Close Encounters of the Interspecies Kind

June 21, 2002

Welcome to Episode 4 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Galápagos… 

Sea lions bodysurf alongside the panga as it pulls up to the rocky landing site at Punta Suárez. A Galápagos hawk and several Española-variety marine iguanas observe our intrepid heroines as they jump ashore.

Española, home of the critically endangered waved albatross, is not on every Galápagos itinerary. Located at the extreme southeast of the archipelago, the island is a 10- to 12-hour boat ride from Isla Santa Cruz, the Mistral’s previous (and not all that interesting) stop.

Wrinkling their noses at the stench of sea lions, Eden and Miko make their way along the trail. Blue-footed boobies, those comical-looking perennial favorites, honk and whistle. (To hear the blue-footed booby, click here.)

Bolivar leads the group to a cliff.

“This is the ‘Albatross Airport,’” he explains. “Thanks to their enormous 7-8 foot wingspan, albatrosses can soar for hours and can travel great distances, but they need some help getting airborne.”

One after another, these ungainly-looking birds – the largest in Galápagos – use the steep cliff as a runway and take flight. In the air they are graceful, agile, and adept.

But as engrossing as the waved albatrosses’ take-off tactics are, their lengthy and elaborate courtship rituals – a complex series of repeated, orchestrated displays involving bill-fencing, sway-walking, sky-pointing, gaping, preening, and bill-circling – are even more so.

Eden has to be dragged away from the spectacle at the nesting area and back to the Mistral. She broods through breakfast, sulks through putting on her wetsuit, and scowls through the panga ride to a snorkel site well offshore.

She stops pouting the moment she enters the water and finds herself right in the middle of a giant school of pompanos and surrounded by more than a dozen sea turtles. Hammerhead sharks and spotted eagle rays are visible in the blue depths.

Eden and Yumiko are grinning when they emerge. They smile through a much-needed shower, laugh through lunch, and beam through the panga ride to the afternoon’s landing site.

Gardner Bay Beach is awash in sunning sea lions. Most of the Mistral’s passengers set towels down wherever there is space and simply relax among them. Eden takes photographs while Miko keeps an eye out for protective mother sea lions that might chase an unsuspecting photographer down the beach (as occurred on day two, when Eden got too close to a pup).

Our fearless females watch in amusement when a sea lion ambles over to where Jake, a redheaded Homo sapiens, is catching some rays.

“Wha…?!” Jake yelps, scrambling to his feet as the sea lion takes over his blanket.

This latest interspecies encounter strikes our heroines as a particularly apt end to their expedition to the Enchanted Isles.

“Only in Galápagos,” Eden says, digging her toes into the white sand and shaking her head. “Man, I love this place!”

© Eden Feuer

HIgh Speed and High Excitement on the High Seas

June 19, 2002

Welcome to Episode 3 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Galápagos…

Isla Santiago’s fur seal grottos are bustling. Dozens of the marine mammals, smaller and darker than sea lions and with big eyes adapted to nocturnal feeding, play and rest. A lava heron preens. Oystercatchers, bright bills tucked under their wings, sleep standing. Two yellow-crowned night-herons hunt.

“We’ve got to move on.”

“Already?” Eden pulls her eye away from the camera’s viewfinder to look at her watch. She notes with surprise that more than an hour has passed.

“C’mon. Let me show you Darwin’s Toilet.”

Curiosity piqued, Eden scrambles to her feet and joins the others.

“That,” Bolivar points to an old lava tube, “is Darwin’s Toilet.”

Our intrepid heroines watch in fascination as the action of the sea moves water in and out of the vertical cave. It looks – and sounds – just like a flushing toilet. (To see and hear Darwin’s Toilet flush, click here.)

Making crappy jokes the whole time, the audacious adventurers hike back to the beach and don their snorkel gear.

Puerto Egas’ waters are bustling. A sea lion glides by nonchalantly. Colorful fish dart to and fro. A shark prowls the shallows. A sea turtle swims alongside Eden, who is thrilled and awed.

“Everybody in!”

“Already?”

As our fearless females rest and refuel, the Mistral cruises past lava islets sprouting giant opuntia cactus to anchor at Isla Bartolomé, where a hot, sweaty schlep up 370 specially built wooden steps rewards the dynamic duo with a fabulous view of iconic Pinnacle Rock.

They return eagerly to the landing site to board the “photographer’s panga,” which lingers long amongst the penguins and white-tipped reef sharks that dwell along the coast.

“We’d better get back,” Bolivar says, revving the engine.

“Already?”

The race is on to return to the Mistral before the last of the light fades from the sky.

“Whoowheeeee!” the panga’s five passengers holler gleefully each time the little craft hits a wave and goes airborne.

The Mistral’s decks are bustling. Fernando, the cook, serves another mouth-watering meal he miraculously manages to make in the ship’s tiny, rocking kitchen. Eden and Miko chat comfortably with their fellow travelers. Bolivar briefs the group on what to expect tomorrow.   

Another glorious day in Galápagos comes to a close.

Yes, already.

© Eden Feuer

The Scent of Adventure

June 18, 2002

Welcome to Episode 2 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Galápagos…

Eden and Miko stop amongst a profusion of blue and white moonflowers to wipe the sweat off their brows. The humidity is stifling.

“Funky,” Eden pronounces, surveying the surprisingly lush landscape of this part of Isla Isabela.

Its inhabitants are even funkier. A large male land iguana, still yellow from the mating season, saunters across the trail. Giant tortoises munch languidly on the overgrown vegetation.

Medical necessity calls our intrepid heroines and their companions away from the funky flora and fauna and back to the landing site. Ariel, a fellow passenger, has been running a fever that shows no signs of abating, so arrangements have been made for the Mistral to rendezvous with a ship that has a doctor aboard.

The doctor determines that Ariel is in no danger and soon the Mistral is once again underway.

Isla Fernandina is a wonderland of sally lightfoot crabs and sea lions. Huge marine iguanas bask in the sun. A lava heron in search of a meal perches on the edge of the pahoehoe lava.

Our fearless females are lured from the tidepools by nesting flightless cormorants. The turquoise-eyed birds, endemic to just two islands, are among the world’s rarest; at last count there were fewer than 1,400 individuals.

As if to drive home the humbling awareness of the fragility of life that inevitably accompanies encountering an endangered animal in the wild, the explorers stumble across a newborn sea lion resting by its exhausted mother.

“Umm, what’s that?” someone asks, pointing to a gelatinous red blob on the sand.

“That’s the placenta,” Bolivar, the naturalist guide, explains. “Still untouched by scavengers. The pup is probably less than an hour old.”

The party lingers by the sea lions until Bolivar calls out, “Dolphins! They’re not far. Let’s get back to the boat. We might be able to catch up with them!”

The chase is on! Hopeful, eager, and anxious, the Mistral’s passengers lean over the rail, only taking their eyes off the dolphins long enough to admire a passing fin whale.

And suddenly, the ship is surrounded by a large pod. Dolphins are riding the bow waves and leaping acrobatically. Delighted, the watching humans point and clap and cheer like children.

Eden seriously contemplates jumping into the cold, jellyfish-infested waters for a chance to swim with the dolphins. Uncharacteristically, she demonstrates some common sense and refrains, though several of the other passengers do make the attempt. It is all for naught, though, and they return to the ship shivering and covered in jellyfish stings. To ease their pain, Bolivar douses the swimmers in vinegar; for the rest of the night, the Mistral reeks of it.

“Doesn’t smell too bad in here,” Eden notes as our intrepid heroines step into their tiny cabin.

“Only because for once you didn’t go overboard.”

© Eden Feuer