Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Puerto Ayora – Fish Market, Swimming and Giant Tortoises

These tortoise shells are from Santa Cruise and are much smaller than the 600kg models of other islands
Our last full day in the Galapagos was spent in Puerto Ayora, the main town on Santa Cruz and the largest town in the Galapagos.  It is a start or end point for most cruises and almost every tourist passes through here as it is the closest town to the airport.  As a result the entire town is geared towards tourism and has a little bit of a Queenstown feel.  However, like Queenstown, the surrounding attractions make it a great place to spend a couple of days. 
We started our full day here with a trip down to the fish market.  The fishing boats come in early in the morning and pelicans and the occasional seal line up for an easy meal.  The workers are incredibly efficient in preparing and filleting and preparing the fish and the waiting animals are remarkably patient.  The previous morning we saw a seal get thrown a fish head and skeleton.  The seal caught in hopped to the edge of the wharf, threw the fish into the water and flopped in after it.  He obviously felt there was less competition in the water than on land.  We also saw a pelican swallow a whole fish carcass – it looked rather uncomfortable for a few moments as the fish was sticking out through his throat.
Note the Iguana on the fish carcases at the market

From there we headed to Las Grietas, a lovely swimming canyon.  On our guides recommendation we went early to avoid the crowds.  We had the place to ourselves and the 20 minute walk had warmed us up nicely.  It is such a great place to swim between the cliffs.  We scrambled from one pool to the next over very sharp rocks – sandals or shoes would certainly have been handy.  The place was filling up and the sun was just starting the touch the water by the time we left.  The walk and short water taxi trip back was enough to dry us out and warm us up enough to want a cold coconut when we got back to the main wharf.
After lunch we headed to the highlands to visit the Giant Land Tortoises at El Chato Reserve.  Just out of town we stopped at the Mirador de Tuneles
which had a huge but very short lava tunel before continuing on to the tortoises.  The first activity at the tortoise reserve was climbing into the giant tortoise shell.  This beast would have been 150 years old when it died sometime last century.  I was the first to climb in to get things started.  These shells are heavy and lifting yourself up on all fours is a challenge.  Then some of the others had a go and the guide showed them how to a haul themselves upright, giving them a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle look. 
From there we walked around the reserve and saw some of the tortoises.  There weren’t huge numbers around as many of the females had left for lower ground to make their nests.  The ones we did see were pretty muddy as they like to sleep in the mud ponds – about 5pm each day they haul themselves off to a pond to sleep for the night.  These tortoises are one of 2 species on Santa Cruz and there are about 3500 of them left.  The tortoise population was pretty decimated by pirates and sailors who took them for meat supplies as they can last without food or water for nearly a year.  As a result some species became extinct and some became extremely endangered.  The Tortoise breeding program at the Charles Darwin Centre has
raised and released thousands of the most endangered species. 
We finished the day with a great dinner on ‘Eat Street’ – a street that becomes a series of open air restaurants each evening.  It has a great atmosphere and wonderful food with very generous servings.  The whole fish was a particular winner.
Another great day.
Hazel


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