Our aim was not only to enjoy the unique natural environment that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, but also to capture our experience the way Darwin did. That is, we would record our experiences, ‘specimens’, thoughts, connections and speculations – not using a pen and a red notebook, but Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.

Life is back to hectic again (what with school, work, social life etc.) but  lately I keep having little ‘memory bursts’ of how I spent those incredible two weeks. So, this is me finally getting round to doing a summary blog. Here goes:

Most surprising moment: how overwhelming some of our experiences were.

Animal sighting moment: It’s got to be the sea lions. I’ll always remember one tubster flailing around trying to get seaweed off of his back and then attempting to snuggle up to the others which, most of the time, rejected him.

Scariest animal sighting: tortoises of that size are a little bit intimidating when they come huffing up to you (or maybe I think that because I’m short). They weren’t really scary on the whole, they’re  too laid back.

Cutest moment: The sea lion pups

Striking plant life: There was a shrub with pink and orange (my favourite colours) flowers that I haven’t found the name of yet, and I fell in love with the passion pink Hibiscus.

Visually beautiful moment: Tortuga Bay: the most beautiful place on the planet.

Most frustrating moment: All of us being struck down with illness.

Quietest moment: Tortuga Bay lagoon

Most pleasant sound: People saying “Hola” to us in the street. Simple acts of friendliness made us feel welcome (or should that be Wellcome?)

Smelliest moment: Being elbow deep in rubbish at the recyling plant.

Tastiest moment: The fish dishes we had

Most relaxing: Being at the top of the mount in San Cristobal

Most grateful: for everyone that organised it for us, for our teachers believing we had a chance, for Eleri, Charlotte and Jess for providing me with many a-giggle and for the universe for creating such an amazing place.

Funniest moment: The last night when tiredness and ‘going home excitement’ got to us, and left us crying with laughter. Also, like Mr Alford said, watching ‘The Inbetweeners’ in a Galapagos hotel. Terrifically surreal.

Most heart-wrenching: Having to watch everyone suffer with illness. Walking round Santa Cruz knowing that I had to leave.

That was quite difficult to filter off so many memories. As my back garden frosts over (it’s going to reach six degrees on the weekend-time to bring the shorts back out!), it’s hard to block out memories of lying in hammocks, flip-flops being practical footwear and having to take my sunglasses rather than a scarf. I keep remembering explaining to the children at the school that -3 degrees wasn’t a rare occurence here and the shock on their faces as they comprehended such low temperatures. I wish we were still in contact so I could send them a forecast for this week!

2011 is going to have a lot to live up to…

P.S.I’m willing to admit defeat over the “no birds” thing. Maybe I just repel feathered beings.

PPS. Tonight I chatted for a few minutes to the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin – Dr Sarah Darwin (and, I found out, an ex-colleague of Karen’s at the NHM) who was giving a lecture at the National Museum in Cardiff (for Cesagen).  She has just returned from a year long trip in a tea clipper in the wake of Darwin’s Beagle voyage, accompanied by her family and all the personnel required to make a documentary series, The Future of Species, for Dutch TV. Sarah, a geneticist who has researched the evolution of the Galapagos tomato, showed a genuine interest in our trip and praised the achievement of Jess, Eleri, Becky and Charlotte.

After seeing such a different selection of flora and fauna it is easy to forget how wonderful our own native species are.  In response to Becky’s last post about the lack of birdlife on these islands, then I can only refer to “Field of Dreams” – there’s one for your Media Studies!

We might be lacking in reptiles on this island, but we make up for them with their relatives, the birds.

We learnt a lot about how the different shell shapes suited the diet available on the different islands and how their populations had been decimated by the earlier visitors to the islands who used them as a source of fresh meat on long boat voyages before refrigeration.  Apparently a large tortoise could survive in a ship’s hold for a year without food or water.  The same adaptation that had allowed their ancestors to survive the long journey on a raft of logs that brought them to the Galapagos led to their near extinction.  Not only were the tortoises and turtles of the islands a source of meat.  The fats that could be extracted from their bodies were used as lamp oil before the discovery of oil fields in the United States of America.

The name Galapagos comes from the Spanish for the saddle shape that the shells of the tortoises from the drier islands have to allow them to reach leaves from shrubs and trees.  We saw a wide range of shapes on the different islands, including the last remaining Galapagos tortoise from the island of Pinta, the world famous Lonesome George.  George had been removed from Pinta in 1971 and taken to Santa Cruz.  A reward of $10,000 was offered for a female from Pinta, but no females have ever been found.  Attempts to breed Lonesome George with related species have failed.  There have been numerous success stories with the populations of tortoises from other islands and we saw lots of young tortoises up to the age of 5.  Then they can be released into the wild; when their shells are hard enough to resist all predators, native – the Galapagos Hawk, and introduced predators like feral pigs and dogs.

It was great to see the symbol of the Islands now in good health, with populations increasing.  A sure sign that the projects and policies in place, as well as the management of the tourist industry are compatible with unique biodiversity of these special islands.

Our small boat was the ideal viewing point for numerous sea lions. Including one that was tossing a fish it had caught in the air, like a cat playing with a mouse. In swept a huge frigate bird in an attempt to grab the fish from the sea lion (unfortunately just before I had switched from the video camera to the still camera!). Anyway, I got one of my favourite shots of the trip of the receding frigate bird looking back over its shoulder and filling the photo.  The final footage of the frigate birds flying below us are actually from San Cristobal – near the statue of Charles Darwin.

We also saw a perched blue footed booby (at last, for me) and another galapagos penguin, staying out of the water to avoid getting its moulting plumage wet.

We moored on Los Tintoreras and saw yet more marine iguanas as well as many sea lions, young and old. We discovered that sea lion poo is very similar to dog poo, but paler and that on occasion marine iguanas have been seen eating it – yeuch, dropping points there guys – you might not be my favourite animal if I keep hearing of things like that!

Though when they do things like this they gain points…

The most amazing part was Shark Canal – when we were told about it I’d imagined riding in a boat up a passage and maybe hopefully seeing a dorsal fin or two piercing the water.  Instead we saw a narrow passage about 3m wide and about 20m long and only about 1m deep.  It was jam packed with white tipped sharks – most static, some lazily moving up and down the canal.  It certainly dispelled the myth that sharks will drown if they stay still.  An amazing sight, yet another one that we will never forget.

Julio then took us to a small lagoon – a short boat trip away (hopefully far enough away from the sharks!) to snorkel. Wonderfully clear water – the best yet. Lots of green sea urchins that we could see holding pieces of coral in their spines. The indigestible remains of the coral form most of the sand that makes up the beaches of the Galapagos. Lots and lots of fish, one of them was particularly in love with the camera and kept popping up in shot! There were several porcupine puffer fish, but none of them felt threatened enough to give us a display.

Great schools of fish and then out of the gloom came a turtle, got a great shot of it coming up for a breath of air. The second turtle in the clip below was missing part of its rear right hand flipper – what had happened to that? A tussle with a shark? Caught in a net? We were surprised at how little they used their rear flippers in the water. It didn’t seem to be a hindrance in the water, though if it was a female, maybe it would struggle to dig a nest for its eggs.

An absolutely amazing experience to snorkel in such high visibility with such a range of biodiversity on display.

Did some last minute shopping in the early afternoon, found a cool Tee shirt for my nephew Jacob!

Then it was off for a long walk the length of the beach. The waves were very disappointing today, no point hiring a board (sad face). I made a conscious decision not to take a camera and thoroughly enjoyed my 2 hour paddle through the shallows, listening to Last Broadcast on the way out and Some Cities on the way back. Got to love the Doves! Much as I have enjoyed photography on the Islands, it was good not to feel that you have to record everything you see. Sue had talked about safaris where cameras were not allowed, to make sure that you take time to fully enjoy the experience.

Then all too soon it was time to pack and check the weight of my case with Eleri’s scales – think I’ll get away with a few grams over, can’t bear to leave anything behind! A last Galapagos supper of shrimp curry – decided to go for kill or cure! Have just deleted 2 minutes worth of shaky footage on the video card ready for the views from our 5 seater plane that is taking us in 2 trips to Baltra tomorrow, and from there home eventually.

Our minds were full of stories to tell our friends and family when we arrived back home. But that had to be put on hold until our body clocks were back to their usual selves. The clocks going back didn’t help!

So, we’re going to take a leaf out of Mrs B’s book and create our own post of reflection. ^^

Most surprising moment: How beautiful Quito was. We love Quito!

Animal sighting moment: Galapagos Hawk

Scariest animal sighting: Huge paper wasps

Cutest moment: Javier <3  jokes.. All the children at the school

Striking plant life: Passionflowers

Visually beautiful moment: At the top of Sierra Negra volcano

Most frustrating moment: Not being able to skype and all of the plane delays we had

Quietest moment: Looking over the Chico volcano

Most pleasant sound: The Sound of Silence (The band which followed us)

Smelliest moment: Our Bathroom in Isabella

Tastiest moment: The Rock Restaurant, Santa Cruz and Pims, Quito

Most relaxing: Lazing by the pool in Santa Cruz

Most grateful: For the trip itself and kindness of all our guides, staff and of course the Wellcome Trust and Ignite Futures

Funniest moment: Lettuce.

Most heart-wrenching: Eleri being ill and nothing that we could do for her

Now don’t think us odd when you read this; Ecuadorian’s have the best aftershve. No joke.

Since us girls arrived home, it’s popped up in all of our conversatiions. We ourselves are not sure why. It’s just good. Fact.

Once again we would like to thank everyone involved with the trip and all the friends we made along the way! A special thanks to Amy Turner for putting up with our illness’s and Jess’s frequent gun shows which she can have tickets for anytime!

Please keep in touch!

Charlotte and Jess!

I’m home and back down on Earth, my mind being disconnected from my body  for the last 2 days. I’ve unpacked, filled the washing machine a few times, caught up with family (life-changing events have happened here too!), washed the lava dust from my walking socks, slept and regained my appetite. I’ve eaten the Marmite sandwich I craved for. I’ve hung the woven wall hanging of Galapagos animals bought as a souvenir.

The return journey was quite an adventure in itself – a rapid 2-hour plus speed boat ride between islands; three plane journeys; elevators, an underground train ride and power walking between terminals at Madrid; and finally a remarkably quick and easy minibus ride from Heathrow to home. We had a short stop in Guayaquil, long enough to be taken through the busy traffic to the modern riverfront development where we were able to grab a drink in a fast food outlet. What a contrast to Isabela – Julio, our guide, had told me that young people from the Galapagos migrating to the Equador mainland have problems adjusting and often move back – no wonder.  (In this city, when you park on the roadside, your car is lifted and pushed, nose to tail with the car in front. If the car in front is still there when you wish to leave, the cars ahead are pushed forward until you have room to manoeuvre out.)

So, some moments of reflection:

Most surprising: the very large numbers of marine iguana; finding plants on the slopes of the volcano which are weeds in my garden; how little sunscreen I needed to use; how few insects seen; a glossy-coated Welsh collie out with its owner on Isabela

Most memorable animal sighting (so many to choose from): blue-footed booby posing on a rock Tortuga Bay; large turtle slowly rising from the sea bed when snorkeling off Isabela; frigate bird stealing a fish from a sea lion; marine iguana feeding and swimming

Scariest animal sighting: very large spider on reception window at Hotel Sol Isabela

Most colourful animal sighting: vermilion flycatcher; flamingos

Cutest: baby sea lion suckling

Most striking plant life: tan and black bark of the large Opuntia cacti; the young spiky bracts of the fruit of the Galapagos passionflower; the very tall luxuriant ferns  on Isabela

Most visually beautiful: sunset on Isabela; sand, sea and sky at Tortuga Bay

Most frustrating: 1.00am when live South American music was still (after 3 hours)  blaring out from the hotel opposite on Santa Cruz

Quietist: on top of Sierra Negra (volcano on Isabela) when our guide asked us to sit in silence; 1.10am when the music stopped

Most pleasant sound: crashing of Pacific Ocean waves; spitting of a marine iguana; Eleri laughing

Most infuriating sound: Sound of Silence live on the pan pipes 3 nights running, whilst we were eating

Smelliest: waste from masses of marine iguana and a dead sea lion, Tortuga Bay

Dirtiest: descending the slopes of Sierra Negra covered in sweat and orange lava dust

Tastiest: drinking fresh fruit juices

Most relaxing: lying in a hammock underneath a coconut palm; sharing life with a young seal Concha de Perla

Most grateful: when Eleri, Jess, Charlotte and Backy adopted a ‘get up and go’ spirit allowing me to play a bit part as the large black rubber bottom in the snorkelling movie

Most heart-wrenching: young girl with baby begging in Quito

Most regretful: not swimming with the sea lions

I must record my heartfelt thanks to my travel companions and all others in the UK and the Galapagos involved in providing this trip of a lifetime and to my husband for putting up with my stresses before leaving. Without the hard work of Jess, Charlotte, Becky and Eleri and the support of Nick, there would have been no trip for St Cyres. The girls are a great credit to their parents and the school. Amy T (Ignite futures) led the trip so expertly. Amy S developed the idea of Survival Rivals and the competition at the Wellcome Trust and Karen proposed Galapagos Live. I have been so very fortunate, have learnt much, filled my head with vivid images and lived the dream.

