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| Lonesome George |
The third class I
took on the Galapagos was called Marine Conservation Ecology and was
taught by Luis Vinueza. Since we already had Luis for our class in
Quito, we knew it would be a great class, but it turned out to be very
different from the previous classes on the islands. Our main topic was
invasive species and we had a 3-week long class project to write a group
paper on the prevention, control, and restoration of habitats as it
relates to invasive species. Apart from this project, we were split
into three groups to lead class debates about hot topics in the
Galapagos. The topics – Tourism, Sport Fishing, and Ecosystem Based
Management – were all very interesting and allowed us to talk to some
people involved in the Galapagos National Park to research. I was in
the tourism group and did my best to argue that tourism was sustainable
in the Galapagos if an emphasis was placed on ecotourism and the number
of tourists was capped each year. Even though we had no underwater fieldwork, all of these debates went really well and we are all still
friends (I think).
The last week
of our class, we went to Santa Cruz. Here, we went to the Charles
Darwin Research Station to hear presentations from the head of the
marine lab and the head of the fisheries management team. It was cool
to be able to talk to these people and they came and had dinner with us
one night and we presented our invasive species paper to them and got
great feedback on our ideas.
Not everything
we did in Santa Cruz was completely related to our class. Of course, we
went to the CDRS and saw Lonesome George and went and jumped off of Las
Grietas again. One time, as David and I waited for Erick's countdown
to jump at the same time, David started to jump on 3 while I was waiting
for "Go". When he realized that I was not going, he stutter-stepped
and teetered on the edge of the 60plus foot cliff for a second before
gaining his balance. It was scarily close to a disaster and we made
sure to clear it up before we jumped, and succeeded the second time. On
Wednesday, we all went to Floreana for the day and were greeted in the
Floreana bay by a huge pod of dolphins! We went to the highlands and
saw the cave where the first Galapagueñan was born and enjoyed the sun
and snorkeling at a black stone beach, Playa Negra. We also had dinner
with two representatives from the Sea Shepherd Galapagos office. It was
very interesting to talk to these people about what they are doing and
what they see as the biggest problems facing the Galapagos.
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| Floreana |
Mixed
in with the hot showers (a rare treat) and classwork and excursions,
there were plenty of “only in the Galapagos” moments. During a break
one afternoon, for example, I was reading a book titled “Galapagos at
the crossroads” on our hotel balcony and I looked up as I turned the
page to see a blue-footed booby fly by with the outline of Santa Fe in
the distance past Academy Bay. I never thought I would ever be so lucky
to have this experience, and I am constantly reminded oh how incredible
and unique this place is that I call home.
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