Flashback to the Galapagos

Watch the new trailer for Tales From The Galapagos!

 

Galapagos Day 8: Charles Darwin Research Station

Five of us were on the same 10:45 AM flight so we had an early start at the Charles Darwin Research Station where the Galapagos National Park's turtle breeding program is headquartered. Here we saw iguanas and baby turtles, but everyone wanted to see its most famous resident, Lonesome George.

 

Lonesome George is the last surviving land tortoise from the island of La Pinta. It was thought that land tortoises had gone extinct but George was accidentally discovered in late 1971. Scientists recruited two female land tortoises from a different island (they are genetically similar to La Pinta land tortoises but still different) in hopes they would breed, but 105 year old George showed no interest in mating with them for decades until relatively recently. In recent years, perhaps the loneliness got to Lonesome George and he mated with the females. Disappointingly, none of the eggs hatched. George himself actually stepped on one of the eggs and later, when the remaining eggs failed to hatch, scientists open them and discovered that none of the eggs had ever been viable. Today Lonesome George is the last of his kind and it looks as if it will remain that way.

 

There is a more optimistic outlook for other varieties of tortoises, fortunately. The breeding program has been successful over the years, introducing thousands of tortoises to the wild. The process starts with the eggs. Males are able to mate year round once they reach sexual maturity but females will mate only once every five to ten years. The temperature of the eggs determines the sex of the turtles, so most eggs at the breeding center are exposed to 29.5 degrees Celsius to result in females and eggs kept at 28 degrees Celsius become males. In the wild, all seven eggs will either be male or female. This artificially created sex imbalance ensures that there are always plenty of females able to become pregnant at any given time. The baby turtles stay in contained terrariums until they are two years old and will remain at the breeding center until they are four to six years old. By then their shells will be 20-25 centimeters so they are able to survive on their own as they are no longer threatened by rats and other predators. Because different species of baby tortoises live together in the terrariums, scientists paint colored numbers in their shells to make sure each tortoise goes to the correct island.

 

The center has a few other varieties of tortoises as well.

 

The center's final exhibit was about the steps currently being taken to preserve the Galapagos. Since 1998, all incoming people and cargo have been inspected to ensure that no foreign animals or seeds are introduced. At the airport in Quito, my larger backpack was X rayed and my smaller one was hand searched for this reason. If you'd like to help support the Galapagos islands, the Darwin Research Station suggests visiting darwinfoundation.org or galapagospark.org.

 

A sea lion skeleton.

 

Our time at the center went by far too fast, as did the entire trip. Before I knew it, we had boarded a bus, a ferry, and another bus to the airport and were flying back to the mainland.

 

I have done my best here to accurately convey some of what I've learned from the Galapagos. Please let me know if you spot any inaccuracies!

 

The Galapagos Islands are a land of surprising intensity: everything is "more" than you initially realize. No matter how strong you think the sun is, it is much stronger. No matter how low you think the ceiling above your bunk is, it is much lower. No matter how hungry you think you are at snack time, you are actually much hungrier than you thought (especially when it's yuca bread!). No matter how cute you think the sea lions are, you will inevitably find one that takes cuteness to a whole new level. And no matter how nice you think your fellow passengers are, your time together reveals them to be a terrific batch of travelers and you know you have been fortunate to share such a great experience with them.

 

Galapagos Day 7: Dragon Hill, Whale Bay & Eden

I awoke to sunrise and sea lions and turtles playing around the boat. We had hoped to fit in a pre-breakfast swim since snorkeling wasn't on the agenda until the afternoon, but the morning proved to be cooler than usual thanks to the clouds so we didn't mind missing a swimming opportunity as it meant we had a rare break from the heat.

 

Alfonso took us ashore for a walk around Dragon Hill. This part of Santa

Cruz Island is known for its particularly large land iguanas. We managed to spot several big iguanas but none that were approaching two meters. This is iguana mating season and it's the male's job to attract females, so we came upon countless red and yellow male iguanas lying in the middle of the tourist paths. This is how they advertise themselves! The bright colors signify they are ready to mate (many of the females, by contrast, are not yet ready so they are black in color) and parking themselves in the center of the cleared path (instead of in the dense bushes) ensures they will be spotted by any passing female. Unfortunately for them, the only females drawn to the iguanas this morning were humans, and we made more than a few jokes about men who exhibit the same behaviors in trying to attract a mate.

 

We saw our first flamingos at a lagoon. They ate beautiful creatures...until they start to eat! They swish their beaks around in the water to mash up the food, which just makes them look ridiculous!

 

Everyone loved seeing an immature Bahamas duck!

