Early morning, full day

It turns out the Galapagos are in a time zone an hour earlier than Ecuador! So after a blissfully quiet and dark night, I was up before 5:00. Auguste has a bit of stomach upset last night so he was up early too. We decided to head out to the pier for the sunrise. It was gorgeous!!

Our iguana buddy from last night was still there soaking up the last of the warmth from the cement!

We had a slow morning and just enjoyed the sea breeze and lovely little spot we’re in here. It’s so cute!

We decided to head into Puerto Ayora to scout out a few things. We grabbed a water taxi and then wandered through town and saw the fish market spot. It was more or less closed up for the day, but a few lazy sea lions were still there as well as pelicans and iguanas.

I made the children pose for a few cringy photos, which you can tell they loved:

We were headed in the direction of the Darwin Research Station so decided to book a tour. We had about an hour wait so went to the beach and it was gorgeous! Auguste and Maddie did some swimming by the rocks and saw all sorts of fish and were joined by swimming iguanas! On the beach we had tons of iguana, crab and sea lion friends.

After the beach we had our tour of the research center. At this spot they do research and raise tortoises. There are currently 11 species of land tortoises in the Galapagos (there used to be 13, two have been extinct). Because of invasive species, mainly cats, dogs and rats, the survival rate of eggs and babies is less than 50%. And because the populations were so decimated by humans, they need all the help they can get. So the species are tracked here and studied. Eggs are collected and raised at the center, then the tortoises are raised until they are about 6 years old, when they’re no longer subject to predators. Then they’re released. It was fascinating learning about the history of the Galapagos and seeing the many tortoises living there.

They have one enclosure with a bunch of giant males. They’re at the center because they are cross breads of several different species. They’ve done DNA research and some of the DNA of the extinct species. There was also the taxidermy of Lonesome George who was famously the last of his species who was found alone and they were never able to breed.

Bu this time we were all hot and tired so we took the water taxi back home. Maddie promptly fell asleep but Auguste was up for one more swim so he took a quick dip and was rewarded with a pufferfish and a ray! All in all, a fabulous day.

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