The eggs are then put in incubators. Tortoises don't have a sex chromosome, so sex is determined by the temperature in which the egg hatches. Eggs in high temperature will produce females, while the cooler ones will produce males. Baby tortoises are kept in the center until they are "rat proof" (2 years) or, in the islands with pigs, until they are "pig proof" (3 years). After that period, they are release in the island where their parents are from.
The center also rescue tortoises that were kept as pets. These tortoises are not only kept in the center for breeding, but also to allow people to get very close to them. The center is also home to Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta tortoise sub-species (although recently DNA evidence questions the origin of George). There has been an international quest to find a mate for him and save the subspecies. Unfortunately, no living tortoise from Pinta has been found. Because of this, two females of a related subspecies have been put in his pen. After years of ignoring them, George finally mate with them last year; however, the eggs produced by the females did not contain embryos. Lonesome George is very shy and hides behind some trees of the enclosure, so I didn't get to see him in this visit.
Although less known than their work with tortoises, the research station also has a land iguanas breeding program. Similar to the program with tortoises, adults from endangered subspecies are captured and breed in captivity. The babies are kept in the station until they are old enough to defend themselves against invasive species.
The day I arrived in Puerto Ayora an important soccer game was being played: Ecuador, the underdog, versus Argentina. To everybody's surprise, Ecuador defeated Argentina 2-0. After the game, half the town went into the streets with Ecuadorian flags, celebrating the result of the match. It was fun to see them going around an around on the main street in town.
After finding our way to Nautidiving, the company I was going diving with, I got a briefing for my diving trip the next day. After an early dinner, and some blog work, it was time to call off the day.
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