We started the day with a visit local coffee/sugar cane farm, El Trapiche Ecológico Galápagos. They demonstrated how to process coffee beans from harvest through roasting. They also showed us how to squeeze liquid out of raw sugar cane stalks and make it into juice and/or ferment into aguardiente (aka moonshine). The group enjoyed sampling the liquid wares!
Afterwards, we visited a local woodworking artisan, Jorge Torres at his studio Artesanías Torres Naysara Galápagos. While we were there, he took a block from the invasive Cuban Cedar tree and carved it into a Darwin finch as we watched. An incredibly talented artist. He did a raffle to see who would get his creation and Kim won! Fun fact, Jorge was commissioned by the Galapagos Conservancy to create the life-size carving of Lonesome George.
We reboarded our bus, drove to the dock, climbed aboard zodiacs and finally we made it to our ship, the Carina. Our group had this100 foot, 16-passenger ship all to ourselves. After a safety briefing, we went to our rooms to unpack and settle in while the ship, surrounded by flying frigatebirds, departed for our first landing of the trip.
We arrived at North Seymore Island where we boarded zodiacs and made a dry landing for a hike of the island. It should be noted that Sue, even with the extreme pain of a broken toe, braved this trek over the rocky trail. I’m not sure how she managed. We noticed that they have built a new landing facility since we were last here in 2021. We saw lots of wildlife: frigatebirds, blue-footed boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, Galapagos fur seals, Galapagos sea lions, Galapagos snake, and more. The youth blue-footed boobie was not scared of us at all because they have no predators except when they are very young. It’s not that they are used to us, it’s just that there is no predation. It’s a bit unnerving to have the animals “stay put” as you walk by them on the trail.
After a wonderful hike on the island, reboarded the zodiac and returned to the ship. In the evening, we met the staff on the ship (only 9), had a welcome cocktail, had a briefing about tomorrows activities, ate a lovely dinner and got to bed quite early. It was a good day and really nice to be on our ship.
El Trapiche Ecológico Galápagos
Artesanías Torres Naysara Galápagos
Carina
North Seymore Island
Carina Crew and Briefing
