FionaMG

The Santa Fe Land Iguana is endemic to the Galapagos meaning they only exist here.


 

A young Prickly Pear Cactus.  If all goes well this will turn into the tree looking taller cactus already pictured.





Galapagos Dove.


Blue Footed Boobies taking a break from fishing.

A Mockingbird darts from tree to tree.

I think they're all seriously underwhelming.
I'd say out of the ones I've tried my favourite was the Asian night but that isn't one of the more common ones (it turned up on our 8-night cruise on Anthem out of NJ). I particularly liked the salmon teriyaki on that one.
Out of all the others I've tried, the ones I disliked least were Welcome Aboard, Caribbean and Bon Voyage.
I have yet to experience the Mexican and Taste of the USA menus, both of which look so bad to me that I would probably be tempted to pay for speciality dining on those nights.
Obviously it's all very subjective and others will inevitably love the things I've said I dislike.
 

I think they're all seriously underwhelming.
I'd say out of the ones I've tried my favourite was the Asian night but that isn't one of the more common ones (it turned up on our 8-night cruise on Anthem out of NJ). I particularly liked the salmon teriyaki on that one.
Out of all the others I've tried, the ones I disliked least were Welcome Aboard, Caribbean and Bon Voyage.
I have yet to experience the Mexican and Taste of the USA menus, both of which look so bad to me that I would probably be tempted to pay for speciality dining on those nights.
Obviously it's all very subjective and others will inevitably love the things I've said I dislike.
 

Another fascinating lecture in the evening followed by our destination talk for tomorrow.  Four excursions tomorrow.  A nature walk, morning snorkel, afternoon snorkel and a zodiac tour.  
Afterwards I somehow found myself in the company of four lovely ladies for dinner at The Grill on deck 7.
Hot Rocks - Ecuadorian Pork with a number of wonderful Ecuadorian appetizers we all shared.

The lights of Puerto Ayora as I ventured to the aft of the ship before heading to my suite.

Afterwards we were free to continue exploring the area of the research station, we could ride the bus back to the ship or we could walk the 1km back to the ship down the main street of town past restaurants and shops.

I chose the walking on my own option.







It wasn't long until I found my way back to the pier where our zodiacs were waiting.

I saw some baby black tipped sharks but wasn't fast enough to capture them.  Instead it's our old friend the Sea Lion.

Back on the ship I set out my shopping for the day including some Montemar coffee, a small Blue Footed Booby carving and a print I purchased in the town on the walk back.

The artist, Sarah Darling, who painted it was in her shop and she talked about her art and various pieces around her shop.

Lonesome George is a famous Giant Tortoise who was discovered in the 1970's alone on a Galapagos island having had the entire Giant Tortoise population on that island wiped out by humans.  It was widely thought there were no more of his kind in existence.   

In the early 1970's a researcher working unrelated to Giant Tortoises was on Pinta island.  He set up camp only to find this Giant Tortoise coming into his camp and trying to eat some of his things.  This went on night after night until it was time for the researcher to go back to the research station.   Once there he was telling stories about this Giant Tortoise on Pinta that was coming into is camp every day.  Unaware of the plight of the Pinta Giant Tortoises other researchers at first didn't believe him so they went off to the darkroom to develop some film.  

Imagine the excitement among Giant Tortoise researchers when they discovered a living Giant Tortoise on Pinta.  Unfortunately we was the last of his species and so he lived out the rest of his life at the Charles Darwin Research Station hoping one day they might find a female from Pinta.  That never happened and in 2012 he died.  
In honor of Lonesome George and to highlight the importance of conservation efforts they have set up a viewing area for him.

Our Silver Origin guide Jeffo explains how the breeding center works taking freshly laid eggs and bringing them back to the breeding station where they are carefully incubated with a higher success rate then they would achieve if left alone in nature. 
They can control the sex of the hatchlings by controlling the temperature, 28°C produces males and 29.5°C produces females.  When they are trying to rebuild a population they tend to produce more females than males by a three to one ratio. 

 

The baby Tortoises are kept safe within a breeding enclosure until they are old enough to fend for themselves.
The babies in this enclosure are from the island of Espanola and were born in 2020.  Soon they will be moved to the island of Espanola where they will live for the rest of their lives.


Another group from the island of Floreana born in 2023.


These are from the variation found on the island of Santiago also born in 2023.



Just a few years old but you already see they are miniature versions of what we have been seeing up to this point.

The Tortoises here are markedly different than the Giant Tortoises we saw in the morning.  There are a number of different species of Galapagos Giant Tortoises.  The breeding center makes a point of managing hatchlings from different islands to maintain and in some cases reintroduce a variation from a specific island.

We board our bus back to the harbor.

The bus was comfortable with air conditioning.


A Sea Turtle makes a meal cleaning the growth off the dock.

After our zodiac ride back to the ship Ecuadorian chocolate is waiting for us as we step on board.

Along with some sparkling wine.

We continue to explore the area.


The horses a bit closer.