Unfortunately the local primary school were having their English exam today so couldn’t take us to the tortoise breeding centre.  We did call into their school on our way though to say hello.  The 6 year old students and their teacher were very welcoming, singing us songs and making us feel at home.  The girls had brought some Welsh cuddly toys and the Amys had brought books and colouring pens, which were appreciated.

We then walked along the road and came across the most amazing road sign I have ever seen:

Sure enough there were marine iguanas waiting to cross the road!  Amazingly they have had time to evolve some road sense.  I’m not saying that they looked left and right before crossing or that there was an older one with a lollipop to help the young ones cross!  But when a vehicle did come along they ran away from the road or sped up if already crossing.  I had just switched off the video camera when a dog ran past on the road.  Luckily I managed to get it back on again as they raced back towards the bushes for cover.  Its got to be one of my favourite bits of video footage of the whole trip.  Unfortunately introduced animals are the main predators of marine iguanas, but at least this shows that the native fauna are evolving to be scared of them.

We then walked along a raised platform through the undergrowth and inland lagoons, seeing more marine iguanas, a nest of yellow paper wasps (Charlotte’s favourite), beautiful passion flowers and fruits as well as some Galapagos mocking birds – the species that first gave Charles Darwin the idea that species could change when he noticed that they were different from the mainland mocking birds that he had seen. Karen has worked on extracting the DNA from some of Darwin’s original mocking bird specimens at the Natural History Museum with a view to helping their reintroduction onto Floreana where they are no longer found – possibly due to a major fire on the island.

We reached the tortoise breeding station and it was Amy S, Sue and my turn to don the tortoise shell and give our best impressions.  Trying to get the beak right I found it best to imagine Mr Burns from the Simpsons.  One of the station staff gave me a leaf to munch on to complete the picture.

We saw lots of cute tortoises just about ready for release into the wild, their shells at 5 years old being tough enough to resist predators, both native (Galapagos hawks) and introduced (dogs, cats, rats, pigs, ants). We saw adults of 3 of the main types – domed, intermediate and flat. The flat ones were new to us and they looked very strange – one large male almost looked like he had been stretched like a limousine.

In the nursery we saw preserved specimens showing the stages of development within the eggs alongside an egg and a hatchling. Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny in action.

We then found more flamingoes and worked out that we had seen in one day about 5% of the entire population of the Galapagos flamingoes in 20+ birds. Walked back to the hotel for lunch, stopping at the marine iguana point to drop down onto the beach to watch them feeding on the seaweed on the rocks – amazing.

After lunch the new bacterial flora claimed 3 more victims, who had to miss out on the visit to the wall of tears. This was built as a punishment to the prisoners on the penal colony that existed on the island in the 1940s. Our guide Julio told us of the hardships that the prisoners had suffered. Apparently there is one ex prisoner and 2 ex policemen from the colony still living on the island. We also learnt about how the American forces that occupied Baltra during World War II (it is a strategic point in the South Pacific) had taken out their boredom on iguanas and even whales during target practice – war really is hell. We also discussed the price of entry for foreigners ($100) into the National Park and discussed whether this helped the islands’ tourism achieve sustainability.

We then trekked back into town, discussing our pets, sweets and biscuits! We stopped on a bridge to photograph some Sally Light Foot Crabs and nearly didn’t notice the large male marine iguana swimming underwater to feed on the seaweed beneath us. Julio then took us down onto the beach to see more basking (and sneezing marine iguanas) as well as the remains of the carcass of a pilot whale – one of a pod that had beached themselves over a decade ago. Why do they do this? Julio said that they had managed to get some back into the water, but they just kept beaching themselves.

We saw some more lava tubes, like we had seen on Santa Cruz and then walked along to the love beach – a favourite spot for marine iguanas to find some romance. Lonesome Finch then picked us up and drove us back along the beach to the hotel. Stopping along the way to watch some surfers catch some beautifully clean waves of a size that I could cope with – will have a go tomorrow afternoon if there is time. We also saw some Oystercatchers – very similar to the UK species, but slightly larger with a fatter beak – they were the American species.

Then it was time for a quick sunbathe on the beach – 20 metres from my room before a dinner of pizza and then an early night to write this and get ready for our final outing a trip to a small local island – the Galapagos in miniature apparently.

Early evening view through my bedroom window

Daylight view through my bedroom window

Sol Isabela

Our base on Isabela was Puerto Villamil, where most of the approxiamtely 3,000 isalnd population live. The low, frequently unfinished, buildings extend from the beach to the larva fields.

This town is so much quieter, more laid back and like a step back in time when compared with Puerto Ayora. There are few vehicles, the main form of transport for the inhabitants being by foot, bicycle and scooter. The sandy roads are wide bordered by high pavements. There are few obvious shops but many places to eat. Large satellite dishes are evident and there is a couple of Internet cafes but little or no connection at our hotels. Children are able to wander around and play on the beach unaccompanied with no fear for their safety. However they are subjected to some stress – we were introduced to a class of 6-7 year-old pupils clutching pencils in a small primary school who were taking an official state exam. Football, volleyball and surfing seem to be the main outdoor sports.

Slabs of hardened lava on the edge of town

The centre of town

Communication technology town centre

Many buildings had murals

Nick has described our walk up the slopes of the volcano. My particular memories, besides the heat and the red dust, include standing on the rim of the crater and shouting out my name to have it thrown back at me from the other side. Whilst eating my lunch under a large soapberry tree, I was accompanied by a yellow warbler (we saw these birds everywhere, hitching a ride on a tortoise, at Guayaquil Airport and on the beach) as I chatted to Julio, our guide, about life on the island for young people. (It is usual for the women to have started families by the age of 20 and have 3 or 4 children by 30.) Julio was born in the Amazon jungle and visits his father, who still lives there, once a year. Such a different life from my own.

Across the crater

Sleeping flamingoes

The flamingoes in the brackish lagoons on the outskirts of the town provided splashes of colour against the grey-white dried beds. Julio told us that the pinkness of the birds varies during the year. Interestingly since we have returned some research has been published about female flamingos ‘putting on make-up’ to attract suitable males.

Young tortoises are covered at night to protect against predators including dogs

Embryology of a giant tortoise

We hadn't seen a tortoise this shape before!

We visited the tortoise-breeding centre where it would seem that the future of giant tortoises is in good hands – there were certainly very many animals of differing ages and examples of the different (sub-)species found on Isabela, identifiable by the shape of their shells. We were shown a month-old tortoise, so tiny in comparison with the unusual flat saddle-backed specimen.

At the end of a wooden boardwalk through a mass of aerial roots of mangroves I found a young sea lion playing, hauling itself out of the water on to a platform and then slipping off again. This was a truly peaceful spot (called Concha de Perla) where I was able to sit and share some minutes with this animal and a small flock of finches. In the near distance an adult sea lion was catching and playing with fish and a frigate bird was flying back and forth. ‘At one with nature’.

Nick’s great video saves me describing what we saw whilst snorkelling off Las Tintoreras, a lava rocky reef a few minutes boat ride from Isabela. I don’t believe I have seen so many different species of animals in their natural habitat in the space of 20 minutes – and in addition to the crabs, iguanas, larva lizards and sea lions, there was a lone Galapagos penguin, a preening blue-footed booby and a channel packed with white tipped reef sharks!

Marine iguana, Galapagos penguin, sally lightfoot crabs and a blue-footed booby in one shot!

Lava lizards feed from the dead skin of iguanas

A few of the sharks we were able to look down on

Las Tintoreras landscape

There were a couple of interesting ‘dead finds’ on the sand.

Dead fish with fish louse on tail fin

Unidentified - found 4 of these soft bodied creatures about 15 cm long -any ideas?

Thanks to Julio, we had a most interesting stay – a unique experience.

We ascended up through the zones of vegetation, getting more dense and verdant as we moved up into the clouds. Julio told us to look out for a red bird and within minutes Amy S had spotted a Vermillion Flycatcher. An absolutely beautiful small, bright red bird with a black Zorro like mask that is unfortunately getting to be rare in the Galapagos. Julio said that some twitchers (enthusiastic bird watchers) often spend hours trekking through this zone and often fail to see one. Within 2 minutes we saw another, this time with his mate (much less brightly coloured). I find it amazing that in most bird species it is the male that invests so much in personal decoration, whereas in humans…

We arrived at the end of the road and it was time to walk. We checked our packs for the 1.5 litres of water that we would sweat off and set off. The volcanic rock, though very fertile forms a very fine dusty soil when subjected to the forces of erosion by human feet and horses’ hooves. We were soon covered with a fine layer of brown dust that also stuck to the inside of our throats.

Fairly soon we were out of the cloud layer and the temperature began to rise. Within an hour we reached the rim of the caldera (the second largest on the planet – 10km diameter). It was like a lunar landscape – the flat top within the crater was formed when the molten lava solidified. It was impossible not to imagine what it must have looked like when it was molten and bubbling away during the last eruption. The crust was about 100m below us with very little vegetation yet growing on it.

After trekking another kilometre or so we stopped at a viewing point where the cliff was particularly vertical and were lucky enough to see a pair of Galapagos Hawks circling on the thermals above the crust, but below us. One of the pair came in to land about 15m beyond us and a little bit lower – with its head just visible.

We then saw that a pair of juveniles were circling on the thermals below us. They were incredibly difficult to film and photograph due to the heat haze and their feathers matching the colours of the lava beneath them. We managed a few shots and a precious few seconds of video footage as they flew into what must have been their nest site near us. I am looking forward to playing the footage back in slow motion to really appreciate these magnificent raptors (now slowed down at the end of the video below). It was a great sign to see that they had successfully bred this season. Julio said that it was the first time that he had seen juvenile hawks in the wild.

We saw many plants such as the endemic Darwin’s Daisy, as well as the invasive Guava that is proving a problem, pushing out native species, despite being a favourite food of the tortoises.

Darwin's Daisy

Guava fruit

We moved further round the caldera and then dropped down to visit Volcan Chico – a “parasitic” volcano formed from a later, minor eruption of Sierra Negra – the crust formed within the caldera was too thick for the molten lava to penetrate so secondary, or parasitic craters formed on the slopes of Sierra Negra. The lava flows were immense and stretched from the summit to the ocean in the distance. Julio suggested we sit for 5 minutes in silence to contemplate our surroundings and life in general. It was wonderful looking out on a landscape and seeing no evidence of human habitation as far as the eye could see – food for thought.

A long, hot and dusty trek back, with lunch underneath a tree surrounded by very tame finches, one of which perched on my elbow for an instant. We were very glad to see Lonesome Pinzon and his van to take us to a shower and evening meal. Just time before dinner and sunset to film some of the flamingoes we had seen yesterday:

The only bird that articulates its upper beak, rather than the lower one, to comb out the tiny invertebrates that they feed on and also gain their wonderful colour from.

Another wonderful day in the Galapagos Islands, another early night due to exhaustion!

