Monday - Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz -Puerta Ayora
I woke up early on Monday morning and sat down and talked to Lincoln as he was eating his early breakfast. We said goodbye again, and he was escorted off the ship to visit the Darwin Foundation Research Station before his flight back to Quito.

About a half hour later, everyone else woke up and came out for breakfast. It was a dreary day, with the seasonal Garua (mist) hanging over the island. It looks like I will need my raincoat today.

After breakfast, we headed into the port, then caught taxis to the Darwin Research Station. This station hosts a breeding area for the tortoises and some of the land iguanas. Eggs are collected on the various islands, and then when the tortoises are 5 or so years old and big enough not to be eaten by much of anything, they are released back on their native islands.

One of the most famous tortoises at the center is named Lonesome George. He is said to be the last of his species, from the island of Pinta. They have tried to get him to mate with females that are similar to him, but at first he wasn't interested in mating. A veterinary sexologist (who would have thought to major in that!) taught George the mechanics of what to do, so now he attempts to mate with the females, but alas, he produces no sperm. Since he's only 50-60 years old, he's got another 50-100 years to get the job done right.



A few large tortioses that people had as pets or that zoos donated are also kept at the center. There is a large feeding area, and you are allowed to get up close (but no touching) to them.






In addition to the tortoises, there are lots of finches flying around.

We saw quite a few different ground finches, and even a woodpecker finch.

As the morning wore on, I started to feel cold and clammy, and then got a really bad chill. The mist was burning off, and I was burning up. I also was experiencing "land sickness". I kept getting the sensation that the land was rocking back and forth like the boat.

After leaving the center, we had time to walk the mile back into town and do some shopping. I walked straight to the docks to wait for the panga to take us back to the ship. I sat on a bench and tried not to pass out. When it was finally time to leave, I had a fever and chills.

Santa Cruz Highlands
Just after lunch, two new people joined the ship to take Lincoln's room - a mother and daughter from London. They headed out with the group for the afternoon tour of the highlands of Santa Cruz. I didn't.

I felt miserable by this time and decided that if I missed this afternoon's activity, I would probably be healthy by tomorrow. I stayed on the ship and took a couple of aspirins, and then it was straight to bed for me. I blame George (the bartender, not Lonesome George) for this!

After sleeping off the fever most of the afternoon, and drinking plenty of water in case I was dehydrated, I felt almost ok by dinner time. The fever had broken, although I didn't have much of an appetite. As I picked at my dinner, the other people at the table told me that I didn't miss too much. They explored a couple of lava tubes (not much in them), and traipsed across a muddy pasture to see tortoises in the wild. They said it wasn't really that much different from seeing them at the Darwin Research Station. By then end of the day, several people said that they were "tortoised out". I was still a bit disappointed that I probably missed my only opportunity to see wild tortoises.

After dinner, we had the opportunity to go back into town for a couple of hours before we left port and headed to Isabela. A few people headed to town; I headed back to bed.