We met with our tour group very early in the morning. Took a lovey bus ride across the island to the turtle breeding site. Here we saw lots and lots of the giant tortoises endemic to San Cristobal. The little ones, not much bigger than a man’s fist, lived in cages to protect them from rats and feral cats! It was like a school, turtles of all sizes in varying degrees of protective environments, and huge ones wandering about. Nicky had just asked the guide if the turtles made any vocalisation, when we received our answer! During mating, the males make a loud cow -like sound, and the female sighs aloud. Well, well, what a treat. Our guide said it was very unusual to see the turtles mating, and this was our lucky day! Back to the bus, our water bottles were refilled after a short journey and we were given delicious cinnamon buns to eat as we strolled along a board walk through a desert landscape to a very pretty beach at Puerto Chino. After the beach we hiked up to Junco, a very beautiful volcano crater lake set in the lush green highlands. The most beautiful part of Galapagos so far! We were treated to thick juicy slices of sweet watermelon and came back into town in the early afternoon. Once again, the WARC organisers outdid themselves on providing an excellent tour of the island that we tuck into the memory banks of our Sweet Dream!
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