And Galapagos National Park turns 52 years old....

Hello, my name is Andrea, and I'm a blog-aholic.  It's been 2 weeks since my last post....

Well, much to report on, in that case!  Since our departure to Darwin and Wolf has been postponed until tomorrow morning at 9am, I figure I´d better do something productive.  As the title says, the Galapagos National Park turned 52 years old this weekend, and I was there for the celebration in San Cristobal.  But before I get to all that, let´s catch up on the last two weeks.....  

Well, we went for another day to monitor the juvenile shark population in the mangroves east of Puerto Ayora on the 24th, which was amazing as always.  This timeI didn´t have the guilty job of taking the fin clip for DNA samples, but rather to put the sharks back in the water, and ensure that they are vigourous enough to swim after their experience.  This is done by holding them by the tail and (very carefully!) under the snout, and then ´swishing´ them through the water in a figure 8 motion to pump water over their gills.  When they struggle to get free (rather than rest passively in your grasp) is when they are good to go! 

¿Qué más?  Ah yes, as part of the Galapagos cultural council´s attempt to bring the arts to the islands, they was a jazz and blues concert one night week in the town hall, where a really great, and funny artist from New York belted out great blues tunes on his harmonica and guitar all night!  My new friend Ivo (de Alemanía) and I took in the concert with the rest of my house mates Maita, Gabriela, Alegria, and Billy. 

Ah yes...  On Thursday last week, we went to monitor the lobster population in Canal Itabaca again, but after only getting one collector assessed, our mission quickly turned into a search and rescue for a tourist who´d been lost for three days...!  So we left our lobsters and made a full circle around Santa Cruz looking for the tourist who was supposedly on a beach somewhere (faaaaar away from any civilization).  Even though another boat found this fellow instead after a long day of hungry searching on our part, it was ´vale la pena´ (worth it), because we saw parts on Santa Cruz´s west coast that few people ever get to glimpse (with the exception of dumb, wandering tourists)...  it was gorgeous!!

OK, on to this weekend in San Cristobal!  So Thursday night (or rather friday morning at 2am), the boat taking all the park staff was set to depart for San Cristobal, and I was heading through town with my backpack when I ran into my new pal Ivo.  Being a rather spontaneous individual, Ivo thought going to San Cristobal would be fun, so grabbed little more than his toothbrush and swimsuit and snuck on to the park boat behind Yasmania (the Galapagenian gal from San Cristobal) and I! 

This was a great relaxing weekend!  Since the boat ride over was a rather uncomfortable spot to sleep, we napped after arriving at Yasmanias house, and then Ivo and I hung out on the beach where he grew tired of his dreadlocks and asked me to cut them off (que guapo ahora!!!).  A bit of dinner and happy-hour carparinias at the bar Casa Blanca meeting amazing people before discoing at Iguana Rock again!  Saturday brought hangovers for some (not me!), but we siezed the day and met some of Yasmania´s friends and went to a lovely spot for some snorkelling called Las Tijeretas.  

Saturday night was the fiesta for the park, and so after making some homemade carparinias to-go, we headed off to the concert (after filling our bellies with corviches and empanadas, of course!).  While the starting acts were playing, Ivo and Juan Pedro were convinced to buy raffle tickets...  for (get this)...  a chicken.  The main act ( a salsa orchestra from Columbia) didn´t start until 2am (!), but nonetheless, people were still out dancing to the music until the wee hours of the morning...  this place is great!

Sunday Ivo and I went to La Loberia, which is a sea lion rookery (obviously).  We swam with the sea lions for a while before heading off on a hiking trail to see some amazing views of massive waves pounding the shore far below the cliff we were perched on.  The rugged beauty of this place never ceases to amaze me....

Well, Monday was time to take the boat back to the real world here in Santa Cruz, but much to everyone´s surprise, the park boat left at 2 am rather than 2 pm, and so everyone had to charter a boat back...  (hmmm, surprised?  no, not really).  Oh well...  upon arriving back at the office, I was told that someone had backed out of the expedition to Darwin and Wolf Islands to go tag whale sharks, and there was finally a place with my name on it!  AWESOME!!  We are departing tomorrow at 9 am (after several delays), and so will post again when I return in 15 days time!

