Let me
set the scene: imagine you are in a plane about to walk down the gangway. As you
leave the air conditioning you are hit by the bright, blinding sunshine and hot,
humid air. Luckily there is a breeze coming off the ocean which is visible
across the runway. Yes you have made it to a unique place, a tropical
archipelago set 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean just south
of the Equator!
The first
place you set foot on is the island of Baltra. This is a barren bit of rock
usually bathed in glorious sunshine. After paying the $100 entrance fee (not me
as I’m no tourist!) it is a short ride to the Itabaca Channel that separates
Baltra from the main tourist island of Santa Cruz. There you can see sea lions
and over the way you can the highlands in the centre of Santa Cruz (if you are
lucky with the weather). From there it is a short boat trip before you start the
40 km ride to the other side of the island and Puerto Ayora, the largest town in
the Galápagos. As you travel into the centre of the island the clouds make it
feel quite cold. Then on through the two small villages of Santa Rosa and
Bellavista before hitting the coast again at Puerto Ayora.
Like most
towns in Latin America the majority of the buildings are only half built with
the hope of more money one day to finish them off (maybe!). Around town you see
marine iguanas, birds and other animals. For me the two most scary and dangerous
animals are the centipedes and the mosquitoes. The former often grow to 30 cm in
length and can give you a very painful bite - I have found two in my bedroom
since I have been here. The latter are normally just a pain as there is no
malaria here but unfortunately there has been a recent outbreak of dengue fever
which I am told is jolly unpleasant.
I have to
mention the weather because, after all, I am English. There are two climates
here, the hot/wet season (January to June) and the Garúa or cool/dry season
(July to December). Here in Puerto Ayora the former is usually very hot (30OC+)
and humid without much rain. The latter is cold (20OC-25 OC)
and wet with occasional sunshine. Though I am told that Puerto Ayora probably
has the worst climate in the Galápagos.
Night
life consists of three or four bars that are ok. Being such a small place you
see the usual crowd around. Luckily the people at the station are a good crowd.
There is a great mix with lots of Ecuadorian students, international volunteers
and employees. There always seems to be a party going on for birthdays, leaving
does and house warmings or generally any excuse for a gathering. One of the real
drawbacks is the high turn over of people. Also everywhere is within a 10-minute
bike ride of everywhere else. These big cites are hell!
The main
transport is by bike unless you can afford the taxis (which are generally pick
up trucks!) and roads normally have a cycle lane next to the pavement. Motor
vehicles park in the road next to the cycle line. “Great” you say “the cycle
lane is not blocked!” If life was so easy, but this is Ecuador where people like
to walk in the cycle line (though I do not blame them, it is safer than the
pavement where you are liable to cripple yourself on the uneven pavement, or be
decapitated by the bits of steel sticking out of the concrete - finishing
touches are a minor detail) or parked cars open their doors with no regard for
the impertinent cyclist who might be using it!
There are
only a few beaches around the island that are easily accessible for public use.
Just down the road from town are a few tiny ones. The most impressive is a 3 km
walk but it is worth it. Called Tortuga Bay, it has a truly tropical Pacific
island look. It is a glorious fine white sandy beach that stretches off into the
distance. It never gets that busy and you usually see marine iguanas taking the
air along with pelicans dive-bombing for fish. This is what it is really all
about!
Work is a
bit of a bind here as it really gets in the way of the whole idea of being on a
tropical island, especially for me as I am stuck inside all day without a view
of anything. There is only one tiny window, which faces nowhere in particular -
a shame as just outside the library there is a great view onto the Bay (but no
window!). The days start earlier here beginning at 7:30am and finishing at 5pm,
but there is lots for me to do so time passes quickly.