Colours at Tortuga Bay

Whimbrel

Lava heron Tortuga Bay

Lava gull

Sights on my return journey however lifted my spirits – marine iguanas striding out across the wet sand, front leg and diagonally opposite hind leg forward, then the other front and hind leg, head held aloft, dragging their long tail behind them (they leave a very obvious trail); marine iguanas entering the water from a rocky ledge and swimming half-submerged across a large shallow pool to the shore; a lone iguana entering the sea from the sand and surfing the waves.

There were several small fish of various species, some striped and others black with yellow fins, and pencil-spined sea urchins in the pool. At last I was able to use the plastic underwater camera I had brought with me, although I can’t believe that it takes real pictures! (I’ll have to wait to find out because there is still a lot more film to shoot – perhaps in the colder waters of west Wales).

Contemplating the surf

Surfing iguana

I splashed my way back through the shallows along the bay to the long (about 2 km) paved path which is the only route to and from the bay, through the arid region, tall prickly pear cacti extending upwards on either side. Finches and mocking birds darted in and out of the vegetation. As I returned briskly (I was in danger of being late) many local people were making their way in the opposite direction with surf boards, snorkelling equipment, lunch. How fortunate they are to be able to spend their Sundays on such a beautiful beach.

Not the Great Wall but the path to/from Tortuga Bay

Medium (?) ground finch along the path

Hotel Laguna entrance by yellow post box

Last walk in Puerto Ayora

I reached the Hotel Laguna as our luggage was being collected to be taken to the port whilst we ate lunch at the Isla Grill. We walked back along the main road towards the quay for the last time, past the small souvenir shops, the large colourful conservation posters, the communal volley ball area and the giant statue of a sea bird. We queued at a wooden shed to have our bags inspected to check that we were not removing animal or plant material, living or dead, from the island. We then joined other passengers to have a very bumpy fast boat ride (the boat was on a significant slant for much of it) to the island of Isabela where we were to spend the final 4 nights of our trip.

Souvenir shop Puerto Ayora

Conservation posters Puerto Ayora

Sea bird on the quayside Puerto Ayora

Waiting to have our bags checked before leaving Puerto Ayora

Speeding away from Santa Cruz

Still, I must admit I’m glad to be back home. Don’t get me wrong, I would go back to Santa Cruz faster than you can say ‘origin of species’ but I still get a little bit excited everytime I look at the trees starting to change colour. One thing I have noticed about Britain though is that so far I have been staring out of my window for twenty minutes and have not seen one bird. Not even a blackbird. It shows me how isolated from nature we’ve become in Britain, how we’ve distanced ourselves from it. In Galapagos, people need to step over a sea lion to get to their boat. Back here we run screaming if there’s a spider in the bath. If I was still in Galapagos, I would be tripping over finches by now (no harm intended).

We all expected Isabella to be more developed than Santa Cruz, so we were surprised to find that the population of the ‘town’ is only 2,ooo people (nearly a fifth of the population of my home village). Walking around the main area doesn’t take more than an afternoon. It was difficult to adjust to the quieter and slower pace where the only constant sound was the waves crashing against the shore. We did have a few highlights though. Seeing an unusually high number of flamingoes  in one lagoon made us feel privelleged. For the ‘Fact Fans’, there are roughly 435 (correct me if I’m wrong) flamingoes left and we saw around 14 in two days. According to our guide, this is very rare.

Another highlight was climbing the Sierra Negra volcano. Walking up the side of the volcano in the cool, misty morning was exciting as we clambered through different layers of plant life and we all felt a massive sense of achievement when we reached the top. To top it off, we saw not only one but four Galapagos hawks, a species that is said to be close to extinction. We saw two babies included in the total number, which gave us slight hope that maybe they’ll continue for longer than anticipated. Again, our guide said we were very lucky. However, the way back down was not as fun. The sun was directly above us (being on the equator and all) and temperatures reached around 30-35 degrees C. We no longer strode, we trudged. I think it was possibly the most physically challenging thing I’ve done, purely because of the heat. By the end, we didn’t even have the strength to talk to each other because it might take away some of the little energy we had left to plod along. That morning, and this will come as a shock to anyone who knows me well, I was wearing a light beige outfit. When I reached the hotel that afternoon, I was orangey-brown. Not just my clothes but my hair, face, skin, everything. Charlotte started the day with black walking boots; they are now orangey-brown as well.

Sadly, illness from various members of the group, myself included, impeded the last few days on the island. Thankfully, the warriors among us managed to make it out for our final day trip to Tintoreras Bay. Definitely survival of the fittest. It cheered us all up when we saw sea lions playing next to our boat. We were also completely surprised to find the shark canal. I expected it to be a large river with possibly one sharking lurking around. Instead, it was a tiny stream with dozens of white-tipped reef sharks swimming back and forth. Amazing!

It was good to end the week on a high, after so many lows, seeing as we faced the prospect of four plane journeys over the next few days.

Well, four turned into three as the little five-seater plane we were meant to take from Isabella to Baltra broke down before we were due to travel. Thankfully, before not during. Cue a two-and-a-half hour impromptu speed boat journey. As I’ve found out this on this trip, I don’t travel well but that jumpy, jerky, borderline dangerous speed boat journey was probably the best one. Me and Jess had to sit on the floor on a cushion to make the back of the boat lighter which felt quite surreal. The only way we got through it was to laugh.  After many giggles and bruises caused by being tossed around, we reached Baltra airport. Run through check in and off we set. Bye bye, Galapagos.

Eventually, around 30 hours and four different time zones later, we reached Britain. Much rejoicing and excitement as we got the mini bus home, all eager to see our families so we could start the story telling and a shower was desperately needed after nearly three days without one.

Washed, fed and exhausted, the jet lag set in. This is what I had to come home to:

Thanks Family

Now, as it drizzles outside and Sunday dinner bubbles away inside, it’s hard not to think about ‘this time last week’. Galapagos is the most interesting, amazing, outstanding, beautiful place in the world and nothing will ever compare to some of the experiences I have seen this past fortnight. Even though I’ve been in a sleepy/alert/sleepy/alert cycle for the past few days and am still not completely sure what time I should go by, I wouldn’t change it.

But I still haven’t seen a bird.

Dedicated to Eleri, who’s strength of character got her out and about that day to see the sharks.

Last morning on Santa Cruz a little sad.  We were just getting used to the layout of the town, the pace of life, the people in the shops and restaurants, the marine iguanas, the special Tortuga bay, the wonderful breakfasts of chocolate Scotch pancakes and cheese, followed by fruit, with wonderful Ecuadorian coffee and fresh juices – sounds weird, but do try it if you get the chance.

Spent the morning buying a few last minute presents – very few shops on Isabella, and walking around the town.  In particular went to the CDRS again as well as the fish market where we saw a bill fish – it looked totally out of this world, almost cartoon like. Just 100 yards down the road I came across a poster urging fishermen to throw bill fish back if they caught one. I do eat fish (mainly when eating out) but don’t think I could eat a bill fish steak, not having seen this magnificent beast.

We checked out of the hotel and I managed to spend 20 minutes on a sun lounger by the pool listening to the Doves.  So year 11 – that was my holiday bit of the trip – you can’t begrudge me 20 minutes!

Then it was lunch and down to the harbour.  Our cases were checked to make sure that we weren’t smuggling wildlife or moving fruits, or anything else with seeds etc that could contain invasive species.  Then we were packed onto a speedboat and set off for Isabella.  A bumpy ride, but saw 4 dolphins as we were pulling out of Puerto Ayora harbour – a fitting send off from Santa Cruz.

Arrived at the lovely natural harbour on Isabella.  We were wondering as we went through passport control what the policeman was doing bouncing a ball when there was a dog tied up getting really excited about it.  It was a sniffer dog – trained to look (not the correct verb – sniff, smell?) for smuggled wildlife etc.  Anyway, we had nothing to hide.

Short drive to our hotel.  Right on the beach, I can hear the waves crashing as I am writing this.  Palm trees with hammocks – a wonderful setting.

Our guide, Julio, took us on a quick tour of the town (village really) – a square with restaurants and thats about it.  Finished with the soda lake with flamingos – absolutely beautiful.

Trekking up to the 2nd largest caldera in the world tomorrow.  Sturdy shoes, 1.5 litres of water, sunblock, sunglasses, long sleeves needed.  Apparently it should reach 35 degrees C when we reach the summit.  The view should be amazing…

“The delight one experiences in such times bewilders the mind, — if the eye attempts to follow the flight of a gaudy butter-fly, it is arrested by some strange tree or fruit; if watching an insect one forgets it in the stranger flower it is crawling over, — if turning to admire the splendour of the scenery, the individual character of the foreground fixes the attention. The mind is a chaos of delight, out of which a world of future & more quiet pleasure will arise.”

I’ve had this experience several times already here in Galapagos – notably on our first landing on Floreana, when, just off the boat, marine iguanas vied against sea lions and crabs for our immediate attention. I didn’t know where to point my lens, and I’m pretty sure I was grinning like an idiot.

I thought of the passage again yesterday, but in a very different environment: 20 metres underwater on an edge of lava just off Mosquero, a small island just north of Baltra.

While the rest of our group were doing their part for the islands’ delicate environment by volunteering at the recycling center, Amy and I fulfilled a dream by going scuba diving. These islands are so famous for their diversity of plants and animals on land, but the marine environment here boasts even more abundant and unique life forms. It’s just that most people never see it.

We weren’t sure we’d get to see it either. Galapagos is known for its strong currents and cold water, and we’d heard that most dives here are only suitable for advanced divers. Though Amy and I are both PADI Open Water certified, neither of us had more than 15 dives under our belt; we’re both still novices. Fortunately we found a dive shop willing to take us (and three other newbies who’d signed up) to Mosquero and Seymour North, one of the few dive sites they said were suitable for novice/intermediate divers.

On the morning of the dive, we arrived at the shop at 7:20am, picked up our gear in town and drove off back north towards the ferry crossing to Baltra where we boarded the dive boat. I’d taken my seasickness tablet as indicated, 30-60 minutes before the boat ride, and was feeling confident, having had  good experience in choppy water in California earlier this summer.

We arrived at the first dive site – Mosquera – in about 45 minutes and after a briefing we got in the water and descended to 20 meters. We gently made our way along a lava edge, where we saw (among other things, of course) small sting rays, chocolate chip sea stars, garden eels and – most impressively – enormous shoals of all sizes and colors of fish congregating around the edge. I was impressed by the liquid mirages we passed through when moving from warm to cold water or vice versa; the reason Galapagos hosts such abundant and diverse sea life is the mixing of warm and cold currents, the latter bringing up nutrient-rich material from the deep.

Just as we were ascended, a group of Galapagos sea lions arrived and put our clumsy underwater swimming to shame with their expert twists and spins, coming close enough for a short staring match before darting away again. At the surface, just as we were getting ready to kick back to the boat, I felt my right fin slip off my foot. My immediate reaction wasn’t to wonder how I would get to the boat, it was, ‘Oh no! I’m polluting Galapagos with plastic!’ As I looked around for the fin, I saw that one of the sea lions had it in its mouth and was playing with it. I motioned to it, like you might motion to a dog to drop a Frisbee, and immediately realized how silly that was. In the meantime, a far more sensible member of our group nearer to the sea lion reached over and gently took back the fin.

As we swam back through choppy water and climbed aboard the boat, I started to notice something was wrong. I felt off-balance and my stomach was uneasy. I hoped it was just short-lived disorientation from the shift from water to boat, but as I started to shed my gear, it hit home: I was seasick and it was escalating fast.

I fixed my eyes on a small hill on Mosquera and concentrated hard. Looking away – even just thinking away – from the horizon for even a moment brought me perilously close to being sick. Amy asked me if I wanted water, and I just shook my head, not looking at her or even trying to form words for fear of losing my visual anchor. The effort of it started to make me shake all over, or maybe I was cold – I don’t know. I couldn’t even bring myself to form the words needed to explain to Amy where my seasickness tablets were in my bag. This went on for what seemed like an eternity but was probably closer to 30 minutes, and only abated when the engines came on and we started to regain a forward motion through the water. The driver mercifully took the boat to a calmer bit of water for our hour-long surface interval. This helped immensely and I was able to drink some water, take a second tablet (I probably should have taken two to start with) and nibble on an apple.