 

Since the walk took less time than expected, the captain said we could stay put for a little while and snorkel. More fish, sharks, sea lions, and rays! Alfonso had previously mentioned a starfish that looks like a chocolate chip cookie called, fittingly, the chocolate chip starfish. We spotted a few today and they looked delicious! Just like a big, freshly baked, soft cookie with a generous helping of chocolate chips carefully arranged in straight rows. Chocolate chip starfish aside, I think my time in the Galapagos has reaffirmed my vegetarianism (not that it's ever been in any danger in the past 18ish years). Societies arbitrarily decide which animals to love and which animals to eat. Every animal I've seen here has been magnificent in its own way and I really can't imagine taking a bite out of a sea lion or a moorish idol.

 

After lunch we walked around Whale Bay with the goal of finding Giant land tortoises. I wasn't very optimistic: the afternoon is typically when they sleep under thick cover and the clouds I had appreciated in the morning were now starting to rain. Despite these obstacles, Alfonso found two of them! They really are massive, solid creatures.

 

By the time we left Whale Bay, the sun had reemerged and we went snorkeling for the last time in the Galapagos around Eden Island, a suiting name for a tropical paradise.

 

The rains returned so we spent a few hours cooped up in the dining room instead of lounging on the sun deck. After dinner, the chef brought out a huge cake for the guests since it was the final night on the Flamingo seven of the eight passengers, six of us who had spent the last eight days together. I'm sure it's standard practice, but it was still very thoughtful and sweet. Being stuck in the dining room with slightly choppy waters had diminished my appetite but I found room for cake!

 

We anchored where our trip began, in the harbor town of Puerto Ayora. Most of the crew eagerly headed ashore to see their families and the passengers did the same, though with the slightly less noble intention of finding a bar. I was wiped out from the navigation so I just managed to keep my eyes open at the bar before leaving the group to return to the Flamingo. The sun deck was still quite wet from the rain but the cushions weren't, so I spent my last night curled up on a dry bench.

 

Today's animals:

Galapagos spider

Turtles

Sea lions

Blue footed boobies

Bahamas duck (mature & immature)

Finches

Marine iguanas

Land iguanas

Galapagos fly catcher, aka large bill fly catcher

Wimpler

Galapagos mockingbird

Yellow warbler

Flamingos

Fish

Rays

Chocolate chip starfish

Giant land tortoises

Sally light foot crabs

Smooth billed Anis

Pelicans

 

Galapagos Day 6: North Seymour Island & Black Turtle Cove (Santa Cruz)

Since our cabins often get quite stuffy over the course of the night, a couple of passengers had started to spend the nights sleeping on the breezy sun deck. Last night, a record number of five of us set up camp (more than half of the passengers!). I lasted until 5 AM when the mosquitos caused me to retreat until the sun rose an hour later.

 

Back on the sun deck, I was reading when one of the crew came to say there were sharks circling the boat! Sure enough, several black tipped sharks were swimming silently just under the surface, searching for their breakfast. When we didn't see any sharks snorkeling yesterday, Alfonso had promised we'd see them today. I didn't know how he could make such a promise, but lo and behold, he was right!

 

It wasn't too hot for our ninety minute shore excursion, but there were plenty of sand flies to keep us company. Seymour Island is home to the #2 bird colony on the Galapagos (Espanola is #1) and we were able to see many male frigates with their red pouches inflated. It takes about twenty minutes to inflate their pouches and six hours to deflate. The males will leave their pouches inflated for about six hours at a time over the course of six months every two years to show females they are ready to mate. Females are able to mate year round, so there is always a new crop of males looking for a female.

 

Several males will sit together in the trees with their inflated pouches. A female will fly over and sit next to the male with the most appealing--usually the biggest--pouch. If there is only one frigate with an inflated pouch, she will not go to him regardless of the size of his pouch. You can often spot a male sitting alone practicing different poses that best show off his pouch.

 

Next she will check out his nest to make sure it is up to her standards. If she doesn't approve, she'll fly off. If she likes what she sees, she will stay put, the pair will touch chests, and the male will put his wing around her. This tells all the other frigates that these two are off the market.

 

The male will make his calling sound (Magnificent Frigates make a machine gun rat-a-tat-tat call and Minor Frigates make a turkey call) to the female and nuzzle his neck against her. He's ready but must wait until she is also ready. If he is too eager, she'll fly off and he'll have to start all over again!

 

Snorkeling was fantastic as always. We saw both sea lions and fur seals in the water. The fur seals were noticeably different in their size and shape.

 

No hammerhead sharks again today, but I did see about three white tipped reef sharks. They were beautiful creatures. They were about 1.5-2 meters long and swam powerfully but with grace. I can't imagine when I'll next be swimming in the ocean and yell "Shark!" with excitement instead of fear!

