Day 6 – Black Turtle Cove, Santa Cruz Island
Once again, we were back exploring the wonders of Santa Cruz Island. Our first stop was a hidden mangrove forest on the northern shore at 6am, where we floated in circles for an hour trying not to wake the wildlife before heading toward the mainland. The water was an upside down mirror of the world below. Sea turtles, manta rays and sharks glided beneath us while herons hid in between mangrove branches. It would have been a magical scene to capture assuming I had any idea on how to shoot through the water glare without turning it into an overexposed blur.
On the way back, I noticed brown noddies and their utterly shameless hunting tactics. I can’t remember if they popped up during our previous bird watching jaunts, I was probably zoned out. Apparently, their genius strategy involves hitching a ride by perching directly on top of a pelican’s head letting the pelicans do all the actual work. I came to terms with the hard truth that trying to shoot wildlife from a wobbling panga gives me the jitters and the photos I got were the best I could manage that day.
Puerto Ayora, Charles Darwin Station, Santa Cruz Island
At 9:ooam, we landed on the shores of Puerto Ayora and took a 40-minute bus ride to a tortoise reserve at El Chato Ranch. After swapping our sandals for boots, we ambled around the reserve trying to photograph tortoises that barely moved. Honestly, I freaked out. I had no idea what to do with these immovable objects who with all due respect are not supermodels. Desperate for creative shots, I decided to just zoom in aggressively on their faces while they munched on greens. A yellow warbler fluttered by on the trees above and naturally I took a terrible photo because I am short.
Word spread that a barn owl was perched inside a nearby lava cave. We went over and proceeded to sweat our bums off trying to capture the owl who was camouflaged against the cave walls. I was SO excited, I decided to go all-in on a macro tight shot of the owl’s face. Now, for the life of me I can’t do anything with these photos except display them as bad mugshots of a bird that multiple people have since told me looks “sad”.
After lunch at El Rancho, we headed to the main town to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station. The highlight was the exhibit of the taxidermied Lonesome George, mostly because it was housed in a beautifully air conditioned room and we were on the verge of a heatstroke. The station promotes the conservation efforts that launched their tortoise breeding programs back in 1965, though looking at a preserved George felt a bit eerie. I immediately got flashbacks to Lenin and Mao’s mausoleums.
Remember back in 2012 when a dead tortoise made global headlines? That was Lonesome George, the last survivor of Pinta Island, a title he earned because humans including Charles Darwin ate his entire species into extinction. Darwin was actually a massive foodie during his Cambridge days and never met an exotic animal he didn’t want to digest. After his journey on the HMS Beagle, he boasted about eating a puma too, though I shall not digress. How Ironic, the fact that the entire breeding program is named after him of which obviously, Darwin has no idea.
Before we cooled ourselves in the presence of George’s ghost, we walked through the gardens. The walkway was lined with native trees and endangered cacti, some of which were thoughtfully carved with love notes by top tier “environmentalists”. As we approached the feeding and breeding center, we witnessed some of the tortoises doing their best to increase the population, all while a tiny yellow warbler hopped around them inappropriately.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around town, where sidewalks are shared equally between humans, sea lions sleeping on public benches and marine iguanas going for casual strolls down Avenida de Charles Darwin. Finally, we caught our boat back just as the sun was setting to sail up north to the rocky and unique shores of Sombrero Chino (Chinese hat) and Rabida. Dinner was shared with a brown pelican scanning the water as a white tipped or Galapagos shark (we couldn’t make out in the dark) swam by, also on the lookout for a meal.
CRAYSCAPE 