Today was our day in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. The morning started out with a zodiac ride to shore, where we were taken by bus to the Charles Darwin Research Center. Here, they hatch baby turtles and raise them until 5-6 years of age until they can be released to the wild and not be eaten by the non-native rats that have been introduced to the islands.

We had some time to shop around town, and Cassie’s family bought some souvenirs to take home.

We headed back to the boat for lunch and a siesta, then back on the Zodiac boat to head up to the Santa Cruz highlands. There is a huge population of giant tortoises in this area, and we got to wander around on our own looking at all of them. Their shells ranged from about 1 foot to 4 feet in diameter. They look so prehistoric!

After an hour of walking around, we headed back to the boat, where we had happy hour. For some reason there were 15-20 sharks circling the boat while we were relaxing. We had another great sunset over the bay.