Santa Cruz Island
The spirit of adventure is intrinsic to mankind, and those who probably feel it the deepest are the ones who travel by boat. The 1800’s were the golden years of sailing in the Pacific, and hundreds of ships visited the Galapagos. My intention here is to write in the style of those days, as if this was my entry in a logbook of adventures at sea, because we are actually living an adventure.
“The morning dawned upon our happy company. The weather was fine, but the wind blew a strong breeze from the SE, and the sea was slightly rugged. Watches had been kept on the bridge during the night to see that none of the Enchanted Islands should appear unexpectedly from the mist.
Last night we had cruised about upon the coast of Isabela Island for a few hours. As we progressed rapidly to the southward the climate became mild and the weather pleasant. Early in the morning we saw the top of Santa Cruz Island. We fell in a little south of the island as we wished to look into the cove.
Afterwards we entered this spacious bay and soon gained the common anchorage in front of the town. It had now been 4 days since the anchor had been down in any inhabited harbour, and our people were overjoyed at looking around and finding that we were surrounded by land, close to civilization.
After we broke our fast, announcements came from the quarterdeck for the guests to prepare themselves for landing and any who wished to have a little money could come down upon the purser’s quarters. Today was a good day for purchases.
The town, built upon a low flat lava ground, seemed immediately exposed in its entirety to us, allowing us a seemingly perfect birds-eye view of it.
Of the wild birds we saw here were a few finches and flycatchers, however with an abundance of the Galapagos mockingbirds surrounding the shores. There is very green vegetation on the sides of the mountains.
The tortoises of this island are very numerous and worthy of some notice. They have a dome shaped carapace, and wander around with no fear of man.
This island has better soil upon it than any other island of the group, but I think two thousand acres of good land would be a large calculation for it, the remainder being burned snuffy soil or parched climpers and loose rocks.
Sunset found us all on the ship agreeable to orders. During our stay, each watch had taken their daily turns on shore so that when our ship was ready again for sea, all hands had been well refreshed and ready for service.
We now directed our course towards the Northeast, towards Genovesa Island.”
The spirit of adventure is intrinsic to mankind, and those who probably feel it the deepest are the ones who travel by boat. The 1800’s were the golden years of sailing in the Pacific, and hundreds of ships visited the Galapagos. My intention here is to write in the style of those days, as if this was my entry in a logbook of adventures at sea, because we are actually living an adventure.
“The morning dawned upon our happy company. The weather was fine, but the wind blew a strong breeze from the SE, and the sea was slightly rugged. Watches had been kept on the bridge during the night to see that none of the Enchanted Islands should appear unexpectedly from the mist.
Last night we had cruised about upon the coast of Isabela Island for a few hours. As we progressed rapidly to the southward the climate became mild and the weather pleasant. Early in the morning we saw the top of Santa Cruz Island. We fell in a little south of the island as we wished to look into the cove.
Afterwards we entered this spacious bay and soon gained the common anchorage in front of the town. It had now been 4 days since the anchor had been down in any inhabited harbour, and our people were overjoyed at looking around and finding that we were surrounded by land, close to civilization.
After we broke our fast, announcements came from the quarterdeck for the guests to prepare themselves for landing and any who wished to have a little money could come down upon the purser’s quarters. Today was a good day for purchases.
The town, built upon a low flat lava ground, seemed immediately exposed in its entirety to us, allowing us a seemingly perfect birds-eye view of it.
Of the wild birds we saw here were a few finches and flycatchers, however with an abundance of the Galapagos mockingbirds surrounding the shores. There is very green vegetation on the sides of the mountains.
The tortoises of this island are very numerous and worthy of some notice. They have a dome shaped carapace, and wander around with no fear of man.
This island has better soil upon it than any other island of the group, but I think two thousand acres of good land would be a large calculation for it, the remainder being burned snuffy soil or parched climpers and loose rocks.
Sunset found us all on the ship agreeable to orders. During our stay, each watch had taken their daily turns on shore so that when our ship was ready again for sea, all hands had been well refreshed and ready for service.
We now directed our course towards the Northeast, towards Genovesa Island.”
