Green Globetrotter: !No Hay Lugar Como Galapagos!
By Traci L. Claussen
Viernes, 6 Marzo
The other 12 volunteers and I met Manolo … like the shoes … at the port of call for 6:30 am to board the boat and head towards Champion Island for snorkeling. After about 3 hours on the boat from San Cristobal, we arrived to dozens of sea lions basking on the volcanic shore, three blue footed boobies on the rocks near their young booby nesting, a stone scorpionfish nesting in the coral, and a couple of large banded blanny, blackspot porgy, white tip reef sharks and various parrot fish. Not a bad way to spend an hour.
Back on the boat on our way to Isla de Floreana, from the bow we saw several green turtles swimming in the ocean along with a few dolphin dodging our wake. We enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant on Floreana then were driven by truck up to the Parque Nacionale to see the turtles and pirate caves. The turtle reserve had about 15 turtles from the ages of 20 to 100 allowing us all to get within inches of them for photos. As the guide was about to lead us off to the pirate caves, he quickly called us back for a unique opportunity to see the turtles mating. The groaning alone was incredible. The process can last for hours.
Next stop was Isabela for two nights. We were about 15 minutes away from the island when the Captain noticed our fuel line was taking in water. No problema. It was a perfect sunset waiting for the boat to be repaired, and we were at our hotel by 7pm. This was also the night that I first saw the Southern Cross constellation; our Captain pointed it out to me from the dock. We were in the perfect location to see both hemispheres of star constellations.
On Saturday, we readied ourselves for a full day hike of the world´s 2nd largest crater Volcan Sierra Negro which last erupted about 4 years ago. The entire hike was about 16km along the crater rim and down into the lava tubes which resembled what a walk on the moon must be like. At the top of Volcan Chica, we could see the other craters including Darwin. We rested under the trees for lunch with the various finches bouncing at our feet before hiking back to the truck to take us to Tinteranos Park where we would then see a nesting place for iguanas, a resting bed for white tip sharks, a playground for eagle rays, as well as the Galapagos Penguin, more blue footed boobies, frigates, tortugas Galapagos, and sea lions. I began to see a pattern emerge at the end of each day.
Sunday started with a snorkel inside a cave that turned into a heated situation when the sea lion and white tip sharks did not enjoy the invasive human species and quickly ran us all out. The hour long snorkel evolved into about 15 minutes and we were back on the boat and on to Santa Cruz.
After checking into our hotel, we headed to a free range farmhouse, Quayabillo, and enjoyed BBQ´d chicken and meat followed by tons of fresh fruit. It was then off to the lava tubes and more tortugas in natural settings, where we heard another pair mating under the brush. Our bus driver informed us that Prince Charles would be on the Islands next Sunday exploring the Galapagos and no doubt visiting our next stop, The Darwin Foundation, a World Heritage Site. Become a friend of the Galapagos now, HERE. The World has an opportunity to preserve the biological diversity of these Islands in their pristine state and help restore an island ecosystem. The dwindling penguin population brought on by the unusually warm waters of El Nino from 1997/98 led to a 65% drop in the penguin population. El Nino also reduced the population of the Galapagos’ two endemic sea lions.
Monday begins another work week for myself and the other volunteers, ours will start with a snorkel and more of the islands via the Sharksky. Our progress continues.
March 13th, 2009It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
- Charles Darwin
Topic: Eco Travel Tags: Galagapos
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