Galapagos Day 3 - Giant Tortoises at Rancho Primicias
One of the bizarre things we found is weather forecast was insanely inaccurate for Galapagos. We often walked out in sweaters and jackets according to the forecast, only to find out T-shirts and shorts were sufficient.
Today was the opposite, the forecast said clear and sunny but it was raining.
We decided to keep our plan to visit Rancho Primicias, a local farm on the path of giant tortoise migration.
The farm offered rain boots for visitors, for all adults and children. It was Orion’s first time to wear rain boots, and apparently he didn’t like it. His feet were cemented on the ground for a long time before he took the first step. But it didn’t take him too long to feel the comfort to run, especially when he saw a tortoise.
Did I mention tortoise is Orion’s favorite animal? This little guy couldn’t comply with the 2-meter distance rule at every sight of a tortoise, and I was busy juggling between being a photographer and tortoise rescuer!
On the other hand, Apollo enjoyed his umbrella and new rain jacket.
Oftentimes, I had to take over his umbrella to shield my camera from the rain. I already lost my Canon 5D Mark III in the rain (see full story), and I certainly would not take another risk, as I only brought one full frame camera in this trip.
Most of the time I was operating the camera with only one hand. It was difficult to focus on the right spot, and I finally found a solution - using center spot focus, a setting I never used before - and it worked. (See my usual settings: Top 5 Custom Buttons To Speed Up Your Photography Workflow On Sony A7III).
We also did a lava tunnel walk, where we didn’t need to use the umbrella, but had to climb under a narrow crack in order to go through. Apparently, that was fun for the kids.
Finally, we did a small hike along the rim of Los Gemelos - Twin Craters. Oh well, with the rain, we vaguely could see anything. Nevertheless, the scalesia forest was a unique view in quite a big contrast to the desert looking zones in the northern Santa Cruz Island.
See more posts about our family trip in Ecuador.