The hour was over too fast and it was decision time: would I try the second dive? My stomach wasn’t really settled – I was still watching the horizon as much as possible, and found that too much moving or talking started to set me off again. We were headed back into the choppy water – this time off Seymour North – and everyone was getting their gear on. In the end I listened to our guide who told me that the best way to get rid of my seasickness was to get back underwater.

So I donned my gear and after pushing aside a second thought as a wave of nausea moved over me, I dropped into the water. Our guide was right, as soon as I had descended a few meters, my seasickness went away completely and I was enjoying the sights and sounds of underwater life again.

On this dive Amy and I both struggled a bit to keep up with the group, who, it seemed to us, were swimming rather too fast against the current. The water was murkier this time and I couldn’t see our guide ahead so I just concentrated on staying with Amy. The downside of this is that the more you’re putting into swimming and not getting left behind, the less you’re paying attention to what’s around you. That’s why I’m pretty sure I was the last to notice the 20+ manta rays overhead. They were swimming – though from our vantage point it looked like flying – in a bird-like formation, dark blue silhouettes against a light blue-green background.

Before ascending, we paused at a small cave with some sleepy white-tipped sharks. On the way up, I started to worry about the choppy water I knew was waiting for me at the surface. As our heads came up and we looked around for the boat, I could feel the seasickness coming on again. We saw a boat a short distance away but it wasn’t ours. When we did spot our boat, we saw them signaling for us to swim over, but with the water so choppy and me feeling less than energetic, we waved for them to come pick us up. It was a good thing too because as I started kicking, my fin came off again – this time no sea lions in sight. I grabbed it and started kicking feebly with my one fin. I’m sure I was a pretty miserable looking figure. We got on the boat as quickly as possible as there were rocks nearby, and this time as they helped me out of my gear, though I was feeling uneasy as well as emotionally and physically tired, the second seasickness tablet kept me reasonably steady, though I admit I was glad when we picked up the others and started heading back along Baltra for the ferry landing on Santa Cruz.

On the way back, we made a stop in calm water for lunch, though all I could do was poke at it and eat a few small bites. Nevertheless I felt so much better, and as we were sitting up near the bow in the sun I started getting a sort of post-seasickness euphoria: I was just so happy to feel well again, and here we were in Galapagos! …on a boat! …in the sun! …and we’d seen sea lions and manta rays! It was almost worth the seasickness to feel so good… almost.

Note: Don’t miss Amy’s post recounting the day from her point of view.

For now, I urge you to read the posts below and watch Nick´s underwater video footage of swimming with sea lions and turtles on San Cristobal – it was an amazing day for all of us as I´m sure you´ll see.

When we next have some internet access (which might be back in the UK according to reports about Isabela’s connectivity) I will upload photos and my videos from underwater. I think it was an amazing ‘high’ to leave Santa Cruz on, and we are looking forward to what Isabela has in store! hopefully we can continue to blog from there, but if not, there will certainly be more to follow on our return to the UK.

And I think I could definately join a sealion’s harem – lazing in the sun with the occasional banter with the odd (in every sense of the word!) swimmer sounds right up my street!

After travelling for two hours by speedboat, we reached San Cristobal island. After a talk on the importance of conservation in the Galapagos and an informative wander round an exhibit detailing parts of the islands history (I found out that the Galapagos islands were the place they sent convicts from America at the early turn of the century) and environmental statistics, we what can only be described as ‘trekked’ up a mount in the midday heat but it was worth it when we reached the top.

We saw the huge statue of Charles Darwin, surrounded by a tortoise and a sea lion. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t made out of tone but out of some hollow material but I understood when realising the amount of steps and the incline we had walked up. 

If I couldn’t sit on a real giant tortoise, I made sure I sat on a model one!

On the way to lunch we walked past the harbour. It was brilliant watching the sea lions in their natural habitat, lazing on the beach in the sun. However, all of the recent talks about human impact on the Galapagos hit home when, on one side sea lions were lying on a golden beach and splashng in the birght bue ocean, but on the other side they were sunbathing next to rubble and concrete blocks used to make the next building encroaching on the habitat.

After lunch we walked to a beach called ‘Sea Lion Refuge’. Now, sea lions are one of my favourite animals so I thought it was amazing to be able to see them in the water and on beaches.

It was extradordinary to be able to sit less than two metres away from them and copy their lazy, sun worshipping ways! There were about forty, fifty, possibly sixty sea lions all huddled together with at least three babies. Looking to the future, I was quite pleased to see quite a few babies because it means that, hopefully, the population is far from declining. Hearing the barks of them playing in the sea, the baby suckling and the slaps of running flippers, I was actually speechless.

Now, time to pack for Isabella….

In a little over 2 hours we pulled into the bay where Charles Darwin first set foot on the Galapagos Islands.  The spot is marked by a statue.  Overhead, frigate birds flew in lazy circles above us.  They nest above the bay in their breeding season.

It was our hottest day on the islands, we disembarked in the harbour and had to avoid tripping over the sea lions.  It seems that the sea lions have chosen San Cristobal, just as the marine iguanas have chosen Floreana to set up home.  We walked to the interpretation centre where we had a talk on the history and conservation of the islands, followed by a look through the exhibition where we saw more of the history. We were all amazed at the amount of development shown by some aerial photos of the islands.

We then walked to view the statue. Like everywhere in the National Park, tourists are only allowed to walk on the paths to prevent damaging the habitat. It reminded me of the Ray Bradbury short story I read at primary school, A Sound of Thunder, in which a hunter travels back in time to shoot a dinosaur. The hunter is only allowed to shoot a Tyrannosaurus rex that is about to die of natural causes. In the panic of the hunt he steps off the path and kills an insect (I think – it was a long time ago!)  Upon his return to the present time the hunter notices that things have subtly changed. I wonder if a modern day tourist stepped off the path and trod on, say a tortoise’s nest, it would affect the future of evolutionary progress. I love the idea of contingency!  What will happen to the tortoises released onto Pinta Island – will they evolve similar body plans to Lonesome George?  Or will conditions have changed to suit a different shaped shell?  Or even if the conditions were exactly the same, would something different happen every time we replayed evolution?  Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Galapagos is also a great exploration of the idea of contingency. Stephen Jay Gould explores the idea more fully in Wonderful Life – The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History.

After a hot trek back into town, we had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the harbour, listening to the honking of the sea lions. Then it was into a taxi and off to the beach. Again some incredible waves. The Galapagos is sure to take off as a world class surfing destination. The path was criss-crossed with lines left by the tails of marine iguanas as they moved from their basking area to the sea to feed on algae. We came to a small reef that the huge waves were breaking against that formed a small lagoon of more sheltered water. On the beach of the lagoon were perhaps 50 sea lions – females and juveniles. In the water was the dominant male, protecting his harem by swimming up and down, honking and occasionally getting out of the water and shaking his head about. He looked impressive with his swollen head – much larger than the females.

The real stars of the show were the young.  On a cuteness scale of 1-10, I reckoned a 15, Charlotte thought much higher!  They were all wrinkled with puppy fat, their eyes were adorable and when they scratched themselves with their flippers…

For lots more pictures have a look at the Flickr set.

Then it was time to get into the water.  Javier showed us the best place to get into the water so that we didn’t disturb the dominant male. The water was quite murky due to all of the sand and seaweed in suspension due to the size of the waves, bringing visibility down to about 3-4 metres. However the animals must have been told that so they made sure they got exceptionally close. Within a minute of getting in the water I found myself practically on top of a large turtle less than 5 metres from the shore. The water was incredibly shallow and I had to avoid bumping in to it. I managed to follow and film the turtle for two and a half minutes – an incredible experience – its flippers moved so gracefully. At one point we made eye contact – awesome!

Then there were the sea lions. They loomed out of the gloom towards us. Once they saw that we had noticed them they charged towards us, blowing bubbles through their nostrils, only veering away at the last moment. It took some getting used to! I don’t think any of us will forget that experience. As time went on the sea lions got even more confident. Coming at me with open mouths and making honking sounds underwater – can just be heard in the latter parts of the video. One then tried to grab one of my fins in its mouth!! It was amazing to see these acrobats of the water, pulling somersaults, changing direction in an instant and most of all having fun! We are definitely not the only species capable of doing that. They reminded us of playful puppies.

I was the first out of the water and was described as, “The most animated we have ever seen you,” by Becky!  I will certainly never forget my time on San Cristobal. Amy Turner was escorted out of the water by the dominant male – he must have seen her as a threat, or maybe a potential addition to his harem!

We caught a catamaran back to Santa Cruz – a slower ride, but made worthwhile when we were buzzed by a pod of dolphins leaping out of the water.  The icing on a wonderful cake! The icing was then decorated with a beautiful sunset.

Thank you San Cristobal – we shall never forget you!

We’ve had a busy couple of days!

On Wednesday we visited a local school and joined in with some of their lessons. It was very interesting to see how their school life seemed a lot more relaxed than ours. We met some amazing people! In the afternoon some of the students took us to a tortoise reserve they were involved in, where people from the Charles Darwin Research Station told us about what they’re doing to monitor the islands.

On Thursday we visited the recycling centre where we leant a hand. We took tops off bottles, put paper in bags (which required getting into the wheelie bin) and worked on the conveyer belt sorting out the different recyclables. The people working there were very funny especially when some odd items came along. In the afternoon we went to Tortuga Bay which was a 2km walk but it was worth it. The waves were huge! There was over a hundred iguanas all crammed in to one place. There was also a blue footed booby about a metre away from us.

On Friday we went to the Charles Darwin Research Centre and learnt some interesting things about how humans impacting the islands by introducing new species and how the population has dramatically increased over the past 20 years. We also met Lonesome George the last surviving tortoise from the island of Pinta. He seemed happy considering.

Today we went to San Cristobal and visited the interpretation centre and went along a new trail to a statue of Charles Darwin at his first landing site on the islands. We all had our photo taken with him. After lunch we snorkelling and sea lions were swimming right up to our faces and doing flips in front of us. I was a bit scared at first but got used to their playful nature. A sea turtle swam right past me and underneath me. It was an incredible afternoon. On the boat back some dolphins passed by the boat.
Off the Isabela tomorrow.

Thanks to everybody who has helped us on Santa Cruz!!! People who have given us interesting talks, been our tour guides (Franklin and Javier), the staff at the hotel Villa laguna and the many drivers of cars and captains of boats.

Buenos Noches

Eleri

The pelicans in particular seemed to have no concept of the size of their beaks compared to the size of the pieces of fish, and would try to eat pieces that were several times larger than their heads.  It reminded me of the rhyme that my grandfather taught me: “Oh what a bird is the pelican, his beak can hold more than his belly can”. One of the pelicans was allowed to break the no feeding rule as it had a broken beak and was unable to feed itself in the ocean.

On arrival at the Station, Ros from the Charles Darwin Foundation gave us an informative talk about how the Foundation works with the local people to educate them in conservation and changes Governmental policy to preserve this unique habitat. One of the key themes is, “If we are still doing it, its not right yet”.  Their mission is to hand over to local government and businesses their projects as soon as possible. For example, they are trying to encourage local people to plant native Galapagos species in their gardens to reduce the threat of invasive non native species. They have started a nursery to sell native plants and are now looking for a local entrepreneur or business to take over this role.

We also saw the entomology lab where insect invaders were studied and a threat analysis done. They have had a great success in using ladybirds to control a scale insect that was threatening the local mangrove trees with extinction. We also learnt about how they were changing practices on the many cruise ships that tour the Galapagos: by changing the colours of the bulbs on ships they were attracting less insects. Also by switching the external lights off before sailing to a different island they had managed to reduce the accidental transfer of insects between islands.

They had also campaigned to get the insides of planes treated with insecticide before landing on the islands after a visiting entomologist had witnessed a moth flying onto a plane during boarding.  He captured it and found it was a pregnant female of a species not found on the islands.  We had witnessed this preventative measure on our flight into Baltra.