Well for
the first 3 months I lived in a sort of hostel. It is called the Castillo
(Castle) with ramparts, and turrets. A politician who had to make a quick exit
after he was caught with his hand in the till originally built it, but now a
nice family owns it. There was one big problem though, only cold water (that was
when we had water of course). It definitely took a lot of courage to jump in for
a quick shower in the morning. It was normally a battle of wills, to be cold and
clean, or warm and dirty. I am now living in a house with a colleague from the
station and yes we have HOT water! It is bliss and just goes to show what you
take for granted. The other general problem of living here is the noise from
dogs, cockerels, which do not have a clue what daylight means and the General
Election. This takes place in October but they presently love to blare out
propaganda late into the night.
I have to
admit that the diving is not bad. I have seen loads of turtles, rays, reef fish,
lobsters, sea lions, penguins etc though I have not seen a hammerhead yet, but
next time. Friends of mine have seen whale sharks, orcas, seahorses, sun fish
and much more. The conditions are cold for the tropics, which is partly why
there is so much to see. A minimum of a semi-dry suit is advisable. especially
at this time of year. Visibility of around 15-20 metres makes up for the cold.
I hope
this gives you a taste of Santa Cruz island. There are a couple of other islands
such as Isabela and San Cristobal, which I hope to visit before I leave here (I
have visited a number of other islands on a previous visit to the Galápagos as a
tourist).
So as you
see it is a truly hard life here coping with the terrible weather, the language
barrier and the general hardships that such an island existence throws at you. I
hope you all have a great winter and that I will get a chance to see you all in
January 2003.
Update:
Caroline and Manta Divers
Hope everything is going well?
I am great, having just come back from an 8 day trip trying to capture lobsters by hand. It was brilliant to get away from my usual work and Puerto Ayora where I live and go off to see some of the best dive sites in the Galapagos islands.
The only unfortunate thing is that I only got to dive during the day once and it is not the right time of year to see the whale sharks as the water is getting warmer.
The rest of my dives were at night as I say to try to capture lobsters for tagging. There are three types red and green spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters. None have pincers though the latter are much easier to capture as they are often found lying on the rocks in the open. Even when you miss them them the first time they often do not move very far or hide in the rocks.
Once they had been caught they were measured, weighed and tagged and then thrown back into the sea. The idea is to capture them again to compare changes that occur. This is to help monitor the fishery which unfortunately like all of the different fisheries here are over exploited.
The diving was tricky as we went in close to the rocky shore often just below the surface (at most 8m) with the surge pulling you back and forth. You also had to watch out for sea urchins which have extremely long sharp spines that can go right through suits and even fins. Well in the end I only got a few but the other people did a lot better. The real problem is that I do not wear contact lenses or have lenses in my mask so my vision is impaired. Either way it was great experience for me.
We first of all went to an island called Wolf in the far north west of the Archipelago. It was then down to the islands of Fernandina and Isabela. The scenery is spectacular with Fernandina dominated by a single volcano. Isabela is much bigger and has five major volcanoes on it. The two islands are in the west and we went between them diving at various sites along the way.
Underwater people saw seahorses, sharks (including hammerheads), rays, loads of reef fish, octopus, sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers, green turtles and sea lions.
There were also many "chocolate chip sea star' as the name implies it really does look like a star shaped biscuit with chocolate chips on it!
We saw lots of birds, including penguins, flightless cormorants, boobies (red-footed, blue-footed and masked) frigate birds, and a couple of people saw Orcas (killer whales) though I was not one of those lucky ones.
The weather was great, mainly hot and sunny. There were a couple of bad days, but only two people (not me) got seasick!
Otherwise it is fairly quiet as a lot of the students have left or will be leaving in the next couple of weeks to be home for Christmas. I am also starting to wind down to leave the place in some sort of order for the next person who may take over from me.
I had better go and do some work so hope to hear from you soon. I can be contacted on this e-mail address until the beginning of January. On the 6th I should be returning to the mainland and then returning to the UK on the 15-16th January. Otherwise e-mail me at simcoxjl@yahoo.co.uk
Regards
John