 

We stopped to fill up on gas for the next few days. The water again was that perfect green foam color, so we hoped to indulge in our favorite past time: jumping off the ship. We were dissuaded when we were told that, due to the proximity of the Ecuadorian navy, we would be shot if we jumped!

 

Soon we were on the move again and went on a dinghy ride in Black Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz Island. The water was murkier than usual but we still managed to see a spotted eagle ray, golden rays, baby sharks, and turtles among the mangroves.

 

We hurried back to the Flamingo so we could travel our anchor spot in time to swim and jump off the boat, which we did for the better part of an hour. Afterwards, I enjoyed watching the sunset between the low clouds and the horizon as the boat sat in the shadow of Chicken Hill (the name doesn't do it justice!). Created millions of years ago from volcanic debris, today it is inhabited by ferrel chickens. There's clearly no road to the top of the lush, green hill, but it looks like it has a series of natural switchbacks which remind me of Alpe d'Huez.

 

After dinner, the group played cards while I snuck away to the sun deck for some solo time to do one of the activities I miss the most while traveling: singing along with my iPod. I was really getting into it when a fellow passenger came to check on me. The fact that she literally fell over laughing suggests that my singing abilities do not yet match my gusto. But something then happened that has never happened to me before. As the card games wound down, the passengers one by one came up to the sun deck and started picking out songs they wanted to hear me sing (perhaps, more accurately, "sing")! When my iPod battery gave out, it was bedtime for all and I found myself again sleeping under a breezey canopy of stars.

 

Today's animals:

Black tipped sharks

White tipped reef sharks

Sea lions

Frigates

Fur seals

American oyster catcher

Moorish idol

Moray eel

Butterfly fish

Diablo fish

Cornet fish

Mating eagle rays

Golden rays

Lava heron

Marine iguanas

Galapagos land iguanas

Lava lizards

Blue footed boobies

Galapagos spider

Swallow tail gull

Crabs

 

Galapagos Day 5: Santa Fe & channel between Baltra & Santa Cruz

It was a stunning morning. We had arrived at Santa Fe the previous night and woke up to green and blue water, sandy beaches, sunshine, and wheezing sea lions.

 

After breakfast we headed ashore to look for the land iguana, a species of iguana found only on the island of Santa Fe. To date we had only seen marine iguanas. As its name suggests, the land iguana lives exclusively on land and is a vegetarian. They are known to have poor eyesight but excellent hearing. A land iguana may not see a delicious cactus flower nearby, but if that flower happens to be within earshot when it falls to the ground, the land iguana will hear it and have a tasty meal.

 

As we waited to be picked up in the dinghy, we amused ourselves by watching the sea lion colony lazing on the beach. It's only been a few days, but we are already learning to distinguish males from females and to approximate their ages. I don't think I'll ever tire of watching sea lions roll over each other like 250 kilo steam rollers!

 

Our two favorite activities were next: snacking and snorkeling! We saw a few new fish, including one small fish with electric blue spot, and a lobster. It is not currently lobster catching season and earlier in the week we saw authorities boarding a fishing boat for a routine check that it did not have any illegally caught lobsters or turtles. It is reassuring to see the regulations are strictly enforced.

 

And of course, we got to swim with sea lions! I can't believe that every time we have gone snorkeling near sea lions, they have come over to check us out. They are so incredibly inquisitive and friendly.

 

We also managed to spot a couple of graceful turtles. They really do look like they are just flying though the water.

 

A few hours later, we had sailed to Punta Carion, the channel between Santa Cruz and Baltra, for more snorkeling. This time there were no sea lions around as we were in shark territory! We didn't see any hammerhead sharks but there were so many fish! They all seemed to be in a hurry to go in different directions, like lanes on a fish highway (hmm, maybe I still have Antarctica's penguin highways on the brain?). Because there were so many fish, there were also plenty of birds trying to eat said fish. At one point, I got such a fright when I was thinking about the sharks and suddenly there was a big commotion in the water and all the fish scattered! It turned out to be a hungry pelican hunting its dinner but it startled the hell out of me.

 

Necessity dictated our evening be spent on a pier at Santa Cruz as we waited for a delivery of fresh water to last us the next few days. Unfortunately, this meant the mosquitos who inhabit the mainland temporarily inhabited our boat! We did our best to conquer the mosquitos and, when that inevitably failed, ignore them by playing cards (I don't think I had played Spoons since middle school!). Before too long, we were howling with laughter as the Flamingo sailed the calm waters under the stars and moon to our anchor spot for the night.

