Galapagos – Puerto Ayora – Travelogue 1
Sta. Cruz with its adherence Puerto Ayora is the most populated island in the archipelago. Here is the national park administration and the Charles Darwin research station. The station has some small museums that show the history of the islands. In addition, there are some breeding enclosures of the various turtle species, some of which are threatened with extinction. The well-known Lonesome George, the last of his species, is also at home here. The map shows the port facility Pto. Ayora. 80 percent of all Galápagos cruises depart from the capital Puerto Ayora, which is located on the southern side of the
All tourist boats sailing on the Galapagos Islands sooner or later end up in Academy Bay (the natural harbour basin of Puerto Ayora), the largest town in the island kingdom with over 10,000 inhabitants. In the port, goods are being transferred to smaller boats that sail to the inhabited islands off the coast. We wait for the dinghy to take us back to our small motor yacht to explore the other islands of the archipelago. The motor ship is our floating hotel.
Not only the public advertising here is still from the 19th century. Life also has its own rhythm. Everything is slow and relaxed on the Galapagos Islands. We explored the island sufficiently on foot. A visit to Darwin Station is of course an absolute must. We watch a little boy helping his father unload the fish. If you want to become a real fisherman, you practice early…….
There are a few motor ships and sailing yachts in the harbour, which take a break here for a few days before heading to the more distant islands. Opposite is a circumnavigator who is stopping here. A larger cruising sailor is also refreshing his Vörräte in the port of Ayora.
A thunderstorm front will move in in the evening, which will hopefully be over the next morning. Before setting sail in the morning, we notice that another motor yacht has anchored next to us during the night. As it turns out after an extensive smaltalk from railing to railing, it is a Brit on a trip around the world who has been forced to take an involuntary break by the thunderstorm.
