A Visitor

Beach In Puerto Villamil

This Past week I had Molly visit me during her spring break. She is currently studying abroad on mainland Ecuador in Quito. She arrived in San Cristobal on the 29th of March and left yesterday. During her stay in the Galapagos I attempted to show her the sights, which struck me as the most amazing; this included a trip to Isabela and Santa Cruz islands to see penguins, flamingos, giant tortoises, marine iguanas, and sea lions. We were able to swim with the sea lions on multiple occasions which is always fun because the younger ones are so playful. Although Molly did get a bit sick from a combination of the altitude change and the water, we managed to have an amazing time together. It was nice to share this experience with someone I know from back home.

A Good Place With Many Things To Offer

Lava Fields of San Cristobal Island

Today was the first field trip with our Marine Biology class. Our professor organized a day trip where we would travel by boat to a series of places along San Cristobal, which were being considered for eco-tourism development. During this trip several national park officials and scientists accompanied us. This project was developed by the people of San Cristobal as a means to distribute visitors throughout the island opposed to confining them to only a few spots. This increase in visitor sites is also appetizing to the locals a way to boost the local economy which is completely based upon tourism and fishing. San Cristobal is the oldest island in the whole archipelago and is one of the least developed. Since being here there has been construction on the main boardwalk of the town to make it prettier to attract more tourist. The most developed island, Santa Cruz, is one of the central islands and the first one to get an airport. With these attributes and many natural attractions, Santa Cruz is one of the more favored of the tourist islands, I think because it attempts to give a more home like feel for the tourists. On the other hand people visit San Cristobal and gain a small town feel and always prefer it as one of their favorite for that reason. So my stance on this whole San Cristobal development is that they shouldn’t work to replicate the feel of Santa Cruz but they should try and preserve the small Ecuadorian town sense, this way they can diversify the Galapagos experience and attract a wider variety of visitors. Well now that I’ve written this little blurb I might as well use it in my report for class.

Our field trip started out with a visit to a nice little site where there were extensive tide pools. These tide pools could possible be used as a basic hands on intertidal marine biology class (for tourists). We walked around the beach for a bit and found that the beach was host to a sea turtle nesting area, which would need to be set as a restricted area for tourists. As a class we went for a snorkeling and identified fish for a class assignment then moved on to the next site. The second area was a coastal mangrove area, which also involved a walk on a volcanic lava field, which was about 200 years old. It was amazing to walk on the lava flows and see the wrinkles in the stone. There were also a few colonizing cactus on the lava flow which were fun to photograph. The mangrove area was interesting and was used as a supplement to our lecture on coastal ecosystems. We wrapped the day up with some more snorkeling in the area then a long sleepy boat ride back to town. I will be posting new pictures to Flickr tonight. Enjoy life.

La Luna

The full moon is up and the tides are at their extremes. This is the second lunar cycle that I have experienced here on the islands and its quite beautiful. I'm hoping to get a few people out tonight for a walk in the moon light and maybe a swim, depending on the tide. It can sometimes be frustrating when trying to stir motivation in people who would rather be video chatting all day. I have come to the realization that they are losing sight of what we have under our toes. Enjoy the moon and enjoy the changing seasons for me.

Que Bueno

Northern Coast of San Cristobal, Punta Pitt

Hola amigos,

The past few weeks have been awful busy for me here on the islands. Consisting mostly of school work and classes. I finished my Introduced and Invasive Plant class about two weeks ago and am already finished with the lecture portion of my Evolution class. Within that two-week time frame we tried celebrating Carnaval, went on a snorkeling trip, and tried my skills at surfing.

So after our plant class we were told that we would be having a four-day break, which included the weekend and Carnaval, which was Monday and Tuesday. Come Friday night everyone in the Evolution class received an email from our professor, which told us that we would be starting classes on Monday and that our classes would be for two hours twice daily. Double session classes for Carnaval….party! Regardless we had a great weekend; we went to a beautiful new beach with lots of marine iguanas to hang out with. Carnaval days were not fun, nor were the following class days. The best part of our Evolution class was the fact that our professor was one of the co-founders of the GAIAS program and so he was very knowledgeable. He was also able to organize an amazing Saturday field trip for the whole program.

Our field trip started out with a boat ride to Kicker Rock, one of the best diving spots in the world, known for the schools of hammerhead sharks. At this spot we were able to go snorkeling to look for some amazing water life. The sad part was that the visibility was terrible and we saw hardly anything. As soon as I had jumped into the water looked down and saw a 4 ft Galapagos shark about 1.5 meters below me, after that I saw algae and plankton. After kicker rock the boat took us to Punta Pitt, which is known for the presence of all three Boobie Species (Blue-footed, Nazca, and Red-footed). The coolest part was that Punta Pitt at the time was actually closed to the public but our professor was able to pull some educational strings to get us access. We preformed a wet landing and then went for a short hike around the area after the hike we went snorkeling at a nearby island called Isla Pitt. The visibility at this location was tenfold better and we were able to see plenty of fish and sea lions. From this location we proceeded to isla lobos where we were able to swim with lots of sea lions.

