First view of the island of Baltra |
The 727 we flew in on |
Today we flew in an old 727 to the island of Baltra, the sole island
in the Galapagos archipelago which is not a part of the national
park; it is owned by the Ecuadoran military. While waiting for our
shuttle bus to the airport at the Hilton Colon I met a very decent
chap by name of Tracy Shea. He used to work for CNN in New York
and has travelled all over the world as a broadcast journalist. At
the point where he spent a majority of his time at a desk in New
York he quit to start his own business. Now he takes contracts with
folks like Lindblad Expeditions
- he is along to film, edit, and replicate a short documentary video of
our trip to the Galapagos. He will do this for four consecutive trips.
He seems quite interesting, and has a two bedroom apartment in Nob Hill
in San Francisco while he lives in New York. Lucky dog.
|
First view of the island of Baltra |
The 727 we flew in on |
Myself and my cabin mate Andy Jaros |
Our cabin on the Polaris |
Riding in a zodiac
|
The Polaris is seen in the background
|
However, we did see several other species of wildlife.
Some of the birds are too commonplace looking to mention despite
their possible historical significance as keystones in supporting
Darwin's expostulation of a theory of evolution. We also saw many
blue footed boobies (boobies), surely the harbingers of
hordes to come, several magnificent frigate birds, and lava heron.
Most exciting however, was spotting white tipped reef sharks, black
tipped sharks, sea lions (Galapagos sea lions, which are related
to California sea lions albeit smaller), and especially exciting
green sea turtles. Our zodiac driver Super "G" (Giovanni) spotted
many in concert with our naturalist.
Oh, and a few diamond (spotted?) eagle rays. If I have the opportunity
to see sea turtles while SCUBA diviing it will be truly awesome.
The zodiacs appear to be just the same as the ones I saw as a child
in those Jaques Cousteau television specials; ours are even made
in France.
A zodiac:
Our driver often ran the zodiac backwards - I surmise that in thise fashion he could see the shallowness of the water to see if he were in danger of hitting the propellor. I never thought of driving them in this fashion... but it is obviously useful.
The area we visited is isolated by a channel from the main part of San Cristobal island. The conservationists have relocated land iguanas there for refuge from feral dogs. The dogs started to swim the channel so they put a fence in the channel. When grown they return some iguanas to the main part of the island for they are large enough to resist wild dogs.
Of course I note that the eggs and young that these repatriates produce will fall victim to feral dogs, so a long term strategy for survival of the iguanas must include some ideas for extermination of the dogs. I don't think the ASPCA would be happy...
One way in which I very much envy Charles Darwin and his companions
is that their ship was presumably quite quiet. As I sit here on
the afterdeck of the Polaris I am assaulted by the constant
dull roar of machinery. Presumably cooling units which keep the
interior of the ship cool - a blessing I would not forgo. Nor the
luxury of refrigerated (unspoiled!) meat and vegetables.
November 3, 2002, 10:23 pm