(P.S.  Have also found out that I am NOT moving to Isabela afterall...  which is alright, since I am enjoying myself immensely here.  Guess I know what I'm doing on my next free weekend!)

Los tuneles y el mercado Mira Flores...!

Ahhhh....!  I've had a very exploratory weekend!  On Saturday morning I met a Galapagenian gal from my office at the mercado Mira Flores.  This is a gigantic market for fruits, vegetables, meat and fish that takes place every Saturday, and there are great deals to be found on lots of things!  I was thrilled to be able to find a place to buy fresh fruits and veg that doesn't rely solely on the timing of a boat!  Things like melons and pineapple were still expensive, but I bought a massive bunch of fresh basil (and I'm talking an armful!) for $1.50!  So when life hands you lemons, get out your tequila and salt!  I took my fruits and veg home, made a huge fruit salad, and then used a type of local fresh cheese to make 'ensalada caprese' for dinner later that night!  

After the market, my housemates and I piled on to our bikes and rode to a bus station on the edge of town, and then took a bus to the 'altaparte' or highlands.  At the end of the bus line we took a short walk to 'los tuneles', which are the tunnels that were formed hundreds of thousands (or even millions!) of years ago when Santa Cruz was volcanically active.  The tunnels run for 1-2 kn underground, and are about 100-200 m in diameter!  We went though one which had a fee, because it was on private property, but had such a lovely charming family running a little flashlight rental.  They had a collection of old tortoise shells on the terrace that you can crawl into and take pictures.  People who had tortoise shells from many years ago are allowed to keep them as decorations, but of course now to acquire any more shells is illegal for obvious reasons.  From there we took a truck-taxi to another spot that has laval tunnels, but somewhat more rugged.  The entrance was a tight squeeze with no stairs and hand rails like the other one.  This one had no lanterns inside either, so we needed our headlamps and flashlights!  While walking through the dimly lit tunnel, the fellow from Columbia/U.S jumped back and shouted, which drew the attention of the rest of the group.  Turns out, he had come across a skeleton, but luckily it has 4 legs instead of two...!   

 Most likely it was a horse or cow that had stumbled in (God knows how throught that little passage!) and could not get out... 'pobrecito'.  We pressed as far into the tunnel as possible before being turned back by a collapsed exit route, but not before turning off all the lights and standing there for a few minutes in the most complete and utter blackness I have EVER felt....

After this little exploration, we all stopped at a roadside cafe for fried empanadas and coffee!  (there's a picture some where...)  When we finally arrived back home after hitching a ride back to town, we dragged the spare mattresses into the 'dining area' and set up a laptop to watch movies and have dinner/drink cervezas....  carpe diem indeed.
Much love from Galapagos!!

Some fun in San Critstobal....!

Aaaah!  Well, I'm making sure I make good use of my time here in the islands, getting out and seeing as much as I can!!  This past weekend I went with Maita (the gal from Spain who lives with me in the volunteer house) to San Cristobal Island.  Que divertido!!

We left work early on Friday afternoon and took the 2pm boat to san Cristobal, where we met up with Paco (Maita's friend from Madrid) and his mate Alejandro.

 Straight off the boat, we went to a beach in town to watch the sundown with the lobos (sea lions).  I'm finding that the sea lions here are a bit like cows in India...  they're everywhere!! (and, like the cows, you have to give them the right of way at all times!)  Apparently the locals here in San Cristobal find them to be a bit of a pest...  Anyways, afterwards we took in a bit of dinner and then hit the local waterfront bar for the happy hour specials of rum and passionfruit juice! 

 Saturday morning, Maita and I rented some bicis (bicycles) and rode to several different spots on San Cristobal...  we went to El Junco which is an old volcano with a lake in the crater, and then to Puerto Chino beach, where we swam against the strong waves to go turtle watching, and were then promptly eaten by horseflies upon exiting the water...  joder!!! 