Then it was time to see the captive breeding programs – both successful and unsuccessful.  We saw land iguanas, many sub species of saddleback tortoises (that have evolved to reach up to vegetation off the ground – the Spanish for saddle is “Galapagos”) one of which was of course the world famous Lonesome George (Solitario Jorge) who is the last remaining Pinta Giant Tortoise. Unfortunately all attempts to breed with Lonesome George since his capture in 1971 have been unsuccessful. But the removal of the last 15 Espanola tortoises to the station and their subsequent captive breeding and release back onto the island has resulted in a modern population of more than 1,500 Espanola tortoises. We were lucky enough to see some eggs that had just been collected. They were labelled with the date, name of the female and egg number and also marked with a cross to make sure that they are placed in the incubators the right way up.

The young tortoises were very cute!  They were all numbered and had a colour code to show which island sub species they were so that they didn’t get mixed up when reintroduced.

I would like to thank everyone at the Research Centre for hosting us. They were all so knowledgable about the local flora and fauna and had a realistic approach to what could be done. You have to accept that the Galapagos Islands are changing and their mission is:

Conservation and sustainable development can only be successful if they are based on sound economic and social understanding.
- Peter Kramer, President of the Charles Darwin Foundation

The Foundation’s mission is to provide knowledge and assistance through scientific research and complementary action to ensure the conservation of the environment and biodiversity in the Galapagos Archipelago.

Within this context, their vision for 2016 is to be the world’s leading research institution dedicated to the conservation of the biological diversity and natural resources of Galapagos, and committed to building a sustainable and collaborative society to achieve this objective.

Amy Sanders from the Wellcome Trust very kindly signed St Cyres up to be a friend of the Charles Darwin Foundation. We look forward to future collaborations between our students and the foundation. You can learn more about the work done by the Foundation, and make a donation, on their website.

Return to the sea

Further along the bay literally piles of marine iguana  were to be found flopped in the sand, random individuals periodically spitting out excess salt. There was quite a pungent smell!

Then came what I was waiting for – the opportunity to be close enough to see what is probably the most beautiful pair of blue feet on Earth.

Just look at those feet ......

We began the day with a tour of the facility, seeing what they were able to recycle – glass, plastics, paper, metal, organicos (anything compostable) – that was the smelly bit!  As well as some of the products made from the recycled materials such as concrete that contained recycled glass.  I bet that looks lovely when polished down as a floor.

Then we had a tour of the interpretation centre where we learnt what the Galapagos islanders are doing to live sustainably.  In many ways they are much more advanced than us back in the UK.  They have been separating waste for over a decade.  Then it was time to get hands on.

I was assigned to help Henry on the compactor.  It began with me being given a pair of latex gloves and told to climb into a trolley full of paper.  I then had to load the paper into the compactor.  Within 5 minutes I was drenched with sweat and the gloves were shredded, but the compactor was full.  Henry then showed me how to operate the machine, I was surprised at his trust in me since he spoke no English and my Spanish only really works in restaurants.  Anyway with lots of gestures and repetition I was able to compress the paper into a bale and not break the most important machine in the plant.

I then learnt how to bale up the compressed paper, using a tensioner and a crimper to join the ends of the plastic strapping together.  Henry and I then trolleyed the bale to the weighing station, recorded its weight (70kg) and then stacked the bale to await shipping to the mainland for processing.  This was then repeated with cardboard, plastic bottles and metal cans.

The morning that we spent there flew by.  We all really enjoyed the camaraderie of working as part of a team.  The guys that worked there had a great sense of humour, even through the language barrier.  It was great to shake Henry’s hand at the end of the shift, feeling that we had done just a little bit to offset some of the harm to the Galapagos that all visitors inevitably bring with them.

We were all stinking at the end, but with broad grins on our faces.

The beach is reached via a two kilometre path through the dunes from our hotel in Puerto Ayora. At the beginning of the path you sign in and out again to make sure that nobody is left on the beach when the gates are locked at 6pm. The long beach receives most of the ocean swell that comes from the south.

I went there on Wednesday afternoon to check out the waves to see what sort of board I should hire. On arrival I was disappointed in the waves – a strong onshore wind was blowing the shape out of what offshore swell there was. I walked the length of the beach in the shallows (a favourite occupation of my wife, dog and I).

When I got to the end I got a shock as I saw what I thought was a dead marine iguana washed up on the beach. Upon closer inspection I saw it was breathing.  I looked around and there were many more. They were just basking as we had seen them doing on Floreana, they just looked particularly strange against the white sand.  I think most were females as they lacked the vivid colours of the larger males that we had seen on Floreana.

On Thursday after lunch I went to with our guide Javier to hire a board in town. The guy in the surf shop certainly looked the part – six foot plus, ponytail, very, very laid back. I didn’t need any ID, he just told me not to break the board and asked for 20 bucks. I got a 6’6″ pintail with a lot less float than I am used to, but it was the longest shortboard that he had (that should make sense to some people).  We all walked down to the beach and I suited up.

The waves today were about 50% larger than yesterday and a little cleaner. A bit big for me – 6′+ (I hadn’t managed to get in the water very much this summer in Pembrokeshire so I am not surf fit).  I got out the first time and gradually got battered back in. The board had very little “float” to it so was easy to duck dive –  I got lots of practice at that, but it sat much lower in the water than I am used to, I could only get it to take off on steep waves and was if found it twitchy in the pop up (excuses, excuses!) Cue lots and lots of falling off.

After about an hour of getting battered about and duck diving I decided to head in to about chest height to the re-forms and caught just one proper unbroken wave – only about a three second ride as well as numerous late drops, wobbles and wipeouts. In the end I thought I’ve got to get out there and at least try to catch one proper Galapagos wave.  Easy paddle out – 5 or 6 duck dives – was pretty good at them by then! I missed the first one, took off on the second one, was just popping up when it got vertical – it was like falling out of a second storey window. My feet missed the board and I headed into the spin cycle – not too long, but I knew I was out of my league. I managed to get back on the board before the next one caught me, ducked that and rode the one after that in on my belly – still a steep drop, great acceleration – just about managed to hold on. The best thing about the experience was sitting out the back watching frigate birds and blue footed boobies.  There’s not many surf spots that can offer that.

I got back to the beach just as Amy Sanders and Karen arrived back from their dive and met up with the others who had been observing the marine iguanas, pelicans, blue footed boobies and a baby shark (glad I didn’t know about the last one until I was out of the water…).

Looking at our packed itinerary we’d realised that this morning’s activity was the only one we could bear to miss, so we booked ourselves on a dive trip to Mosquera and Seymour Island.

We’d both qualified fairly recently so hadn’t been sure that we’d be allowed to dive here- the currents can be strong and the water cold, so a lot of sites are only suitable for advanced divers. Luckily we found a reputable company that happened to be taking out a Canadian father and son who also were novices, and we were able to join them.

First we moored off Mosquera, a tiny reef of lava covered in sand, in between Baltra (where the airport is) and Seymour Island. After a quick weight check and briefing we entered the water ‘James Bond’ style and descended.

Galapagos Stingray

Our first encounter was a stingray resting on the bottom.  Gradually we got down to 20 metres and swam along to peer off the edge of the reef into the deep. The water was about 15 degrees but we were warm in our thick wetsuits and swam along taking in pufferfish, angelfish, sea stars, bright blue nudibranchs (always a favourite of mine) and garden eels.

After about  40 mins, I was disappointed to find that I had reached the safe reserve of 50 bar of air, so Karen and Ryan, one of the other divers, had to come up with me. But the disappointment abated when we were joined in our (slightly too fast) ascent by two sea lions. They really are like the dogs of the sea;  spinning around, copying us and generally larking about.

Galapagos Sea lion

I knew we might see sea lions but its amazing to have one swim right up to your face at breakneck speed before veering off and upwards at the last possible moment. And it was something else when we ended playing fetch with one sea lion who stole Karen’s fin, dropped it and then grabbed it again just in time for Ryan to rescue it!

Not so amazing for Karen was the choppy water up top. Like Darwin, she struggled valiantly against seasickness, and recovered just enough to come down on the second dive at Seymour point. This one was tougher than the first with what felt to me like a fairly strong current. We pushed on, perhaps too hard as again I used my air pretty quickly, but not before we had all marvelled at a flock of about 25 beautiful manta rays passing overhead.

Manta Rays

As we reached the point, the current slowed and we paused by a cave to watch a few white tip reef sharks napping in their sheltered spot. White tips are small (for sharks) – maybe 1.5 metres long – and they feed at night, so we were perfectly safe-  just fascinated to get a close look at them through the mouth of the cave.

White tips resting

Karen and I ascended together and this time took care not to be distracted by sea lions and did a proper safety stop. Unfortunately the rolling waves near the surface did not do anything for Karen’s sea legs and she was feeling decidedly peaky as we hit air. To her dismay we surfaced a good way from the boat, and had to bob around for a bit before they picked us up and we struggled out of the water. But we made it, and the colour returned to Karen’s face just in time for her to attempt to eat some lunch as we sat up front in the sun watching sea lions, pelicans – and in Karen’s case – the horizon.

Karen James smiling again after a day of ups and downs

Diving out here is certainly not for the faint hearted (or delicate of stomach) but very rewarding and the only way to really see the other half of Galapagos. Just as on the surface, under water is teeming with life that is astonishingly happy to get up close and personal!

Post script – I have just managed to post this after a lengthy power cut which meant I had to type in the dark wearing a natty little head torch. I really hope this is not going to delay dinner – after all that exercise my stomach is growling.

The municipality is working hard to educate the general public about recycling. We smelt the recycling of organic waste, saw the rubbish coming in (general waste is collected daily) and the bales of waste going out which is shipped to the mainland about every three weeks for further processing. Much of the plastic goes on to China and then comes back again (and around the world!)  in the form of various goods! The interpretation centre explained the problems created by waste and what was being done to try and solve them.

We then spent almost two hours helping out. Nick packaged materials into bales, looking happy and contented and very sweaty. Amy Turner, the girls and myself separated waste from a conveyor belt, each having our own resposibility - paper, glossy paper, newspaper, cardboard, different coloured glass, various categories of plastic (which I never quite got the hang of), cans.

There were bursts of frantic activity from Amy when lots of bottles came down - an awful lot of champagne is drunk in the Galapagos! We concluded that everyone in Britain should do ‘national service at a recycling centre – certainly made us think about our waste. The men working at the centre were a cheerful bunch and seemed to enjoy us participating – even if we did make mistakes.

We are off to the beach this afternoon. Nick, yet agin, is soooo excited – he is going to surf (whatever the height of the waves)!

Our 4 girls had the opportunity to interact with many of the teenage pupils. I was able to have a long conservation with the science teacher. She had little in the way of practical equipment and no laboratory but was so keen to encourage a problem solving approach with her pupils. A small group were preparing a project about the brain for a science fair and we attempted some of their brain teasers. I was very pleased to be able to take apart the two intertwined nails before the girls!

Galapagos and Welsh students chatting

Galapagos mocking bird in the school grounds

School bags

The Galapagos mocking bird and finches cracking nuts provided some of the background noise. We ate our packed lunch in the open air school snack bar watching the chickens chase away a cat, presumably waiting for food scraps.

My obligatory holiday cat snap - but a problem for the Galapagos?

The school is involved in a scientific research project tracking their movements by GPS.  We were taken by bus to a farm where several tortoises came to graze. The farm keeps cattle and sells the wood of the large Galapagos cedars (a deciduous tree unlike our cedars – besides furniture the wood is used for cigar boxes as it contains a chemical which keeps the cigar beetle at bay)  growing there.

After a cup of coffee (the coffee here is so good!) on the verandah of the farm, the project was explained to us by two scientists, Anne and Freddie, as we wandered through the rough grass. We met Steve (named after the farmer) and saw his ‘tag’ attached to his back. Little is known about the migratory patterns of the tortoises, why and when they move between the dry zone and the more lush areas, and whether the populations on the north and south of the island ever meet up. Anne is a botanist and she identified some indigenous and invasive species for us and discussed the impact of the latter on the ecology of the islands. An Asian species of blackberry was one of the guilty ones for which they are investigating a method of biological control.

