Galapagos, Kingdom of Reptiles Part II: San Cristobal
Be sure to read Part 1:Pre-Trip Adventures here first.
Our Galapagos Turtles & Tortoises group arrives a day later, a bit groggy from the early flight from Quito but excited to reach this dream destination. We meet our guide Pablo from Galakiwi and immediately we are taken in by his passion for this incredible place. After a delicious buffet lunch and time to rest at our rooms, we take a short ride to the national park interpretive center, walking through the volcanic landscape surrounded by giant cacti, Palo Santo trees, and lava rock.
Pablo takes us on a mesmerizing journey, explaining the natural forces that make these islands so special: the volcanoes that birth the islands as tectonic plates shift and the currents coming from both the north and south – an effect of being located on the equator. These currents brought much of the life that can be found now on the islands, often stowaways on debris floating from the mainland or long flights from the mainland. Due to these factors, the islands have a high degree of endemism (plants and animals that can only be found here) but not a wide variety of biodiversity (the number of different species that inhabit the islands).
Lookout at the top of Frigatebird Hill
View of Darwin Bay
From there, we head up over Frigatebird Hill (Tijeretas) to get a view of the town and Darwin Bay below. We put on our wetsuits (the water was a bit chilly but not too frigid), and carefully made our way around the sea lions occupying the stairs into the bay to head out for our first group snorkel. Winding our way around the bay, we saw a couple of turtles and sea lions swam around us. Finally, we headed back to town, walking along paths through the forest and past Carola Beach, where we caught the last of a beautiful sunset.
Our group’s first full day started with a visit to USFQ to learn about the research of Juan Pablo and Daniela and for a lesson on sea turtle identification, using an online database called Internet of Turtles. We learned about some of the fascinating aspects of sea turtles around the islands, such as orca’s being one of their primary predators, seen in few other places worldwide. Juan Pablo also talked about his research on plastic pollution washing ashore, likely from international fishing boats outside of the marine reserve, as the islands have strong plastic recycling and reduction programs. We also learned about the two types of green turtles living around the islands, the black turtle, a sub-species of green turtle, and what is locally called the yellow turtle or Indo-Pacific green turtle, which are the greens that you can find around the world.
Black turtle (Chelonia mydas agassizi)
Indo-Pacific green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
That afternoon, we returned to Loberia Beach with our group for a snorkel and a coastal walk. A local scouts group joined us for a short beach cleanup activity, a fun way to get to know some of the members of this community. At Loberia, we saw several green turtles, capturing some great images to be able to identify these turtles and several species of fish. Dinner that night was at a great restaurant called Umami located next to the incredible sea lion beach.
Our group next spent a day inland, heading up into the highlands of Santa Cruz to visit El Junco, the only freshwater lake in the islands. After a hike up a steep hill to the crater, we learned about the geology of the island and how the waters impact the community below. Next we headed down to the Galapaguera for our first meeting with the incredible tortoises that these islands are named after.
The hike up to El Junco
Captive reared tortoise at the Galapaguera Breeding Center
This breeding facility helps to repopulate the island’s San Cristobal tortoise population. We strolled through the lowland forest and saw the hatchlings and young turtles in enclosures with many larger tortoises wandering the grounds, growing there for several years before being released into the wild. We then stopped for lunch at a great family restaurant with a tremendous view of the island. We were fed with food grown on this beautiful farm, trying several new dishes and learning about farming in such a unique place.
We saved the best for the last day on San Cristobal, heading out early this today to take the boat ride to Kicker Rock (also known as Leon Dormido for its shape of a sleeping lion). The hour long boat ride on a lovely catamaran was relaxing as we spotted manta rays jumping in the distance. We pulled up along the island and did a circumnavigation on the boat, spotting blue footed and Nazca boobies and learning how this rock was formed.
View of Kicker Rock (aka Leon Dormido)
Black turtle at Kicker Rock
We then donned our wetsuits and hopped in the water, snorkeling along the wall which was speckled with coral and colorful fish. Within a few minutes, we spotted our first black turtle swimming by. As we rounded the end of the rock, more turtles came into view. And then more turtles, at least 10 hanging around the spot. Capturing as many as we could for photo ID, we lingered at this spot as long as we could, marveling in the moment. We rounded the rock to enter the canal between the front part of the rock and the main part, spotting a few black tip reef sharks and sea lions. Passing through the channel seemed to be the hotspot for spotted eagle rays, gliding back and forth underneath us like graceful shadows.
The euphoria on everyone’s face as we left the water was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I love seeing turtles, but I might love seeing the joy they bring to others even more. The boat then took us over to Manglecito, a small bay and beach with mangroves, to eat lunch on the boat and then explore the area.
Part of the group took a boat ashore to walk on the beach and another group hopped in the water to look for more turtles (guess which group I joined?). The water was a bit more clear and much warmer in this shallow area and it didn’t take long at all to find more turtles, these being greens, feeding on algae along the rocky shallows. Again, one turned into three, into eight, ending up with at least another dozen turtles added to our list.
These turtles are so relaxed around people, the result of decades of protections here. They just chomp away or swim casually by, definitely not the norm for where our trips go, mostly places where there is still significant illegal hunting. To cap off the incredible day, I hear our trusty guide assistant Sebastian calling, alerting us to our first swimming marine iguana (we had seen many but not in the water). Returning to town, after a shower and down time, we had a change of pace for dinner, eating a delicious Italian meal at Guiseppe’s, one of the best restaurants in town, to celebrate the incredible day. We went to bed early tonight to rest up for our early flight to our next stop, Isabela Island.
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