Best of Abroad

October 30, 2006
Floreana & Isabela

This is the last week of my Human Ecology & Maritime Societies class. Everyone from the politics and biology strands are in this class together, and Diego, our professor, is one of the directors of GAIAS. The class is hard, but interesting. There is a ton of reading for it and we have midterms each week, plus a final and a paper. The first week was almost all about anthropology, which made me realize why I’m glad I’m an environmental science major. Last week got a lot more interesting. We talked a lot about fisheries and aquaculture, which are things I’m very interested in. This class is also making me realize how much I miss studying the ocean. Marine biology and oceanography were my favorites in high school, and I haven’t done any of that since then. This week I think we’re going to be talking specifically about fisheries in the Galàpagos, and we might go on a fishing trip, if the boats can get the right permits.

Last week we went to Isabela for a field trip. We left on Wednesday and got home Sunday afternoon. We left at 7:00 on Wednesday, after getting a full warning the day before about how rough the seas are and how to not get seasick. Our group was divided on to two boats. My boat was the Galapagos Osprey. We rode for about three hours, almost to the island of Floreana. The ocean was super rough, and we were bouncing around a lot. As we got closer and slowed down, they let us go up to the bow of the boat. It was so nice to lay up there in the sun with my friends! We went to a rock called Devil’s Crown and jumped out of the boat to snorkel. It was very beautiful there. We saw rays, lots of pretty fish, but the most exciting thing we saw was a white tipped reef shark! It was at the bottom and swam away, so I didn’t get to see it that closely though. I got to lay out on the bow of the boat and dry off in the sun until we got to Floreana.

On Floreana, we went up to the highlands. We went to the Galapaguera, which is the tortoise reserve. There were huge tortoises, and we watched some of the eating. It is so interesting to watch them move around and eat. Then we saw the little trickle of water that is the only freshwater for the island. The limited amount of freshwater is the main reason the population of the island is so small (around 100, I think). We hiked up to these walls that were carved probably by water. They were really beautiful also, and there was one place that reminded me of Fern Canyon! From there we ate lunch, and then went back to the dock to go the next two hours to Floreana. At the dock I saw huge marine iguanas! These ones had a lot of red on their bodies. The rest of the ride was fine also, very bumpy again. I also got all wet the whole boat ride, sitting in the back, there was so much spray; luckily it was warm enough. We got to the hotel quickly, in our truck taxis. I was in a room with Annie, Megan, and Kristen, my standard trip roomies.

On Thursday we went into the highlands. We rode horses to a volcanic crater. The horse I rode had foal that followed us the whole way. It was very cute, but sometimes got in the considering there were 26 of us riding up there. The crater is HUGE! The inside is all hardened lava, but there are a few steaming vents. We got off the horses and hiked for a couple of hours near the crater. We looked at different types of lava (pahoehoe and aa!) and the landscape was very beautiful. There were lava tubes, and we saw the different layers and colors difference in the lava from different flows. There were a few places along the trail where the guide stopped and told us to feel by rocks, and it was warm! There were a few huge pits, and I can’t remember what formed them, but the colors around them were beautiful! The whole landscape was so different, and very beautiful!

On Friday we went out with local fishermen to see the lava tubes on another part of the island. Going with local fishermen helps to support them when they can’t be fishing a lot. The boats were small and the ocean was very rough! We were crashing up and down with every wave. We got to this super beautiful place with lots of lava tubes and bridges. On the rocks there were blue footed boobies and penguins! We also saw sea turtles swimming by and there were mangroves growing on the rocks. We walked around a little bit on land, but then went snorkeling. Diego warned us to be very careful snorkeling as to not get lost. Annie and I went by ourselves, quietly, so we could hopefully see more. We saw an octopus and saw it change colors! There were also lots of pretty fish. Then we went with Diego and another student, Kristen, to go through some of the lava tubes. On our way, a lobo decided to join us. He really wanted to play and it was funny and scary. He kept swimming right to my face and then swimming under me suddenly. Diego also brought up a sea cucumber so we could look at it. We got back on our boats and went to another place to snorkel. There we saw a penguin swimming and lots more beautiful fish. When we got back to the harbor, we went over to these tiny islands. There are channels there where you can see lots of white tipped reef sharks. We also saw a little baby lobo on the beach. There were marine iguanas everywhere! More than I’ve seen anywhere else. A lot of them were pretty small, but then there were huge ones. It was so much fun to watch them move around.

Saturday was our free day (and time to do some of the huge amount of reading for Monday’s midterm). In the morning I went to Isabela’s galapaguera. They actually breed tortoises there. There are also different species and an interpretation center. It was a really nice facility with cute baby tortoises, and some huge old ones. Then we hiked to look for flamingos. There were three at the lagoon. They were bright pink and so pretty! Some of us hiked further down the trail to a lava tube. They whole hike was very pretty and it was just nice to be outside and hiking around. We walked the whole way back on the beautiful white sand beach.

We also had class on Isabela. Not a lot of fun after a full day, but the history of fisheries on the island is pretty interesting. This is one of the islands with the most illegal fishing. Something called shark finning happens; they catch sharks, cut off all their fins, and then dump the bodies back into the ocean. Then they go out farther on the ocean and sell the fins to, usually, Japanese merchants because they consider them to be a delicacy. There is also lots of illegal harvesting of sea cucumbers, also a delicacy in Southeast Asia. There is a huge amount of controversy between the national park and fishermen on this island.

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