| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 15 February 2005 |
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There were also some spreading succulents, but that was about it for plants. The main inhabitants of this island are bluefooted boobies and frigatebirds.
Blue-footed boobies do indeed have bright (light) blue feet and nest on the ground, often right on the trail. They surround their nests with a ring of guano for territoriality. The females are larger than the males and have a darker pupil--yes, you can get that close. The chicks are white and fluffy-looking; they get grey as they get older. We saw several pairs 'dancing,' lifting first one foot and then the other repeatedly and reaching for the sky with their beaks in a mating ritual, also picking up and dropping sticks as symbolic of nest-building. The females honk; the males whistle.
The other major tenant is the frigatebird (both the magnificent frigatebird and the great frigatebird, which differ slightly in coloration). They weigh only about three pounds, but have an eight-foot wingspan. The male has a red pouch on his chin that he inflates as a courtship ritual. The two species nest together; we saw two mixed colonies. (We also saw a couple of Galapagos mockingbirds.) Our trail eventually brought us back to the landing point, where we boarded the pangas. The landing may have been dry, but the front three people or so had a wet ride.
Dinner was unexceptional, except for the dessert, which was figs in a sugar syrup with cheese. Odd, and a little too sweet for my tastes. Our table was basically a Span ish-speaking one, with a couple of other people who spoke some English, including a lawyer from Quito that we had a conversation (of sorts) with. After the briefing for the next day's trips, to bed about 10.
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: I slept well my first time at sea, although I awoke at 1AM when they started the engines (we had to travel 42 miles to the next island). I got up about 5. (It was too cloudy the night before for comet sighting, by the way.) Breakfast was at 6:45.
Our morning trip (at 7:30) was to Tower (or Genovesa) Island. We had anchored in Darwin Bay, formed of the crater of a partially sunken volcano. (The landing was 'wet'--the pangas pulled up to the sandy (coral) beach and you climbed over the sides into knee-deep water. The beach had many beautiful, multi-colored shells.
There was not the enormous variety of wildlife here as on North Seymour, or at least not the numbers. We saw more frigatebirds on the cliffs. Along the beach we saw the Galapagos mockingbird as well as lava gulls, grey birds with white eye-rings. Crabs (black mostly) scampered on the lava rocks. We saw a sea lion pup skull, looking very out of place somehow.
In the trees were many young red-footed boobies. Their feet had not yet gotten their pigmentation. We saw few adults (they were apparently searching for food), but we did see a couple, and we also got to see the white form which comprises only 5% of the total redfooted booby population. We also saw some masked boobies, the largest of the boobies. Our path took us past some tidal pools, where we saw many fish and more crabs, now bright red with blue bellies or black with a white stripe across the back. Marine iguanas (a smaller variety) were the other animal life visible, though we saw one yellow-crowned night heron and one Galapagos dove with its turquoise eye-ring. The path ended up crossing some interesting but barren lava formations. WE returned to the beach for snorkeling (which Mark did, so I'll let him describe it). Our return to the boat was delayed since they were using the pangas to retrieve a lost anchor (not ours!).
Lunch was roast beef, artichokes, and salad, with passion fruit for dessert (do you eat the pulp or the seeds?). After lunch I napped for about 40 minutes--the combination of little sleep and much activity got to me. Although the day had started out overcast, the sun had been very strong towards the end of our excursion also.
Oh, I forgot two items of note. When we left Darwin Bay, a flock of brown noddies followed us a ways, swooping around the boat and sometimes even lighting on the masts. There were also some smaller birds that I couldn't identify (about mockingbird size). The other event was the lifeboat drill--everyone puts on their lifejackets and goes to their lifeboats.
Our afternoon visit was to Bartholome', where we were once again greeted by a sea lion (I think the guides have hired them to shill for the islands ;-) ). The rocks were covered with the red crabs. They are called Sally-lightfoot crabs because their legs are hollow, making them buoyant enough to walk on the water. The walk was of geological interest, there being no animal life to speak of away from the shore, and the plant life consisting mainly of a spreading succulent (currently grey) interspersed with an occasional prickly-pear or lava cactus. (Actually the prickly-pear cacti are mostly on the isthmus of the island along with other less hardy plants.) We were here to see the lava channels and craters. The lava here is old, having oxidized over the millenia to reddish and yellowish tinges. There is a lot of loose grey sand created by the erosion of the lava. The first part of the climb was through loose, shifting sand, so upward progress was difficult. Then we reached a more level area where we could see 'moonscape' vistas of craters and lava. Only the sea in the background marred the 'lunarity.' The remainder of the climb was up a log staircase placed there to slow the erosion of the slope from walking. (Our guide said that this island was going to be closed soon to prevent further erosion. Already we could see where sections of lava shelf had been broken away.) The volcano was 300' high and from the top was an excellent view of the isthmus, Pinnacle Rock, and the spatter-cones on nearby James Island. Bartholome' itself is very bleak-looking, sort of 'end-of-the-world' in aspect.