Since the road to Puerto Chino was mostly downhill, and we hadn't eaten lunch, we hitched a ride uphill with a local family at the beach in the back of their truck to La Galapaguera to see the tortoise refuge and breeding center.  OK, that was enough for the daytime!  Maita and I found a roadside stall selling empanadas and corviches (tasty deep fried green banana dough filled with fish and served with spicy fresh salsa), and then enjoyed enormous fresh milkshakes of banana, passionfruit and papaya....  oh yummy! 

That evening, rather than going back to the bar for happy hour, Maita, Alejando, Paco and I got a bottle of rum and went to the harbour were we had a few drinks, played a hilarious game of "film charades" aka, guess that film that the person is acting out (no talking allowed).  And then we all crowded in to the local nightclub (which in a town of 8000 people was surprisingly hip!) called Iguana Rock to dance salsa until the wee hours of the morning...!

Sunday morning was a bit rough, but more for Maita then myself...  we were off on a snorkel tour of Isla Lobos and Leon Dormido (Sleeping Lion).  Isla Lobos was fantastic as we went swimming with sealions who would come right up to your face!  The large male took particular interest in my underwater camera, and tried to put it in his mouth (I have a photo of bubbles and teeth, which I'm guessing is all I managed to get out of the encounter...).  A large school of sardines had gathered under our boat for protection, and so we could watch the blue-footed boobies dive practically right next to in the water us to catch a little fish....!

Next, off to Leon Dormido!  The water was quite chilly, even in the short-sleeved/legged wetsuits!  But we were graced with the prescence of turtles, and deep down at the bottom of the channel was about 30 young sharks!  Since the visibility was less than stellar, you could only see faint outlines unless you dived down about 20ft....  phew, I was out of breath!

Maita and I were quite tired, but when we arrived back in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (San Cristobal's town), we headed straight off to "La Loberia" which is a sea lion rookery, but also a great place to view red- and blue-footed boobies (the birds!!) 

 However, we arrived at nearly 5 pm, the sun is gone at 6pm sharpish, the bird viewing point was nearly a 1/2 hr hike away, and one of the bug bites from Puerto Chino had swollen up on my foot so badly that I required a bit of field surgery on the beach! 

Needless to say, we didn't make it to see the birdies, but we saw some incredible views of lava-rock strewn beaches being pumeled by frothy blue waves under a incoming stormy sky, it was breath-taking.  I could have stared out on that scene forever....

Well, yes.  As all good things must come to an end, so did this.  Monday morning, Maita and I caught the 7am boat back to Puerto Ayora to head back to work.... 

A day to dive.....

Wow, what a day to spend underwater...  Sunday I decided to give diving at Gordon's rocks another chance, since I was surprisingly underwhelmed my first time there.  The surge had been extremely strong, the visibility was poor, and we didn't see the hammerheads very well...  Ahhh, but this time was different!!!

On our first dive at North Seymour, after about 5 mins below the surface, we watch a group of eagle rays glide lazily past over a bed of garden eels.  For those of you unfamiliar with garden eels, they are a small eel that lives in the sand, with only their heads sticking out, they venture out only slightly to collect food in the area, while leaving the lower half of their body in the sand.  When predators pass overhead, they retract into their sandy tunnel.  They are quite cute, because they look like a bed of grass from a distance.  After, we saw a small group of hammerheards glide past, but their presence was fleeting.  Next, we watched a giant black marbled ray eating something out of the sand, and when it was finished, it simply glided between the circle of land-lubber onlookers on its way out...

After spotting a few small white-tips sharks doozing in a cavern, I managed to get a beautiful picture of a boxfish who practically posed fo rmy photo!  Thanks dude!  And then, to make things better, our group of hammerheads decided to come back for another pass.  For such an odd looking creature, they are still the picture of grace and  beauty....

Ahhh, OK, time to come up for air!!  A modest snack of bread with jam and "squeaky cheese" (the local type of cheese...  seriously, it squeaks when you chew it) was just the thing I needed to warm up.  A 7mm wetsuit and I was still a bit chilled down there!

