Today was another early start but for good reason because it was going to be a very busy day. We started off the day with a snorkeling excursion that proved to be one of the most amazing scenes I've ever seen in my life. We got in the boat to head over to the area that we were going to be exploring, on the way the captain told us that it was the perfect time in the day to go, at the time they were experiencing the spring tide which is when the tides are the highest and lowest of the year, at this time It was the lowest, so low that there were many anchored boats that looked like they were beached on land because there was absolutely no water around them. Anyway, we got to the site of where we were snorkeling and noticed that there was another group already there, they were all wearing wet suits while we all just had regular bathing suits on. I put my flippers goggle and air tube on and just jumped in the water and it was so cold it shocked me at first. The people in the wetsuit probably didn’t feel a thing. But I ended up just forgetting how cold the water was when I saw something cool. Out of the whole experience of snorkeling the two coolest this that I got to see were multiple sea turtles, one that if he had legs he would have bee sprinting, he zoomed by me, and then I also saw a marine iguana swim right in front of my face. We were used to seeing the iguanas on the rocks but not in the water like this.
Once we were done wit the snorkeling we headed over to an island called the Island of Tintoreras. This was an island that was filled with these rocks that rose out of the ground in pillar form and were white in some parts, they were extremely interesting. Our guide then picked up a piece of the rock and showed us how fragile and pour it is, he also told us to take note of the brownish rusty looking color within the rock as it was unique and most of the rocks in other surrounding islands are not like this. We then moved along through the island. This island was known as an iguana nesting ground. It is very interesting how the iguanas nest their eggs and how the hatch, the mother will dig a hole and place the eggs into the hole in a position that Is crucial to the offspring’s development. They then cover the hole and wait for the offspring to hatch and the offspring then have to find their way out of the den. I wasn’t sure if we passed any or not but we had to stay on the designated trail in certain areas to prevent us from stepping on the nests and hurting the iguana offspring. We eventually came upon a little ravine that typical would be filled with water to the point where the ravine could be accessed by the main body of water, however the tide was so low there was a pool of water in the ravine in which anything that was within the ravine was stranded there until high tide came around again. The White Tip Reef Shark was one of the animals stuck in this pool but it created a perfect opportunity for us to observe them with a pretty good view of them. We then continued onto an area of beach that had a sigh that read “stop” however our guide told us that he would be the look out and if anyone was coming he would whistle us back, but he let us explore the beach which was full of baby sea loins and the mothers. The babies ranged in ages and sizes, two were in the water playing while others were in the mangroves chillin, begging for food, or sleeping. We moved along from that beach and headed towards the boat to go back to the hotel area to get ready for our second half of the day in which we were supposed to hike to the edge of the crater of sierra Negra!
We all got ready for our hike and met out front of the hotel to get on our safari bus that would take us to the start of the hike. Sierra Negra is very high in elevation and as we traveled there the landscape and demographic of residents changed dramatically. There were less and less people as we moved up in elevation. It also got much more humid and foggy as we moved up in elevation which subsequently changed the type of vegetation, plants were much more greena and dense, there was an abundance of the fur looking lichens growing on the trees. This is where much of the agricultural land on Isabella was located but compared to Santa Cruz there was not nearly as much going on. We got to the end of the road where the beginning of the hike was, the fog was thick, and the temperature was a lot colder than when we started at the hotel. Poala talked to the park rangers to see how the visibility was throughout the day and how it was looking for us when we got to the top, they told us that it has been really bad all day and that they didn’t think that it would get any better so there was no point in us to take the long hike up to just see the fog that we have been experiencing all the way up. Instead Paola had a back up plan to take us to three separate places of interest, we went to a set of lava caves with gold lichens growing on the ceiling, we went to a turtle breeding center, and we went to a lookout point called El Mango. I was pretty disappointed that we were no hiking Sierra Negra, I almost wanted to do it anyway in the fog just incase it miraculously cleared up. But I guess it was smarter to listen to the people that knew what they were talking about.
Out of the three replacement activities the one that had the strongest impact on me was the turtle breeding center. When we arrived to the islands and were taking our bus from the ferry port on the north end of Santa Cruz to our hotel Diego was explaining to us the philosophy the island has toward wildlife in that they want to preserve the ecological integrity of the island, therefore they want to let nature take its course. For example, if they see an animal that is hurt they will not go help the animal rather just leave it be and whatever happens, happens because that is what is supposed to happen. Same with the flamingos earlier the day before, the populations in that lagoon have been decreasing due to low shrimp populations due to deoxygenated water. The water could easily be managed to promote the repopulation of shrimp however the Island rather let nature take its course. But then they have these turtle breeding centers in which they capture wild tortoises, force them to breed 3-5 times a year when they normally breed 1-2 times and then they raise large offspring populations until they reach a certain size and then they release them back out into the wild. There were a few things that I had wrong with this place, One, the fact that they force these tortoises to mate 3-5 times a year which is much more than the natural occurrence and poala was telling us that the first and maybe second time is consensual and then every other time after that is considered rape. Also, how do they get the males to want to reproduce 5 times in a year if it is only natural to reproduce 1-2. Another problem that I had is that they were breeding all these turtles to eventually be released back into the wild but what about the breeders themselves? Will they just live in captivity and pop out babies for the rest of their lives? Another issue I had was that these tortoises compared to the ones at El Chato looked miserable, they didn’t move much, and they almost always were found up against one f the walls keeping them in their little pen like they want no part of being there and just want to leave. Another issue that I saw it that most of the young have now grown their whole lives depending on another species that they wouldn’t normally have interactions with in the wild to provide their food and care for their well being so ow that when they are released into the wild they do not have experience with living on their own which consequently may cause them to struggle. Overall all these questions and issues culminate into the one overall concern and issue, if you want to let nature run its course why have turtle breeding centers, it is a 100% contradiction. I understand the real reason in that tortoise’s populations are dropping due to influence by introduced invasive species however it’s just off setting to hear one thing and then see a total contradiction of that whole philosophy.