This past Saturday we went back to Puerto Chino beach and borrowed a surfboard from a friend. The waves we pretty small and we weren’t able to stand up on the board but it was fun to cruise around. We spent the whole day on the beach which involve the setting up of my hammock and a long siesta. After our mid day nap we tried some more surfing the played some Frisbee. 5:30 was the time we told the taxi to come and pick us up at so we went back to the road and waited an additional 45 minutes for our taxi to arrive. We wanted to pay him a little less (10 from 15) but he complained, saying his truck broke down and that he didn’t need to come back and fetch us. We paid him full, not because we believed him but because it is such a small town and we would probably be seeing him again.

I have one week to write an research article on storm petrels of the Galapagos islands and then I will be finished with my evolution class. Until then I suppose I should be quite busy. Love you all.

The Night Sky

Lately I have been gazing at the stars more than I have in the past. After many nights of just staring I decided to learn more constellations, so far I now know Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, and I'm working on Leo who only comes out later in the night when the stars are dimmer. its a very exciting hobby and I can now teach others about what I have found. Right now nothing can beat silence and a clear night.

Island Exploration

El Junco, Fresh Water Crater Lake of San Cristobal

Class is going well, with a total of three weeks time for class the workload can be a bit overwhelming. But the worst part about taking classes on an island is that sometimes it is hard to find the desire to do anything. This Thursday was the start of the Galapagos parties, which is a time where the community pulls together and has a great time together celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin with music and dancing. They start the week of festivities with an island clean up project where everyone goes out to the beaches and streets and cleans up all the litter that has accumulated. As a class we participated in this process and cleaned the beaches all Thursday morning.

Later Thursday afternoon our native and introduced plants class departed on an overnight trip to the island highlands and surrounding areas. One of our destinations on the first day was the only freshwater lake in the Galapagos island chain. This lake maintains its water level through the dry season by collecting condensation and mist water from the passing clouds. The views from the top of the island were amazing. Here we were able to see how big the island actually was, it was pretty large.

We stayed the night near the coast at a small campground where they fed us dinner and gave us a campfire. At the campfire we shared ghost stories and island tales. A few of us have experienced the island pirate ghosts, I have yet to have any encounter with a ghost but I’m sure it will happen seeing as how there are so many here on the island. After the fire we decided to go into the field and soak up the stars where we were able to see a lot more than we regularly could back in town.

After an uncomfortable sleep in our tents we went for a walk down to the Galapaguera and then the beach for lunch and swimming. The Galapaguera is where they protect and breed tortoises, they were large and old. While we were at the refuge it was feeding time so all the tortoises were eating their lunch. After the refuge we hiked our way down to the beach Puerto Chino where the sun was shinning and the sand was powdery and white. The water was very refreshing and the waves were perfect for body surfing. We stayed at the beach for two hours and ate lunch.

After our island exploration we returned to town where the Galapagos parties were in full swing with a music festival on the pier. We danced around for the night and woke up the next day for the next concert on the beach just outside the university doors. The parties will be continuing until Wednesday I believe the Carnival starts on Monday. This is our last week for this session of classes and after carnival we star our next class, which I believe is evolution. Now I must try and reject the beach for a few hours and get some work done. Love

Puerto Chino Beach, San Cristobal

Off and Away

I am burnt. Sun burnt that is. I am finally on the Galapagos Islands and I am loving it. Before I get into anything about the islands, I should wrap up my last days in Quito.

As soon as I returned from Riobamba I immediately tried to contact Molly and was able to be with her for the remainder of my time in Quito. For our Tropical Ecology Exam we all agreed to do a field practical where we would go out on a hike and attempt to describe and explain particular ecological processes. My topic of interest was highland vegitation and the adaptations utilized to withstand the various biotic and abiotic conditions. The hike itself was about 6 kilometers and started at the very to of a mountain, from the top we hiked down. By doing this we were able to observe the changing landscape with respect to the altitudinal gradient of vegetative zones. The temperature was rather cold and the air was moist with fog and clouds. During the hike we were able to see plenty of amazing plants along with some white tail deer. Overall it was a great experience with plenty of wonderful views, in addition to its beauty it was the best final exam I have taken.

So we left Quito early on Sunday morning and arrived on San Cristobal Island around noon. As soon as we arrived at the university campus we were set free to play in the ocean. The campus is across the street from the beach and is extremely accessible. I went swimming in the Pacific Ocean for the first time and the water was great. After a short swim, our host families came to pick us up. My family is extremely nice and provided me with a wonderful room to stay in. The house is set up like a motel where the only door I walk into is my bedroom. The house is located close to campus with some amazing views of the bay; I have no complaints so far. I have gone on a few hikes and have done some snorkeling; on each of these trips I have gotten some great photos of the wild life. We started our classes of Monday and our first module is Introduced and Native Plant Species of the Galapagos Islands. So far this class is great and our professor is very knowledgeable. I will post some more photos of the exam hike and the islands so far. Love you all.