Steve, the tagged giant tortoise

I spent the free time we had on our return to wander around Puerto Ayora, taking photos of the harbour area, sea lions and pelicans and looking for souvenirs in the shops. Thousands of t-shirts and models of animals fill most of them but there are some shops with beautiful items of jewellery and art work. Displayed around the harbour area are large and most attractive posters to encourage the conservation of biodiversity.

The day ended with dinner in The Rock café – linguine with lobster in a coconut sauce was delicious!

We were flung into the deep end with an English workshop with some 15-18 year old students and their teacher Todd.  Our task was to make a drawing of how we had adapted to change.  We then had to guess what each other’s drawings were trying to show.  Right outside of my comfort zone!  But it was a good ice breaker and got everyone talking.  I found that 2 of the students were surfers and asked their advice on where I could find a break locally and they directed me to a shop in town where I could hire a board (more later).

We then went and joined a science class – the students were approximately year 9, we tried some puzzles and looked at their preparations for their science fair.  Their curriculum was much more relaxed than ours, with no formal exams.  The teachers set the students projects and then assisted them when they needed help.  The relationships between the teachers and the students were very informal.  I suppose a class size of 4-15 helped!  (It is a fee paying school).

The Amys had brought books and other presents for the students which were much appreciated, as was the cuddly Welsh dragon that the girls had brought.  I uploaded some of my software onto their network for them to use in their biology classes.  Our students got to meet more of the Tomas students and quickly made friends, arranging to link up on Facebook.

We joined a tour of the school with a party of mainly Americans from a cruise ship (lots of socks and sandals!) and then had lunch in the outdoor student cafe.  The grounds of the school were lovely with open air classrooms and playgrounds with birds hopping in and out.

In the afternoon we went with some of the students to a farm that now specialised in providing a protected habitat for tortoises.  Our guides Anne and Freddie (we think we recognised Freddie from the BBC4 program on Lonesome George) were very knowledgable and showed us how they had tagged some of the tortoises (pictured in Flickr album Santa Cruz 20/10/2010 Alf) to track their movements.  The males and females had their tags in different places so that they did not interfere with mating!  We also learnt about the problems posed by invasive species such as brambles and guava.

Thanks again to Sheila and everyone at Tomas de Berlanga school, Anne, Freddie and Javier our guides and Steve – the owner of the farm, who has been on Santa Cruz since the 1940s when the population was less than 100 (now >30,000)

This morning I shed a tear as I stepped off the ‘plane onto Santa Cruz. I had actually arrived on an island of the Galapagos archipelago. On cue, there were a couple of finches on a small cactus plant showing off at the entrance of  the ‘disembarkation control’, a large low shed. Here we waited (I momentarily felt I was queuing for a ride in a theme park) to show our Galapagos National Park visa, pay a fee for the privilege of visiting this hallowed ground and have our bags checked for ‘illicit goods’ i.e. any foreign organic material, alive or dead, which could affect the ecological balance of the islands. (Another example of the conservation strategies in the airport cloakroom – ‘Please put toilet paper in the bin not down the toilet’.) A frigate bird flew overhead as we left the airport.

It wasn’t long before we were travelling in a small minibus through distinct vegetation zones on our way to the highlands of Santa Cruz. There were many apparently dead grey trees in the arid zone – Palo Santo or Incense trees – stretching their branches proud of the rather scrubby green vegetation. (These trees are .playing dead – they are leafless for much of the year.) As we rose higher the plants became more varied, a spectrum of greens interrupted by the occasional red and yellow flowers. Lichens hung in long strands from branches. In some areas we could see large numbers of cattle egret (– they arrived naturally in the Galapagos in the 1960’s and have increased rapidly).

We stopped in the highlands to see Los Gemelos (the twins) – a pair of craters formed by collapsed caves. Their steep rocky grey walls were draped in greenery. The dominant plant in this zone was the Tree Scalesia with many flowering plants (mostly yellow and purple flowers), ferns and mosses forming the ground cover.

One of a pair

This morning I shed a tear as I stepped off the ‘plane onto Santa Cruz. I had actually arrived on an island of the Galapagos archipelago. On cue, there were a couple of finches on a small cactus plant showing off at the entrance of  the ‘disembarkation control’, a large low shed. Here we waited (I momentarily felt I was queuing for a ride in a theme park) to show our Galapagos National Park visa, pay a fee for the privilege of visiting this hallowed ground and have our bags checked for ‘illicit goods’ i.e. any foreign organic material, alive or dead, which could affect the ecological balance of the islands. (Another example of the conservation strategies in the airport cloakroom – ‘Please put toilet paper in the bin not down the toilet’.) A frigate bird flew overhead as we left the airport.

It wasn’t long before we were travelling in a small minibus through distinct vegetation zones on our way to the highlands of Santa Cruz. There were many apparently dead grey trees in the arid zone – Palo Santo or Incense trees – stretching their branches proud of the rather scrubby green vegetation. (These trees are .playing dead – they are leafless for much of the year.) As we rose higher the plants became more varied, a spectrum of greens interrupted by the occasional red and yellow flowers. Lichens hung in long strands from branches. In some areas we could see large numbers of cattle egret (– they arrived naturally in the Galapagos in the 1960’s and have increased rapidly).

We stopped in the highlands to see Los Gemelos (the twins) – a pair of craters formed by collapsed caves. Their steep rocky grey walls were draped in greenery. The dominant plant in this zone was the Tree Scalesia with many flowering plants (mostly yellow and purple flowers), ferns and mosses forming the ground cover.

smooth-billed ani bird

eye-to-eye with a Santa Cruz tortoise

A 400m underground walk (and stumble) through a larva tube came next. It was hard to believe that this cavernous, almost circular grey-walled tunnel was not man-made but produced as a result of a flow of hot larva cooling at its edges forming a crust.

An action packed afternoon – all this was before we reached our hotel (small and new in local style) in Puerto Ayora, a town on the south west coast.  A memorable sight as we walked along cobbled streets to have dinner were small flocks of white egrets flying across a  darkening blue sky, their feathers turning various hues of yellow and orange by the bright setting Sun.

So, today we went by bus to visit the local school, Tomas de Berlanga. Everyone is so friendly! The kids are so cute and just come up to you to say Ola!

We then met a group of students and had a discussion about how different our lives are compared to theirs. It was really interesting to learn what they like to do etc..

We had our lunch and then took a bus ride to another tortoise reserve with some of thew local school children we met. We saw how they have tagged some of the tortoises to see how far they can travel.

When we got back to the hotel, me and Eleri decided that the weather was too nice to stay in, so we went for a swim in the pool. The water was so warm and lush!

Had a really good day today. Very tired now.

Forgot to mention, I fell over on the runway at Galapagos airport. Didn’t hurt at the time and it was really funny. Hurts now.

Oh well.. no pain no gain?

Charl.

Just getting ready to go out out for dinner after our third day on Santa Cruz island. It keeps on getting better and better.

Monday, after landing, we visited the first tortoise reserve of the trip in the highlands. I was surprised at how quickly the plants and trees change from bare to a blanket of leaves within a few centremeters. As soon as we hopped off the van we saw our first tortoise: a beast of a fella just quietly munching on some leaves on the roadside. At this point, we didn’t realise how many more there would be.

The thing that amazes/amazed me most about tortoises is the noises they make. Everytime they move they make a huffing and sighing noise, even for a few little steps. Also, the noise of their shells scraping the ground sounds like a boulder being pushed in a cave. Everything is such an effort for them. To be fair to them, I’d be out of breath if I had that much weight to carry.

It’s difficult to comprehend how big they actually are until you’re standing next to one.

It gave us a great chance to practice our toroise faces though!

Yesterday we went to Floreana Island which involved a two hour speed boat journey there and back. I did learn that a life jacket makes a very comfortable cushion for a nautical nap. As soon as we got off the boat we saw sea lions, iguanas, lizards, blue-footed boobies, Sally lightfoot crabs, everything! (Cue much excitement and many squeals from the group). It was everything I’d read about.

Before we could run out our camera batteries, we were taken on a tour o the highlands. To get there, we had a roughly twenty minute journey in a van that can only be described as “bone shaking”. It was especially fun when we sat at the back on the way back down! The views were spectacular and we had an opportunity to walk amongst more tortoises at the tortoise reserve. We were lucky enough to see two males fighting, mainly using their necks as weapons. A couple of the tortoises were very curious in us, Charlotte and Mr.Alford in particular, often following us as we walked around.

After a delicious lunch of fish, rice and veg (with coffee cake and cream for dessert-my favourite!) we wandered round the pier and were able to take lots and lots of photos of wildlife that was SO close to us! Sea lions lazing on the rocks, iguanas giving us sceptical looks as we got nearer, crabs scuttling away as soon as they saw us. None of the animals were particularly bothered by us being there, as long as they got to lay in the shade.

Today we went to the Tomas de Berlanga school. It was so fasicnating to speak to the local children and compare how they learn and what they study. The only study a few core subjects such as physics, biology, english, music, maths and art. The pupils were horrified when I explained our exam system to them. Their english was very good and the little kids were so cute and funny, running in between us, giving high-fives and giving us gifts of a leaf and raw pasta (pasta paintings are clearly on the curriculum all across the world).

It showed me how formal our education system actually is. The relationships between teachers and pupils is very relaxed and personal, calling each other by first names, often hugging each other and generally being tactile with one another. We wouldn’t dream of being like that with our teachers! It probably helps that the average class size is about ten pupils. I know that most of the students I spoke to had Facebook so, if you’re reading this pupils of Tomas de Berlanga school, maybe we could stay in contact?

This shows what we got up to after lunch.  Our first attempt at snorkelling and my first attempt at videoing underwater.  As you can see I have a lot to learn!  These are the best bits!  The bits with my finger in front of the lens and the really jerky bits did not make the final edit.  Unfortunately neither did the HUGE turtle that I saw and failed to video – I think that I was already recording and pressed the record button in my excitement, changing the camera to standby!  Oh well, you live and learn.  The next underwater footage will be much better (I hope)

Sue Benjamin and I were wondering what the strange spiky things were, they looked like a cross between a sea urchin (which we also saw) and some sort of tube worm or bivalve.  Will have to look those up.  Or maybe someone at St Cyres could identify them and let us know.  Our internet connection here is very patchy – it took about 3 hours of trying and losing the connection, followed by an upload time of over an hour to get the HD footage up.  Thanks to Mun-Keat at the Wellcome Trust for his help in getting the video online.

I love snorkelling – the total immersion in another, very alien world.  The strange sound of your breathing, the rattling of the water in your snorkel.  Taking a deep breath and diving down, the pressure on your tympanic membrane (eardrum), blowing the water from the snorkel when you float back to the surface!  The relief of the first breath after a long dive.

One of the first things I saw was the stingray.  I spotted it below me and dived down.  Judging distance underwater is very difficult – ask your physics teacher why!!  So I got very close with the camera – not too near the sting though (my Dad got stung when he trod on one in Florida – his foot swelled up like a balloon).  Once it saw that I had spotted it – it was off.  I had to kick with my fins as fast as I could to keep up.  I was soon out of breath and had to drift back up to the surface and then dive down again.  An amazing experience to have such a close encounter.

The turtle was amazing.  Our guide said that another boat had spotted a turtle so we swam to where it had last been seen.  I got separated from the girls and our guide, spun round to see where they were and this massive shape loomed towards me out of the gloom.  It noticed me noticing it and changed direction.  I followed (messing up the filming at the same time).  Again once it knew it was being followed it gave a mighty stroke with its front flippers and pulled away from me.  I tried to keep up, but it was like a motorbike pulling away from a pushbike.  So well adapted to its habitat – its swimming was effortless whilst I kicked as hard as I could in a vain attempt to keep up.

Also saw lots of fish, though the footage of this was too jerky for the final edit.  Will slow down and try for more panning shots, rather than blindly chasing everything that moves in the future!

The boat ride to Floreana was amazing.  Karen, Amy S and I were up on the top of the boat, and though it was very windy and sore on the (un-cushioned) behind as we bumped over the impressive swell coming in (more about this later) we had a great view of the journey.  Just pulling out of the harbour we saw sea lions basking on fishing boats and pontoons.  In the open water we were followed by blue footed boobies and albatrosses.  They were able to keep up with our boat.  We were probably doing 20 knots,  and they used their incredible wings to generate motion from the force of the air moving over the waves.

