San Cristobal Island

Blue footed Booby

Giant Tortoise

Admiral and Captain of Maggie!

Maggie at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno harbour

Town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

 San Cristobol Island, Galapagos

March 1, 2015

Today, Sunday, Rob, Bob and Barb and a few other boaters went on a day long diving/snorkeling excursion to Kicker Rock. Both the diving and snorkellng are supposed to be very good there. I'm waiting to go on a shorter one.

On Sat we took an island tour with an English speaking naturalist guide, a trip well worth the money. The highlight was a visit to Galapaguera, which is the turtle breeding centre on this island. There are 2 more, on Santa Cruz and Isabella. What Darwin found so remarkable here was the different species on each island, their characteristics shaped by their particular environment. That is true of the finches as well as the turtles and other animals. The types of animals present are ones whose ancestors could survive days and weeks at sea without food or water. There are currently 10 different species of turtle with 3 that have become extinct.

The turtles in the sanctuary on San Cristobal weigh up to 200kg and average 60 years old. Life expectancy is between 120 and 170 years. These are land turtles that have different habits than the sea turtles. They are fed 3 times a week and given pools of water for cooling and drinking.

After the nesting period, the rangers remove healthy looking eggs and incubate them 160 days. It takes 30 days after hatching for the newborn to dig itself out of its protective coating of mud and feces. They are then placed in pens divided by age. It takes about 5 years for the shell to be hard enough to withstand predators. That is when they would be released into the wild or kept for breeding. The sex cannot be determined until about age 15 and breeding begins at 25. Everything seems to be on a long time frame which makes study difficult. "Genesis", the first turtle raised here is only 8 years old.

Also on the tour was a visit and hike UP to a freshwater lake in a volcano crater. In the "highlands" the weather is much cooler and wetter which felt very refreshing. The plants, of course, flourish here. We visited a nearby town to take in the beautiful farms and some of the local history. The day also included a visit to a beach. Despite the abundance of jellyfish it was beautiful with a great surf and sand.

We have done a long hike from town to the south coast beaches and cliff faces. We saw our second blue footed booby out there as well as meter long iguanas. There is an excellent interpretive centre in town that warrants another visit when we are more rested than that first day.

Last night we had a group dinner in the covered yard of one of the local families. Except for Rob it was a lobster meal. They had arranged for local entertainment, a band of various traditional instruments. It allowed for lots of good visiting and dancing.

While I have been down below writing this I have missed some excitement around Maggie. The boat moored upwind from us has broken free somehow. Thankfully it has not drifted into any boats and some boaters in the harbour and water taxi drivers have managed to get her anchor down before she reached one of the cruise ships. The owners haven't returned yet but I heard the message on VHF to report if it starts to move again.  Updates on all tomorrow.