Once we returned to the hotel for the night we had a reflection in which we spent a lot of time talking about this issue and wildlife management in general. It was another great day in the Galapagos even though we could not hike Sierra Negra.
Once we were done wit the snorkeling we headed over to an island called the Island of Tintoreras. This was an island that was filled with these rocks that rose out of the ground in pillar form and were white in some parts, they were extremely interesting. Our guide then picked up a piece of the rock and showed us how fragile and pour it is, he also told us to take note of the brownish rusty looking color within the rock as it was unique and most of the rocks in other surrounding islands are not like this. We then moved along through the island. This island was known as an iguana nesting ground. It is very interesting how the iguanas nest their eggs and how the hatch, the mother will dig a hole and place the eggs into the hole in a position that Is crucial to the offspring’s development. They then cover the hole and wait for the offspring to hatch and the offspring then have to find their way out of the den. I wasn’t sure if we passed any or not but we had to stay on the designated trail in certain areas to prevent us from stepping on the nests and hurting the iguana offspring. We eventually came upon a little ravine that typical would be filled with water to the point where the ravine could be accessed by the main body of water, however the tide was so low there was a pool of water in the ravine in which anything that was within the ravine was stranded there until high tide came around again. The White Tip Reef Shark was one of the animals stuck in this pool but it created a perfect opportunity for us to observe them with a pretty good view of them. We then continued onto an area of beach that had a sigh that read “stop” however our guide told us that he would be the look out and if anyone was coming he would whistle us back, but he let us explore the beach which was full of baby sea loins and the mothers. The babies ranged in ages and sizes, two were in the water playing while others were in the mangroves chillin, begging for food, or sleeping. We moved along from that beach and headed towards the boat to go back to the hotel area to get ready for our second half of the day in which we were supposed to hike to the edge of the crater of sierra Negra!
We all got ready for our hike and met out front of the hotel to get on our safari bus that would take us to the start of the hike. Sierra Negra is very high in elevation and as we traveled there the landscape and demographic of residents changed dramatically. There were less and less people as we moved up in elevation. It also got much more humid and foggy as we moved up in elevation which subsequently changed the type of vegetation, plants were much more greena and dense, there was an abundance of the fur looking lichens growing on the trees. This is where much of the agricultural land on Isabella was located but compared to Santa Cruz there was not nearly as much going on. We got to the end of the road where the beginning of the hike was, the fog was thick, and the temperature was a lot colder than when we started at the hotel. Poala talked to the park rangers to see how the visibility was throughout the day and how it was looking for us when we got to the top, they told us that it has been really bad all day and that they didn’t think that it would get any better so there was no point in us to take the long hike up to just see the fog that we have been experiencing all the way up. Instead Paola had a back up plan to take us to three separate places of interest, we went to a set of lava caves with gold lichens growing on the ceiling, we went to a turtle breeding center, and we went to a lookout point called El Mango. I was pretty disappointed that we were no hiking Sierra Negra, I almost wanted to do it anyway in the fog just incase it miraculously cleared up. But I guess it was smarter to listen to the people that knew what they were talking about.
Out of the three replacement activities the one that had the strongest impact on me was the turtle breeding center. When we arrived to the islands and were taking our bus from the ferry port on the north end of Santa Cruz to our hotel Diego was explaining to us the philosophy the island has toward wildlife in that they want to preserve the ecological integrity of the island, therefore they want to let nature take its course. For example, if they see an animal that is hurt they will not go help the animal rather just leave it be and whatever happens, happens because that is what is supposed to happen. Same with the flamingos earlier the day before, the populations in that lagoon have been decreasing due to low shrimp populations due to deoxygenated water. The water could easily be managed to promote the repopulation of shrimp however the Island rather let nature take its course. But then they have these turtle breeding centers in which they capture wild tortoises, force them to breed 3-5 times a year when they normally breed 1-2 times and then they raise large offspring populations until they reach a certain size and then they release them back out into the wild. There were a few things that I had wrong with this place, One, the fact that they force these tortoises to mate 3-5 times a year which is much more than the natural occurrence and poala was telling us that the first and maybe second time is consensual and then every other time after that is considered rape. Also, how do they get the males to want to reproduce 5 times in a year if it is only natural to reproduce 1-2. Another problem that I had is that they were breeding all these turtles to eventually be released back into the wild but what about the breeders themselves? Will they just live in captivity and pop out babies for the rest of their lives? Another issue I had was that these tortoises compared to the ones at El Chato looked miserable, they didn’t move much, and they almost always were found up against one f the walls keeping them in their little pen like they want no part of being there and just want to leave. Another issue that I saw it that most of the young have now grown their whole lives depending on another species that they wouldn’t normally have interactions with in the wild to provide their food and care for their well being so ow that when they are released into the wild they do not have experience with living on their own which consequently may cause them to struggle. Overall all these questions and issues culminate into the one overall concern and issue, if you want to let nature run its course why have turtle breeding centers, it is a 100% contradiction. I understand the real reason in that tortoise’s populations are dropping due to influence by introduced invasive species however it’s just off setting to hear one thing and then see a total contradiction of that whole philosophy.
Once we returned to the hotel for the night we had a reflection in which we spent a lot of time talking about this issue and wildlife management in general. It was another great day in the Galapagos even though we could not hike Sierra Negra.