Getting off the boat we climbed onto the quay and straight in front of us was my favourite animal – a marine iguana, just basking in the sun!  We had 15 minutes later in the day to film them.  We clambered over the rocks between them, passing within a metre of them.  In fact you had to watch that you didn’t stand on one there were so many of them!!

The marine iguanas were amazing – they just lay there on the rocks in the sun, warming themselves up so that their core body temperature rose enough to give them the energy to swim in the relatively cold water (caused by the Humboldt current) to graze on seaweed stuck to the bottom.  Occasionally you would hear a snorting sound as they sneeze out a spray of concentrated brine to excrete the salt that accumulates in their bodies.  Amazing animals – such a prehistoric look to them.  Definitely number one on my must see list of the Galapagos.

In the morning we had been up to a tortoise sanctuary high up in the mountains.  At that climate the forests are watered by a mist that provides the lush vegetation that the tortoises enjoy.  Because the climate is moist the tortoises found on Floreana do not have a high saddle like part of their shell as they do not have to reach up to eat.

We also saw Galapagos finches bathing in a pond in the sanctuary:

Before the journey back to Santa Cruz, our boat took us around the coast where we saw a Galapagos penguin, a heron, frigate birds and tropic birds.  See the Flickr site for images of these.

All in all, an amazing day on a beautiful island.  We are off to a local school today.  Looking forward to meeting the children and teachers.  I only hope I don’t fall asleep in class after 3 hours sleep due to the time it has taken to edit the video and upload the blog to the internet!

Yesterday, we arrived in Galapagos on an early fight form Guayaquil. We arrived in Baltra and then transferred to Santa Cruz on a boat. The first activity we did was to take a bus ride up to the highlands where we saw some sink holes and then went on to the tortoise farm; where we saw loads of tortoises and got the chance to try on one of their shells. We had dinner there and ate fish with chips and rice and fresh fruit for dessert. We also had some tamarind juice which I loved. After this we went on to the Lava tunnels which were taller than I expected, we even had to crawl through at one point. We then checked in to our amazing hotel that has a pool. For dinner we went to restaurant called Isla Grill where I had grilled chicken and a potato stuffed with courgette. We then went to bed as we had an early start, however for me and Jess our start was earlier than others as our alarm unexpectedly went off at 23:30 as it was still on U.K time. We then panicked and got up but soon realised some thing wasn’t right.

Today, after waking up at the correct time we had breakfast in the hotel which was pancakes and cereal. Our guide Marissa came to meet us and we walked to the port to get a boat to Floreana which took 2 hours. Albatrosses followed us whilst we were on route. Once arrived there was many sea lions, Sally Lightfoot crabs and Marine Iguanas. After taking some great photos of the wildlife we took a bone shaker of a ride in a bus up to the highlands where we saw some Tortoises and pirate caves. Our guide Javier was most informative.

We then took the bus back down to the restaurant we ate tuna and rice. For dessert we had a coffee cake. After lunch we went snorkelling and I saw lots of fish and a sting ray. After clambering back onto the boat we made our way to a cove where we saw a heron and a penguin. It seemed like they were posing for us.

We then went back to the hotel and our guide Franklin took us to dinner at Del Y Mar. We ate fish and a jacket potato. As we walked back to our hotel we did some window shopping ready for tomorrow.

Adios

Eleri

Today has been great! First we had breakfast in our new hotel, Villa Laguna, close to shops, pool, it is heavan,.

We walked to the pier and got on a speed boat to travel to the island of Floreana. The journey lasted 2 hours which is a pretty long time to be on a boat. Felt a bit sea sick to begin with but was fine afterwards

After we got off the boat, we arrived to find sea lions, marine iguanas and pelicans (we were practically tripping over them!)

We then took a bus ride up to Santa Cruz highlands to visit the giant tortoise reserve. They are literally the size of a coffee table and I was literally centimetres away from it!

Our guide then took us to the pirate caves and back down through the highlands on a very very very very bumpy truck. It was a bone shaker.

We went to lunch at a local restaurant and had the crispy potato starter chicken, rice and vegetables and then a dessert.

We then got our wetsuits, snorkel, mask and flippers on and went snorkelling from our boat. There were stingrays and turtles swimming beneath us and the water was crystal clear and warm. My flipper came off at one point so i had to return to the boat.

We then headed back to Santa Cruz after a very long day. I fell asleep on Jess’s shoulder and didn’t even feel sea sick!

We went to our new restaurant, del y mar, at 7pm and had fish (again) , but it was very nice We had sprite which is the first sugary drink/thing that we have had since being here! It was lush!

We walked past some really nice shops on the way back to our hotel so tomorrow night when we go to dinner, we are going to buy some gifts!

Off to play cards (chase the ace) now

buenos noches

p.s Thanks nan and gramp for all the messages, we appreciate it!

Charl.

AmyClick to view slideshow.

My proposal — ‘Galapagos 2.0′ — is why I was selected to accompany the four lucky deserving 17-year-old Survival Rivals winners (Becky Hill, Eleri Morgan, Charlotte Woodfield and Jess Woodfield), their teachers (Sue Benjamin and Nicholas Alford) and representatives from the Wellcome Trust (Amy Sanders) and Ignite! (Amy Turner). I guess I’m a kind of guide, if not to Galapagos (as I’ve never been before) then to Darwin, evolution, and the voyage of HMS Beagle.

The proposal’s full title is ‘Galápagos 2.0 Creative science learning and communication in evolution’s spectacular living laboratory’ and the gist is that our little band of Darwin wannabes will be doing what Darwin did in Galapagos. That is, we will capture our experiences, ‘specimens’, thoughts, connections and speculations – not using a pen and a red notebook, but Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.

At the end of each day or few days, we will raid our tweets, photos, videos and memory banks and write a short, illustrated blog post (using WordPress). And at the end of the trip, all of this will serve as our source material for our own version(s) of Darwin’s Journal of Researches (better known now as Voyage of the Beagle), an e-Book to be written and published approximately six months after the trip.

Darwin used layers of increasingly formal writing tools — field notebooks & specimens ➙ diary ➙ book — and so will we, except that our technology will be a little different: Twitter, Flickr and YouTube ➙ Blog ➙ e-Book.

So follow us here on Galapagos Live but also on Twitter, Flickr and YouTube for the full immersion experience!

For the full proposal (which begins with the sentence, ‘Charles Darwin would have been a blogger.’) in its original PDF format glory, click here.

Please suggest some latin names….

What a day, landing on the Islands was an emotional experience.  I think lots of us had a lump in our throats as it finally sank in that we were really here.  I almost felt like kissing the ground when we landed!  The islands looked beautiful from the plane, jutting out from the turquoise sea.  Whilst waiting to get into the arrivals shed / lounge we saw our first finch and lizards.  On the bus to the ferry we saw frigate birds patrolling overhead.  The fauna is so impressive.

landing on Baltra

It was lovely to feel some warmth after the relative cold of Quito.  Anyway back to the wildlife.  On arriving on Santa Cruz our bus took us up into the mountains.  There was a rapid change in the flora as we changed altitude.  Near the top we stopped at “the twins” – a pair of caves that had collapsed to leave huge circular craters.  From here we saw more finches and flycatchers.

one of the twins (not Jessica or Charlotte)

We had a lovely lunch and then explored a tortoise sanctuary.  The tortoises were so impressive in their bulk and their wonderful leathery texture.  They just ate and ate and ate, occasionally willing up the effort to move a few feet to the next patch of vegetation.

munch

Our guide heard some grunting in the trees and we followed her to find a pair getting actively involved in the breeding program!  They weren’t at all phased by us filming their antics!  Will hopefully upload the footage that the girls shot soon.

The male has a concave underside to the shell - isn't evolution incredible!

After seeing dozens of tortoises we walked down a lava tube, formed when a flow of lava forms a crust on the outside which remains after the liquid core has flowed away.  It was much larger than we had imagined, approximately 400 metres in length and mainly about 5 metres in diameter, though narrower in places (pictured – with Amy T squeezing through).

keep up!

Then on to the town of Santa Cruz and our hotel.  The town is dilapidated in places with a lot of building work going on.  Our hotel is very modern and appears not to have been open long.

Picked up some snorkelling equipment to take to Floreanna with us tomorrow.  Really looking forward to that….

We had a great photography workshop with Jonathan Green in our charming hotel in Quito (pictured) yesterday morning. He showed us some of the amazing pictures that he had taken over the years and gave us numerous tips as to what makes a good photograph. The most important factor is the available light. Jonathan showed us how to use the histogram facility on our cameras to avoid areas of our photographs from whiting out. I am looking forward to some early morning explorations to make the most of the dawn light.

We also learnt about composition and the rule of thirds to lead the eye into the subject area of the photo. Seeing the stunning quality of the pictures that he showed us (some magazine covers and competition winners) really inspired us all. The lack of fear in the animals should give us time to properly compose our pictures. My experience of shooting (in the photography sense!) wildlife in the UK has always been a race to get the camera out, switched on and the shutter pressed in the fleeting moments before the subject takes flight.

Jonathan had asked us to bring some of our own images along and gave us some very useful pointers to achieve better pictures. I was particularly proud of a gull that I had photographed on holiday in Pembrokeshire – I was so concentrating on the subject that I hadn’t noticed that the camera hadn’t been held level – the sea in the background looked like it was being poured away to the right of the shot! He showed me how to correct this and improve the composition.

In the afternoon our very friendly guide Edison and driver Meso took us to lunch in a stunning Ecuadorian restaurant with amazing views over the city of Quito. The food was prepared from wonderfully fresh vegetables and was exceptionally well seasoned, going down a treat. Though we all struggled to finish the massive portions. We then descended into the old town for a tour and learnt about Ecuador’s troubled history with many landmarks pointed out. We had a tour of a stunning baroque church, which could have earned Quito’s acclaim as the first Unesco World Heritage Site by itself. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a covered market and the girls had great fun bartering for their purchases.

I would like to extend our thanks to the manager of the hotel, when we said that we were leaving at 6:30 the next morning she said that she would put out some bananas and drinks for us. She didn’t – she came in early to make sure that we had a breakfast before we left. This is typical of the friendliness of the people that we have met.

At the airport I attempted to upload the video footage that I had taken of the old quarter of Quito only to realise that in an attempt to save a few grammes I had only included a USB lead from my card reader thinking that it would also work for my video camera. Unfortunately it is lacking in the pins needed to download the HD footage so that will have to wait (sorry Mun- Keat!) I was going to edit it on the plane and upload it when we got to our hotel tonight. All is not lost as I have an underwater HD video camera which will also work in the air (not surprisingly!) with us as well and I definitely have the lead for that. We are all really looking forward to getting in the water to do some snorkelling and Jonathan was able to tell us some good spots not too far from our hotel.

We have managed to see some wildlife already – we had a hummingbird on a feeder in the hotel’s courtyard both mornings and I had a dove nesting on my bedroom windowsill sitting on a pair of eggs (see photo). As well as some of the local canines having a good time (see photo!)

Hopefully my next post will include some images and film of the wonderful wildlife that is now less than 2 hours away from us.

Ecuador

I am lying on the bed in our hotel writing this after a tiring day in Ecuador. After a good nights sleep in the Posada del maple, we woke up to a breakfast of scrambled eggs (Ecuadorian style), toast, bananas, tea, coffee etc.

During breakfast I managed to use skype on my ipod to phone my mum, my dad and my boyfriend, missing them already, feels like I’ve been away for more than 3 days!
At 9:00 we met Jonathon Green, a photographer, who gave us a photography workshop, and we learnt different techniques for different settings. He is such a good photographer, and for him to say that mine and Jess’s photos are good is a real shock!

Today we also met our guide Edison and our driver Memo who took us on a tour around Quito.
Our first stop was Pims restaurant where we had some amazing food. I had ‘menu 2’ which consisted of a fried corn dumplings stuffed with cheese and a salad (starter), lamb stew with plantains, potatoes, vegetables and a sauce (Main) and Sweet dough balls with a passion fruit sauce with strawberries and cream.

