Day 12: Santa Cruz - Friday February 2nd 2018
By dawn we were anchored off Black Turtle Cove, on the southern shore of Santa Cruz. We took a pre-breakfast panga ride through the waterways amongst the mangroves here. We saw numerous Black Turtles, White-tipped Reef Sharks, young Hammerhead Sharks and several species of Ray. A substantial part of this ride was done with the engines cut and the pangas being paddled in near silence. Alison, in particular, found this to be a real highlight of the tour. I was slightly frustrated by inadequate preparation - I might have been able to get some good pictures of this abundance of wildlife had I brought my Go-Pro with me. As it was I had to settle for trying to get pictures from above the surface of the water.
During breakfast we cruised back to the harbour at Baltra, where we had first arrived on the Galapagos Islands on Day 5. The Beluga was here for refuelling and this is the only place in the islands the tourist boats can be refuelled. We left the boat by panga and took a bus from the quay (arrowed below) to the airport and then another bus to the small passenger ferry across the Itabaca channel between Baltra and Santa Cruz. Another bus took us along the Santa Cruz Highway into the highlands. We made two substantial stops - at Los Gemelos craters and El Chato Tortoise Reserve (both arrowed on the map below) and then headed on to Puerto Ayora. Also arrowed on the map are the locations of Black Turtle Cove (labelled Playa Peninsula) and the Baltra quay. Cerro Dragon, labelled at the NW of Santa Cruz was the location of our first visit on Day 5.
As a further episode in the Galapagos Rail saga, Rissel told us we should look out for this species from the bus while we drove on the narrow track from the Santa Cruz Highway to El Chato Tortoise Reserve. My scepticism was abundant. Miraculously, Alison did manage to see something that could have been a rail - even more miraculously, when we got out of the bus, I was able to relocate the bird and identify it as a Paint-billed Crake.
After lunch at the reserve we had a short walk amongst the tortoises, which appeared to be in a relatively wild situation here. |
At Los Gemelos the road runs between two volcanic craters. There is a short walking trail here through the tall moss-covered Scalesia trees of this part of the humid zone. There are 15 endemic species of Scalesia in the Galapagos; the dominant species at Los Gemelos is the Tree Scalesia (Scalesia pedunculata) which grows to >15m. We found 8 of Santa Cruz's 9 species of Darwins Finch today, most of them were here - including the only Vegetarian Finch of the tour.
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Smooth-billed Ani are not native to the Galapagos, they were introduced in the 1960's in the belief they would rid cattle of ticks. They are prolific breeders and will eat small birds, birds eggs, lizards and insects. They are now a significant pest species, endangering some of the endemic birds, and have proved difficult to control.
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Returning to the bus we were taken to the entrance of the Darwin Research Facility at Puerto Ayora, where we were left to visit unguided, Rissel presumably having other plans. It being early afternoon, 35 deg C, full sun and no shade, Alison and I made straight for the air-conditioned visitor centre and its associated shaded café where we enjoyed a cold drink and an ice-lolly. The visitor centre was informative, particularly with regard to the Mangrove Finch - which is critically endangered (due to larvae of an introduced parasitic fly sucking the blood of chicks in the nest). The setting of the research facility is a pleasant mix of mangroves and prickly pear cacti, but the main exhibit is another collection of caged and penned tortoises. We did see some good examples of the saddleback shell shape here that we had not seen elsewhere (although I don't seem to have taken any good photos of them).
After our visit to the research facility we wandered on to the quay. En route we passed a fish market in which the fishmongers were trying to sell fish with sea lions, pelicans, and gulls trying to steal their wares. By now the Beluga was refuelled and ready to collect us (having travelled from Baltra to Puerto Ayora while we were ashore).