Looking down from the ship, we tons of sharks and pelicans surrounding us. The Galapagos islands are in fact the "sharkiest" waters in the world - I assume not just because of the ideal water temperatures and abundance of food, but also because the surrounding waters are so highly protected. We shuttled by zodiac to Baltra Island, home of the airport where we'd later fly back to the main land.
We boarded a bus to the highlands. We gradually climbed for twenty minutes, gradually noticing the bizarre change in weather - we were suddenly in a cloud forest, and sure enough it started to drizzle by the time we got to our final elevation. Crazy - it seemed like we spent the last five days in a dry, Caribbean-like climate... and a short drive later we were in Vancouver!
To get to Manzanillo ranch, where we were to have breakfast then explore the surrounding area for giant Tortoises, we had to occasionally get out and move some of the more adventurous tortoises who had decided to take a nap in the middle of the road.
We donned rubber boots and and hilarious $3 ponchos to protect my camera but certainly not our pride. Tortoises almost went extinct years ago, and we have to thank one very sexually active dude for the revival of the species. Here's how it happened....
Diego is a Hood Island giant tortoise. Thought to have been hatched on Española Island, Galápagos, he was captured as a young adult and shipped to the United States where he was exhibited at zoos. By the late 1940s he was at San Diego Zoo, California, though his species was not known. A captive breeding effort for the critically endangered Hood Island tortoises was set up in 1976, by which time only 15 individuals were known to survive. Diego was identified as a Hood Island tortoise by DNA testing and was sent to Santa Cruz Island to join the program. Diego fathered more than 900 offspring who were released on Española which helped to increase the wild population to more than 2,000. The breeding program ended in January 2020 and Diego is officially retired, and was released into the wild in June 2020
I will never watch Dora the Explorer in the same way, knowing the story.
Traipsing around not far from the covered restaurant area, we stumbled on hundreds of the tortoises, mostly lounging in shallow water. They're actually pretty shy and mostly unmoving, so there wasn't a ton of need to linger too long.
We hopped on the bus and were soon back in the dry summer heat. We boarded a short ferry across to the adjacent island of Balta and were soon back at the airport with our newfound friends. The airport lounge seemed to be reserved for us "Islander IIs". It wasn't too long before we were packed like sardines into our Avianca flight back to Guayaquil. Sigh. What an awesome experience. I doubt we will be back any time soon, but what a fantastic adventure.
We were whisked from the arrivals section at the Guayaquil airport and quickly back at the Luxury of Parque hotel. We continued to be spoiled until the moment we got to our rooms and our bags were sitting just inside the door. 5 stars service!
Before dinner, Beth and I did a brief walk in the animal enclosures of "parque historique" that actually had some really nice birds and other animals that looked less than happy in their enclosures.
We walked to a nearby dinner spot at a place recommended by driver - overly salty crab bowls on a bed of scorched rice. It was more like Red Lobster - in fact we had three happy birthday interludes for various guests (which reminded me of friends in high school working there and giving birthday guests the option of singing the long or short version of "happy birthday" always led to the guest choosing the "short" version which was then performed by the staff from their knees... lol - Murray!). It's kind of fun when the four of us land in a cheesy situation like that - it just makes us laugh instead of sitting there complaining.
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