 

Today's animals:

Santa Fe land iguana

Lava lizards

Galapagos dove (aka pigeon)

Galapagos hawk

Sea lions

Lobster

Turtles

Sting rays

Fish

Prickly pear cactus

Blue footed boobies

Frigates

Pelicans

Crabs

 

Galapagos Day 4: San Cristobal Island, Kicker Rock, & Isla de los Lobos

The day started with a trip to town and a visit to the Centro de Interpretacion where we learned about the history of the Galapagos. There was too much history to absorb it all but a couple of things stayed with me.

 

First, I hadn't realized that Norweigans were among the first to permanently settle in the Galapagos. After World War I, many Norweigans came here in search of a better future, enticed by advertisements displaying fertile soil and available land. From what the museum said, life was much more difficult than the Norweigans had been led to believe. I am not sure how many of them stayed or what sort of legacy they have left behind, but I didn't see pickled herring on any of the restaurant menus in town!

 

After my travels to the far reaches of the world, I wasn't at all surprised to learn that like Australia and Ushuaia, the Galapagos had once been a penal colony. While this is an amazing place for a vacation, I can only imagine how hard life was for the prisoners: the baking hot sun, a limited diet, the tropical downpours, bugs, the mental prison of being so far from home, and the police on the islands who were noted for their cruelty. In 1959, the government finally shut down the prison.

 

I was also impressed to see how much of the museum was dedicated to preserving the Galapagos's fragile ecosystem. There was a creative sculpture made out of plastic litter by local students, a series of quotes from locals of all ages about living in the Galapagos, and information about the problems facing the islands and how to help.

 

From the museum, it was a short walk to a snorkeling spot. Here we said goodbye to four of our passengers who had to leave and continue their travels without the group. The remaining six of us wasted no time and donned our snorkeling gear to escape the midmorning heat. What a treat snorkeling was! Just as I thought to myself, "I'd like to see a turtle," one swam right under me! I had my camera at the ready and followed him until he passed a second turtle! I was only starting to recover from the excitement of my first experience of swimming with turtles when a curious sea lion approached! He danced in circles around us, flipping and spinning to our delight. The morning continued like this, sea lions coming over from their shaded resting spot to investigate us and to show off. There was also a large sting ray that deserves to be mentioned!

 

Nearby there was a scenic lookout with a statue of Darwin as San Cristobal was the first island Darwin visited. Taking our cue from the lazy sea lions, we rested in the shade until walking to town for some much needed ice cream.

 

Orelio, the dinghy driver, was happy to indulge our picture taking and drove us to see the unused boats overrun with sea lions. He had a good time using our cameras to be the photographer directing a photo shoot!

 

Since the town is overrun with sea lions, the local government has tried to come up with solutions. One successful idea was to build small rafts in the harbor. Bachelor sea lions who are unlikely to ever become alpha males of a harem love to use the raft as a place to rest, so we nicknamed it Loser Island! Just a little sea lion humor. Even with several of these rafts, the sea lions still love to climb on benches in town and vacant boats to sleep.

 

We had lunch and waited anxiously to meet our new travel companions. Each of us guessed where they would be from and I wasn't too far off when I guessed they'd be two Dutch girls--they turned out to be one Dutch guy and one German guy.

 

It took about ninety minutes to reach our next stop: Kicker Rock. The seas weren't too friendly, so most of us curled up on the sun deck for fresh air but one of our new additions succumbed to the power of seasickness. It was something of a shock to wake up and see Kicker Rock. It completely dwarfs Colombia's El Penon (for those of you who have been following the blog!). It was spit out by an exploding volcano and settled here. Upon landing, it split into two pieces. Today the channel between the rocks is a popular scuba site. Kicker Rock is nicknamed leon dormido, as it resembles a sleeping lion from a distance.

 

From there it was off to Isla de los Lobos for a walk around the island. We spotted our first male frigates with their red pouches inflated.

 

Alfonso had suggested we go for a snorkel as the island would be a great place to swim with sea lions. Each time we go snorkeling, it only gets better! Immediately we saw several sting rays, each one bigger than the last. I spent most of my time (and most of my camera battery!) watching two sea lions practicing how to fish. They knew they had an audience, but paid no attention to us as they caught and released bits of seaweed. It was an absolute privilege to be so close to these creatures as they learned essential survival skills. I also got quite a fright as I was patrolling one last time for sea lions when I came upon a massive male sea lion sitting on the sea floor, just staring at me! I knew that there were some young pups around and that this sea lion colony had been known to be aggressive, so I didn't bother to take any photos of his impressive size and swam away as fast as I could!

 

Unfortunately, we had to return to the boat eventually, so we had a great dinner with our two new European friends and spent the night talking on the sun deck.

 

Today's animals:

Chatam mockingbird

Frigate with inflated red pouch

Plover

Chatam lava lizard

Sea lions

Sea turtles

Sting rays

Fish

Iguanas

Crabs