It was so lush!!
After lunch we went to visit the ‘Virgin of Quito statue’ which towered over Quito. There are many stray dogs around but they seem happy enough!
On another note, we also saw a man get mugged (we think)…

Any who… we then visited 7 churches (did not enter all of them!) and it started to thunderstorm with heavy rain and really loud thunder and lightning.
We then visited a market place and I bought a hat for $2 but surprise surprise I turned the corner and there was an even better one, for $4… so I bought it. The last item I bought was an Ecuadorian green jumper as knitwear is in this season.

Tomorrow we are flying to the Galapagos at 8:30 in the morning which should take about 2:30 hours. Once we are there we will see our new hotel, hotel villa laguna.. google it!
Well I’m off to pack for tomorrow and have a shower.
Buenos Noches

Today has been amazing. After a wonderful breakfast by the hostel’s courtyard, we met up with Jonathan Green. He is a fantastic photographer who was kind enough to give us photography workshop in order to get the best out of our cameras in the Galapagos. We all learnt something new which we will keep in mind on our journey.

Our friendly guide, Edison, picked us up and took us to lunch at Pims. It is high up on the hillside and has beautiful views of Quito and the surrounding valleys. So, like Eleri and Charlotte, I had corn dumplings stuffed with cheese and served with salad, for my main I had Ecuadorian lamb stew served with rice, salad and fried plantain which is absolutely delicious! For dessert I had fried dumplings in warm passion fruit sauce. Delicioso! ^^

It was then time to explore the city. Edison gave a great talk on the history of Quito and its many churches. By 5 o’clock, we were in need of some retail therapy so we went to an artisan market full  of local handicrafts. I bought a gorgeous jumper and blanket made from alpaca wool, and a hat to keep my head warm. ^^

Right now, I’m chilling in our room thinking about the next step of our journey.

Buenos Noches x

This is my first blog since getting here. Yesterday was my first time flying and, although I enjoyed taking off and landing, ten hours on a plane did not treat me well (I won’t go into details).

After what felt like a life-saving sleep (I’d had less than four hours sleep the night before), the world seemed like a better place. Breakfast was lovely, sat at a chunky wooden dining table overlooking a gorgeous little courtyard, complete with hummingbird.

We then had an intense two hour photography workshop with Jonathon Green who is a photographer on the Galapagos Islands. It was interesting to learn how make my photos better for when we’re on the islands.

We then met up with Edison (our wonderful guide who was so friendly and a “real gentleman” as my mum would describe him). Lunch was massive. Couldn’t finish it all even though it was stunning. It was on the bus journey up to the restaurant that we got our first tatse of Quito with it’s spiralling hill roads and it’s, ahem, energetic canine population.

Quito was what I expected it to be, but surprisingly more as well. I wasn’t expecting so many art galleries and culutre centres, and the history and religion of the town was fascinating. The architecture was beautiful, completely fitting with Quito. One church we visited was so decadent, it was like every christmas decoration in the world had been put in one building. It takes ten years to restore all the gold leaf, and then they have to start all over again.

My personal highlight of the day, however, was visiting the market. The people running the stalls were so friendly and helpful when they ralised that we didn’t know any Spanish numbers apart from uno, dos, and tres. With the help of my trusty language guide, I managed to save four dollars by haggling. A wooly hat for $2 (I offered $1 but the lady didn’t accept), a bag for $10 and an alpaca jumper for $15! Bargain! The others laughed at us as we loaded back in the van laden with rainbow coloured carrier bags.

Tomorrow we head off for the Islands. I’m not looking forward to the flight (especially after last time) but hey ho, has to be done.

Now, I’m going to get ready for bed. We’re getting picked up at 6.30am Quito time tomorrow, so a very early rise for us.

Buenos Noches (night night),

Becky.

Hola Everybody,

Slept really well last night (probably something to do with not having slept for 22 hours).

We went down for breakfast at 8:00 and had some toast, with what I think was raspberry jam, and some freshly squeezed orange juice (which was very tasty).  The breakfast room has a courtyard with flowers and we were very lucky to see a hummingbird by one (but was too slow to take a photo).

After we’d eaten we spent the morning with Jonathan Green, who gave us some very useful tips on how to capture the wildlife on the islands and told us how to improve some of our own photographs! (Thank You!)

We then met our tour guide, Edison, who took us for lunch at Pims, which had the most amazing view over Quito, in the Highlands.  It was right in front of The Virgin Quito Statue.

I had fried corn dumplings stuffed with cheese and a salad to start, an Ecuadorian lamb stew with rice, sweet plantain, potato and salad for mains and fried dumplings with passion fruit sauce cream and strawberries. The meal was really yummy! And very filling.

After, we went into the old part of town and where Quito was first established at Independent Square which is the site of a memorial statue dedicated to the people who fought for Ecuador’s impendence in 1809. The Presidential Palace is located on the square and we had our photo taken with the guards who cannot smile or move like the guards outside Buckingham Palace.

The Church of the society of Jesus has the most beautiful inside which is completely  baroque  in gold. Unfortunately we couldn’t take any photos. We also visited another church which was 500 years old and a  church that was gothic in style but instead of gargoyles they had animals like turtles and blue footed boobies.

After the long day we were in need of some retail therapy and so went to a market where we all bought lots of stuff which we bartered for in Spanish. (Edison thanked us for helping the Ecuadorian economy)

I would like to say thankyou to Edison for the brilliant tour of Quito, our driver for keeping us safe, Jonathan green for the advice and our hotel for their great hospitality.

Buenos Noches!

Eleri

My name is Nicholas Alford and I am lucky enough to have what I consider to be the best job in the world.  I am Head of Biology at St Cyres School in Penarth, South Wales.  In my job I get to teach young people about life.  How all the amazing variation that we see around us has been fashioned by the incredible forces that are natural and sexual selection with 3.5 billion years to play with.  I get to help students into amazing careers such as healthcare, research and education.  As well as teaching the younger ones about what is going on in their bodies and in the living world around them.  This amazing prize from the Wellcome Trust is a dream for a biology teacher – a field trip to the Galapagos.

I am continually amazed by the power of evolution.  When the opportunity came up to win a trip to the Galapagos Islands I immediately sent an email to all the lower 6th biologists asking them to form teams to make a film to show the science behind the Wellcome Trust’s excellent “Survival Rivals” kits which we had been using for the last year.  I was very surprised when only one team replied that they would like to take part: Rebecca Hill, Eleri Morgan, Jessica and Charlotte Woodfield.

We started with a brainstorming session and decided to use the “X bacteria” kit that we had been using with the upper 6th.  We organised a timetable to complete the experiment after school and asked our technician Janet Troth to prepare the agar plates and to subculture the bacteria ready for use.

The girls quickly learnt the aseptic techniques and despite Charlotte nearly setting her hair on fire with a Bunsen burner the protocol was very easy to follow.  The filming of the experiment took place over 3 evenings after school.

We then brainstormed again about how to show the process of conjugation in a way that could be understood by a lay audience and the girls came up with the idea of using the animation that they painstakingly made on the twins’ kitchen table.

The girls then took the 2 hours of footage that we had recorded and managed to edit it down to the two and a half minutes that the brief allowed us.  Using some Benny (Becky?!!) Hill type speeded up sequences certainly helped!

Then we thought about what we wanted to say in the script and produced a first draft.   However it was a bit dry and read like a list of facts about Darwin’s life.  So we came up with the idea of a dialogue between Darwin and the girls and rewrote the script.

Recording the script was probably the most fun part of the experience for me.  We were struggling to meet the deadline and had to finish it in one after school session.  We played the edited film and wrote down the times that the key events occurred on the  whiteboard.  We then read through the script and did the same with the key phrases.  Over a period of several hours we gradually got the script to fit the timings of the film and rehearsed our speaking roles.

We were happy to try our first take and plugged in the microphone – it didn’t work!  We couldn’t get a replacement that evening and were worried about missing the deadline.  Eleri then said that her camera could record sound files so we squeezed around it.  Several takes later with fits of giggles (mainly Jess) spoiling many takes we managed to get to the end of the script.  Everyone looked to Sue Benjamin who had the stopwatch.  “Two minutes thirty”  It was in the bag.

The girls worked their ICT magic again and managed to join the audio and the visual elements together.  The next day – the day of the deadline, we had the finished article.  The premiere was held at morning break in the lab.  Once I saw the finished article I knew the girls had to be in with a chance.  We tried to upload it in school and couldn’t.  The girls managed to get through to Amy Turner on the phone and she suggested they go home and use a different web browser to upload it.

We got through a lot of fingernails waiting to hear if we had made it to the final and then for the results of the final.  I was checking my pigeon hole in school up to ten times a day as we waited for the announcement.  The rest is history and explains why I am sitting on a plane over the Atlantic writing this.

The main thing I am looking forward to is getting up really close to the fauna of the islands.  Not having the time to evolve fear of humans is truly unique, despite the decimation of the tortoise and other species in less enlightened times.  I am also looking forward to evening discussions about our experiences, and getting used to blogging etc. which is all very alien at the moment.

In about seven hours we land in Quito and after a couple of nights fly onto the islands via Guayadaquil.  We are heavily loaded up with technology to record everything from laptops to underwater video cameras to capture the magic of the marine wildlife as well as the more famous residents.  I can’t wait to get in the water with our snorkels and am also hoping to find somewhere that can hire me a surfboard to paddle into some of the amazing waves that I have been researching on the internet.

Have arrived and can upload this onto the blog from our hotel in Quito.

More to follow when we take some photos on a tour of the city tomorrow afternoon and a photography workshop with Jonathan Green in the morning.  Very tired now.  Its 7:30pm local time and 1:30am body clock time…

“I am very anxious to see the Galapagos Islands, — I think both the Geology & Zoology cannot fail to be very interesting.”

— Charles Darwin, Letter to his sister, Catherine in August 1835.

Hi I’m Amy Sanders, or amyplatypus if you prefer, (to distinguish myself from t’other Amy – Amy T). I’m joining the trip as the Wellcome Trust representative.

I managed all of our Darwin year initiatives, of which Survival Rivals is one, so it will be a real treat to be able to be part of the group, setting off just over 3 years after I started working on the project.

Having got over my minor (ok, major) passport-related panic earlier this week, and tied up as many loose ends at work as I can manage, I think I am almost ready to leave for Heathrow.

Like everyone else, I am really looking forward to seeing the wildlife – the big stuff – seals, tortoises, boobys, frigate birds, sharks, penguins, and of course the finches and mockingbirds that we heard so much about at university.

Being a recovering entomologist, I’m also wondering what the smaller things will be like? Are there insects anywhere near as bizarre as the reptiles and birds, or are the littler critters so transportable that they are much the same as the mainland?

What will it sound like at night? What will the stars be like?

I’ll be fascinated to see how the islands are managed – are they still shooting goats from helicopters?  Will not being a World Heritage site have an effect on the conservation of the archipelago? How do the thousands of  people who live there feel about all this? Are they sick of people like us nosing around?

Hopefully we’ll be able to answer some of these questions over the next 2 weeks.

Most of all I’m looking forward to seeing what Jess, Charlotte and Eleri and Becky make of it all. I remember my first proper expedition when I was a couple of years older than they are. I went to Kibale Forest, Uganda and it was a pretty life-changing experience; seeing in the wild what you’ve only heard about, and meeting the people for whom it’s all just a part of the everyday.  I loved it, despite spending a month there and never seeing a single bloody chimp.

I hope the Galapagos wildlife lives up to its more people-friendly reputation!

I know I’m writing this at 9:15pm on the night before we leave, but hey! Better late than never!

I’ve finally finished packing my main luggage but there’s still a few things to go in my hand luggage. So far, it mainly consists of American Rocky Mountain marshmallows; 1kg to be exact. Prepare to witness some epic games of Chubby Bunny! But I’ll post more about that later on

I’m really looking forward to seeing all the wildlife, especially Frigate birds and the marine life. I will definately be takning lots of photos and making sketches for my art project.

Bye for now,

Jess