Month: February 2025

Time was running short on our stay in the Galápagos – there was only one more 3-week class ahead of us, and after that, for legal reasons (the government is very strict about how long foreigners or even mainland Ecuadorians can stay on the islands), we would have to leave pretty much immediately.

Our final class was focused on plants in the Galápagos, with a focus on the relations between native and invasive species. Due to the Galápagos’ remoteness, much like my home state of Hawai’i, its native wildlife has evolved on its own separate from the rest of the world. As such, this was a pretty interesting class subject for me, although I personally was a little disappointed at its relative lack of field work compared to the other classes where we made trips to other islands.

Outside of class, we did our best to make the most of our remaining time in the islands. After learning that camping permits were pretty cheap and easy to acquire, we decided to go camping at Puerto Chino, a beach on the south shore and the farthest (and nicest) beach that could be accessed without having to take a boat.

We also did what is called a “360” on San Cristóbal, essentially taking a boat all the way around the island and visiting various spots along the way, including Kicker Rock, a famous snorkeling and diving spot, and Punta Pitt, the easternmost point of the Galápagos. There, we got lucky enough to see a massive dolphin pod! The size of it was genuinely like nothing I had seen before, with probably at least a hundred dolphins if not more – that moment was one of the most standout points of the semester. We spent the rest of our time hanging around town and at the beaches, making the best of the time we had left, including renting some kayaks and paddling around Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

But before we knew it, the weeks flew by and it was time to leave. It was difficult especially since we were all leaving at different times to go on our way, so we had to say goodbye to each other basically one at a time. It wasn’t long before I found myself back at the airport in Quito for the long trip home, but the experiences I had in Ecuador and the Galápagos will stay with me forever.

Goodbyes at the airport.
Kai

After our mid-semester break, we started on our second-to-last course, Field Ecology. As someone with past experience in field research and who wants to continue doing it in the future, I was looking forward to this course, and it did not disappoint. On our first week, we spent the day on a field excursion to the island of Española, located almost directly south of San Cristóbal. As it is about the same distance as Santa Cruz, it was about a 2-hour boat ride to reach the island through fairly rough seas, although thankfully the water had calmed by the time we reached the island.

Sailing to Española.

Compared to the three other ‘major’ islands we had visited so far – San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz, and Isabela – Española was considerably smaller (37 square miles – less than a quarter of the size of the already-small San Cristóbal!) and had no human population. However, it is best known for its status as one of if not the only breeding sites of the waved albatross, which makes it a popular location for seabird enthusiasts.

Rocky cliffs on the south shore of Española. Apart from these, the island is extremely flat and barren as can be seen in the distance.

We spent some time first snorkeling near the northern part of the island at a point known as Gardner Bay before landing on the island itself at Punta Suarez, on the island’s western tip, to observe the local wildlife, which included the albatrosses as well as several other seabirds, in addition to sea lions and marine iguanas, unique among lizards for their swimming and diving abilities.

Top left clockwise: waved albatross, sea lion pups among marine iguanas, and Nazca boobies.

The second and third weeks of the class were focused on a local study on San Cristóbal that focused on incidences of bird roadkill on the island’s main road. As a part of this study, we had to go out several times and basically search for and collect (in a sanitary manner, of course!) dead birds along the side of the road.

Bird sampling along the road.

Definitely morbid and unpleasant work, but that’s simply what the project entails sometimes – when, in this case, you need to know how many birds are getting killed on the road within a certain period, well, the only way to really find that out is to go out and see. So while it was definitely not anyone’s idea of a good time, I think it was a useful project to get us used to the idea that not all field science is necessarily “fun” work – this tied into other elements of the class that discussed field research and science from an ethical perspective, which I think was also a very interesting discussion to have that opened up new perspectives on how field research should be conducted.

Kai

After the end of our Island Biogeography course, we had a one-week mid-semester break to round out our first month in the Galápagos. Although we had visited Santa Cruz before as part of our previous class, many of us wanted to explore more of the other islands in the Galápagos, so we decided to spend most of the week away from San Cristóbal.

Since we had been to Santa Cruz before, we decided to make our main objective the island of Isabela. The largest island on the Galápagos, but only the 3^rd most populated, Isabela is known for its tall volcanoes and unique wildlife. To get there, we had to travel by boat again via Santa Cruz, and between the boat rides and a 4-hour “layover” in Santa Cruz, it took the whole day to reach the island.

The main town on Isabela, Puerto Villamil, was much smaller and less developed than the other ‘main towns’ of the islands we had visited.  It had just a few paved roads and the rest being either made from brick or even just dirt and sand. For the first day, we went up to the highlands and hiked in the crater of Volcán Sierra Negra, where we saw active sulfur deposits. It was a very different change of scenery compared to the rest of the Galápagos, reminding me somewhat more of the Andes that we had spent time in on the mainland.

Hiking Sierra Negra.

We spent our second and third days on Isabela, mostly around town, surfing some waves by the beach and biking along the coast to the Wall of Tears.  This was a remnant of the Galápagos’ past as a prison colony where prisoners were forced to build a wall by hand in a cruel act of pointless labor.

The streets of Puerto Ayora, and one of the beaches where we surfed.

On our fourth day, a few of us decided to take a boat tour to see more of the island. Like all islands of the Galápagos, only a tiny fraction of Isabela is accessible by car and as such, if you want to see other parts of the island you need to take a boat. We decided to travel around the southwestern coast, which would allow us to see a wide variety of marine and terrestrial life on and around Isabela.

Some flightless cormorants and manta rays west of Isabela.

Over the course of the day-long trip, we traveled along the coast, stopping at various points to go onshore or go snorkeling.  We saw a huge variety of life – among the highlights were orcas, manta rays, Galápagos penguins, flightless cormorants, several sharks, and seahorses!

On the fifth day of our break, we returned to Santa Cruz.  We spent two more days there, exploring the island and Puerto Ayora a little further, before heading back to San Cristobal to spend the weekend relaxing before our next class started off.

Kai