Montemar also is a coffee plantation.  They host a coffee tasting for our benefit.



A Montemar representative walks us through the coffee tasting process.



Afterwards we are free to wander on our own, do some shopping with the local artisans they brought in or use the bathroom.
The view to the sea from our perch in the highlands of Santa Cruz.  The Tortoises make the fifty mile trek to lay their eggs. 

Tortoises are everywhere!



A neighboring part of land has horses.




Our guide has a seed pod from a local tree.  Since we are on private land our guides are able to show us some things they would not be able to out in the Galapagos park. 


We continue to explore the private land into an area with coffee bean trees.



Oh look, a Giant Tortoise is lumbering through the forest.

Montemar is a private company so this will be the first time we aren't under the auspices of the National Park of the Galapagos. 

It is a bit of a cultivated experience compared to our other stops but I imagine that has a lot to do with ensuring guests can actually see Giant Tortoises on a consistent basis as opposed to taking a hundred guests to a field somewhere and hoping to see one Giant Tortoise.   

As it so happens the land of Montemar is on the migration path of the Giant Tortoise as they make their way to the sea to lay eggs before returning to the Highlands of Santa Cruz.  In this respect it's not a zoo with caged animals that can't ever leave.  These are wild Tortoises that do leave and make the 50 mile trek to the sea every year to lay eggs near the beach before returning to the Highlands.
It doesn't take long to find what we are looking for. 

They are everywhere in every direction.








Our guide offers to take photos with our phones after explaining how to circle around behind the Tortoise while keeping a distance.

Day Five - Santa Cruz Highlands, Puerto Ayora 
Morning greets us with the sights and sounds of an active harbor.  After days of seeing pretty much only our own excursions zodiacs filled with our own Silver Origin guests suddenly we are back in the real world.

Puerto Ayora is a busy tourist port for many fly in guests to the Galapagos Islands.  

The Silver Origin zodiacs bring us to the pier in town


We remain paired with our guide who was on the zodiac with us on the ride in just as we have been at every stop up to today.  We walk as a group to waiting busses dedicated to the Silver Origin.


We ride through town and start climbing up to the highlands.  The town begins to fade and the vegetation changes several times as we climb higher to our destination.
After 30 minutes or so the bus makes a left turn onto a dirt road.

After another six or seven minutes we start to see the reason why we came here today.  The Giant Tortoise.  This one and several others have been wandering the countryside outside the bus window.

I sensed a magical sunset tonight so I headed up top to see what I could capture.






Tonight the ship was hosting a "Sunset Fun-Fest" at 5:30pm. 
The Captain arranged perfect weather and the Hotel Director had the Chef prepare some wonderful small bites to eat.


Have I mentioned the Silver Origin is a perfect ship for the Galapagos Islands?









 
 

Our guide reported they found something else when they scouted the area earlier.

It was the nest of the Great Blue Heron.

The parents were off finding food leaving these little chicks on their own.








They were pretty well camouflaged. 


 

This is were good polarizing sunglasses come in handy as they take the glare off the surface of the water allowing you see more clearly below the surface.


The sheltered water of this lagoon was teaming with rays and even some small sharks.

The wingtips of the rays were occasionally breaking the surface.



It was pretty magical.

Next we boat off to a sheltered lagoon in search of something different.


It doesn't take long until we find something other than Penguins and Iguanas. 

The Lava Heron.





But wait, there's more.

Beware I'm about to go overboard with Penguin pictures! 


How often will I get a chance like this to be so close to true wildlife.















 

The afternoon zodiac tour was another boring event with nothing but sun and water.  NOT!!!
You be the judge of this excursion.
We start exploring the coast where we see cactus unlike we have seen so far at our other stops.  

The volcanic hills in distance are a constant backdrop for this tour.


It isn't long until the zodiac captains find us some wildlife to see.

Penguins!

And of course Marine Iguanas.

But let's face it, Penguins are a lot cuter.

The markings on their chest are unique to each individual like a fingerprint.

After a short break it was snorkel time.

Today the water was noticeably cooler being where we were on the Western end of the island chain and the Cromwell current that brings nutrient rich cold water up from the floor of the sea to the West.



Eventually we came along some Penguins on the shore.  




Despite our best wishes they stayed on the lava.
That's okay because apparently we had been ignoring the playful Sea Lion pups who swam in to steal the show.



I wasn't giving it enough attention so it made a point of swimming right up into my face several times.








 

Finishing up with a few last photos of our new best friends.











 


 

Check out those blue eyes.




 
 

Our guide points out a Galapagos Hawk in the trees.

And then a Sea Turtle pops up for a breath.



Crab!

Back to the Hawk.

Wait... another Hawk arrived.

There is wildlife in every direction.


"Hey, over here!  Forget those birds!  I'm right here!  Look at me!

Our guides points and says... Penguins!

There are two flightless birds in the Galapagos.  The Flightless Cormorant and the Galapagos Penguin.




The American Oystercatcher.