And with a new tank on my back (which somehow came off underwater and had to be put back on....  tsk tsk, I should change my tanks myself!), we were off to see Gordon's Rocks.  After dropping down to 80 ft, we saw several marine turtles in the area, who seemed totally indifferent to our presence.  A 8 ft galapagos shark in the diastance cought everyone's attention, and when we turned around to head back in the direction of our dive plan....  WHAM!  We ran into a wall.....  of barracuda. 

As we swam closer, the school of barracuda slowly enveloped all 8 divers, our views of each other were obscured by a shimmering cloud of silvery sides, and like a plane coming out of the clouds, eventually all 8 divers emerged out of the other side of the school of barracuda.  And yes...  more hammerhead sharks came past us.  A group of about 10 indivduals swan in our vicinity for several minutes, most were about 6 ft long, but there was one big fellow in the group who was about 8ft....  whoosh.  So cool!

I met some other Canadians on the dive, and the chap from Canmore put it quite well....  "It's the underwater equivalent of going out for a hike, seeing a bunch of bears, some wolves, deer, elk and caribou...  oh yeah, and a massive flock of birds....."  well put Brian.  :) 

Yo pasé un poco días muy interesante...

Yes, have had an interesting few days here in Santa Cruz.  It's been a bit of a big fuss around here lately, because the president of Ecuador came to visit the Galapagos Islands today.  (well, OK, he's still here... I just watched him give a speech).  Apparently, the Ecuadorians give their leaders a much more warm welcome than Canadians.  (I'm sure if good ol' Stevie showed his face in Vancouver, there wouldn't be a bike rally for him...).  Yes, that's right!  I found myself in an impromptu bike rally this morning, not that I felt like 'working' anyways. 

When I arrived at the office, I was there for all of 5 min when the Ecuadorian (no, the Galapaguenian) gal arrived, looked at me, and said...  "Andrea, vamos!"  And so it was.  Myself, Yasmania, and Eduardo were off to the bike rally to welcome the president of Ecuador to the islands.  The story goes: the Galapapgos government is trying to display how much of a bike-friendly place Puerto Ayora is (and it indeed is bike-friendly...  bike-safe, well that's a bit different), and so a bunch of people met with their bicycles at the gas station this morning just outside town, and when the president arrived, his convoy stopped, the president got on a bike, and rode into town with the bike-convoy...  Que divertido!!! 

That aside...  I feel bad since I put work in quotation marks above.  I actually do work around here, I swear.  On Wednesday after the usual weekly oceanographic monitoring, instead of heading back to Puerto Ayora, we set off to the west side of Academy Bay to collect some organisms for the aquarium, because the exhibits were rather bland, and the aquarium is one of the stops on the presidents visit, it needed a bit of jazzing up.  Now, I don't feel too bad about collecting some sea stars and urchins, a few fish, etc...  but I felt bad about taking the octopus out of it's home and into a tank (well, I didn't do the taking, someone else did, I think I would have 'accidentally' let the octopus escape).  Octopuses have, for a body mass equivalent, a brain similar in development to a fish...  however, they possess the intelligence of a domestic cat.  I'm going to visit my 'pulpo' (octopus) as often as possible, but I feel the need to give it a name...  any suggestions?

On Thursday, we headed off to Canal Itabaca to monitor the lobster population.  On arriving, we found two marine turtles 'copulando' (mating), and we jumped in the water to try to get some phots.  Unfortunately, with the poor visibility, we decided to try to make a video instead...  which quickly turned into jokes about 'tortuga porn'. 

 And on our way back, the coast guard had accompanied a small vessel into the dock due to some very suspicious gear on board.  Large hooks, thick fishing line, a gaffing hook....  and lots of knives.  Everything you need for illegally fishing and finning sharks.  Luckily, the suspects didn't have any fins on board, so we're hoping they were caught before they 'did the deed' so to speak.  What an atrocious practice, to cut the fins from an animal and throw the carcass (alive) back into the sea to die... 

