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| Sunrise on turtle beach |
Early start today. We left the boat at 6:30am to watch the sea turtles leave their nests at daybreak on Floreana Island. Our timing was perfect, the tide was not. Low tide, the moms had already left for the day. But, Roberto actually dug into the sand about a foot and uncovered two baby turtles, probably born last night and an egg, ready to break for another. WOW. Amazing. He said that the little turtles will wait until after dark tonight to dig to the surface then scurry into the water so they aren’t gobbled up by the frigate birds.
Next, we walked to the other side of the island to look at a flamingo colony. Great to view them as well.
Finally, still before breakfast, we went on our last snorkel around Devils Crown. I still missed a lonely hammerhead shark, but turtles, sharks, and many fish were all spotted. A great last snorkel.
We end the day, and our adventure with a four hour motor to Santa Cruz Island and the Charles Darwin Station to learn about and view the Galapagos giant tortoises. This all started in the 1960’s to save the 14 remaining giant tortoises. Good science, research, and intent have resulted in thousands of tortoises of all ages repopulating the different islands. All are GPS chipped so that if there is no movement, someone checks the tortoises to make sure he/she hasn’t flipped over!
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| This is the nursery. Each is labeled as to which island they will eventually be returned to. |
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