After our descent (much easier than our ascent), we rode the pangas to the beach. On the way we saw Galapagos penguins (the second smallest penguins) and brown pelicans. It was really too dark for snorkeling, so we crossed the isthmus to another beach where we saw sea turtle nests (covered-over pits in the sand) and even a sea turtle swimming along the shore, as well as more pelicans.
In case you're wondering at this point, we will not be seeing any Galapagos tortoises. There are only about 15.000 left of eleven subspecies on eight islands. However, some of those islands are closed to tourists and on the others the tortoises have retreated to the interior which is closed to tourists. Only on Isabela are tourists allowed to see them in their natural state and that is a six-hour hike, overnight stay, and a six-hour hie back. They can be seen at the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz, but we don't go there. At any rate, that is still 'in captivity,' if only temporarily, and we have seen them at the San Diego Zoo. Programs to increase the population of tortoises include eradicating the predators introduced by man (dogs, rats, goats), sheltering the young until they can fend for themselves, and general breeding programs.
(The sea turtle had apparently just laid her eggs, a once-ayear occurrence.)
After dinner (chicken), I got involved in a conversation with someone who wanted to know how compilers worked. This went on until 11PM, when I went back to the cabin and read half of GALAPAGOS by Vonnegut (which the person interested in compilers had lent me). I was up until midnight. (Oh, we went looking for Halley's Comet at dusk, but although we could locate the constellation it was in, the ship's lights made sighting impossible.) me).
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Up at 6:45. I slept very well, although the ship was quite noisy all night--we had a lot of distance to cover. We had anchored in Tagus Cove off Isabela Island, the largest island of the archipelago (the official name of the Galapagos is 'El Archipelago de Colon'). We saw nothing of the large fire damage from last year's fire, that being at the southern part of island. Due to the extreme dryness, smoking is now prohibited on the islands themselves, however.
We had a double excursion this morning. First a dry landing-- no sea lions here, but a couple of flightless cormorants and a pelican did wave hello. We saw where sailors from 1803 on had left their names carved in the rocks, then up a steep slope to a path overlooking the salt-water lake in Volcano Darwin, which he visited on September 29, 1835. We heard some Darwin's finches and even glimpsed a couple from a distance, though not close enough to identify the species. There was also a Galapagos mockingbird and those of us with binoculars could see about seven pin-tailed ducks in the lake. The most notable animal life were the large horsehead flies as big as the end of your thumb. (It was still really too dry to support large numbers of finches.)
We climbed to the highest point on Volcano Darwin (4350') from which we could see Volcanoes Wolf and Ecuador, as well as Rock Redondo, which Melville described in such detail. We toasted this event with a bottle of mineral water that I had brought (we were told it would be a hard climb). We opened the bottle with my belt buckle. We talked with the guide about the conservation methods, whether killing the feral population to protect the tortoises was 'natural.' All species will eventually become extinct; should we try to stop this? Will we do more harm than good in extending a species' lifespan?
Regarding the specialization of finches, there seem to be four answers. One, evolution. Two, the mysterious work of God. Three, their creation by Satan to mislead man (but this implies Manichaeism (sp?)). Four, their creation by God to test man's faith. Take your pick.
We returned over the same trail and returned to the ship for a short break before the second half, a panga ride along the cliffs which form this cove. (Oh, yes, we also saw lava lizards.) At first from the panga we saw flightless cormorants and brown pelicans, along with frigatebirds in the sky. These gave way to blue-footed boobies nesting on the cliffs (a large colony). A small cave revealed brown noddy terns and another yellow-crowned night heron pecking at the crabs. A few Galapagos penguins were visible, including one swimming. Marine iguanas were common, usually sunning themselves, although one was in the water. A few sea lions had found warm spots also. Along one beach we saw a 'playita' (I don't know the English), or beach bird. there was so much to see and cameras were going like crazy. Eventually, I think, most people O.D.'ed on the variety and we returned to the ship at noon.
Lunch was fish, squid fried rice, and the usual cold salads.
Our afternoon excursion (and last landing) was at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina. We landed upon a promontory of black lava, much different (and younger) than the red and yellow oxidized lava of Bartholome'. There are two basic lava formations in evidence here: pahoehoe (ropy) lava which had cooled slowly, and aa-aa (jagged) lava which cooled quickly. Behind the Point was an area of mangrove trees, under which sea lions rested. Along the shore we saw sea lions (and some Galapagos penguins) swimming. Traveling inland we saw dozens of marine iguanas summing themselves, courting, fighting (by butting their heads), spitting (as a temperature regulator--the algae they eat cooks in their stomaches and they spit out the hot water). |
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| Copyright © - "Evelyn C. Leeper" |
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