On the hour-long ride back to Puerto Ayora, we stopped on the edge of Isla Plazas to watch the sea lions play close to our boat.... and I was lucky enough to take in the vista of that gorgeous coast east of Academy Bay again. 

And today, the bike rally.  I almost jumped on a boat to go to San Cristobal because I don't have any plans for the weekend, but the girl from Spain that lives in the house with me said she's going to San Cristobal next weekend, and invited me to join her!  I hope my slave-driver of a boss gives me the time off on Friday afternoon....!  Ha ha! 

Hasta luego.  Besos y abrazos de Galapagos!

Flo Flo and the lobo (s)....

So for not having any plans for the long weekend here in Ecuador, I think I've made good use of it.  Friday and Saturday I spent doing a whole lot of SFA....  (Dad, if you need help with that acronym, I'll fill you in later).  I spent Friday and Saturday at the beach, reading, lying in the sun, swimming in the ocean, and swinging in the hammock (read: converted old fishing net) outside the house....  muuuuuy tranquílo!!  But today was the icing on the relaxation cake.  I found room on a boat going to Floreana Island, and so I was off bright and early this morning!  Approaching the island in the boat was a breathtaking view of what superficially appears to be a totally uninhabited island.  Almost...  Floreana has a whopping population of.......  100 people.  They have giant tortoises there, but regrettably, not the native species.  The native Floreana tortoises were exterminated by pirates and settlers early in the 1800's, and so the tortoises living on Floreana today come from San Cristobal.  Why did they put them there....?  I have NO clue. 

On our little trip up into the highlands, we also privileged with a fantastic view of one of Floreana's extict volcanic craters.  However, today's highlight was definately swimming with sea lions near "El corona de diablo" (the devil's crown).  There is a spit of beach on Floreana where the sea lions gather, and when you enter the water, their curiosity gets the better of them, and they swim right up to your face!!  The only time a had a twinge on nervousness was when one swam up to my face, paused, and then darted even closer (as if to say...  "Psych!!!!")!  Haha!

Andrea y los tiburónes...

Today for work we went to monitor the juvenile shark populations on the east side of the island....  yes, tough work.  And for as much as I adore sharks, that wasn't the best part of the day.....  The best part of the day was heading out of the harbour and setting off up the east coast of Santa Cruz.  No picture could ever capture the beauty of this scene.  As the early morning sun was still rising in the sky and burning off the rainclouds from last night, the volcanic peak of the island remained shrouded in a gray blanket as streams of sunlight shone through and illuminated the green landscape.  The coast just east of Academy Bay is a sheer cliff of black volcanic rock with a long shallow shore, and so when the swells roll into this section of the island, they don't simply crash against the cliffs.... the waves roll in for a looooong way in a gigantic frothy curl of water before breaking in a magnificent spray of white and blue against the black rocks.  With this vista before my eyes, and with the wind in my face, I think I found complete and utter satisfaction.....

So, back to sharkies!  Today we had to set out a net (in three different locations up the east coast in certain mangrove lagoons), and when we caught a little sharkie, they were brought on board, measured, weighed, given a numbered tag and a microchip under the skin, and a DNA sample taken from the dorsal fin (my job), all in under two minutes.  We even caught some that had been previously tagged, and so we were able to tell how much they'd grown in the meantime.  As a recent raid of a vessel illegally fishing sharks in the Galapagos islands goes to show, it is important to keep an eye on the populations of these apex predators.  The demand for shark fin products has put a real dent in the numbers of these awesome creatures all over the world....  and as I was taking the little snip of DNA samples from these little guys fins, I couldn't help shaking my head and thinking I should have had some chopstick and broth nearby.  Sick joke, I know....    (really sick). 

(sigh)...  what else?  Oh yes, I have started reading Darwin's Origin of Species.  I'm on page 3.  Only some 600 or so more pages to go.  Tomorrow is a long weekend, and I've no idea what I'm going to get up to (reading, evidently).  I'm gutted, as the scuba shop that offers interns a discount is full up for the whole weekend...  maybe I'll try to go to Floreana if there's still room on the boat....  not much else to report on right now.

 Besos y abrazos de Galapagos!