Welcome to my latest blog post from the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island.
This last week has seen more settled weather than the long periods of rain experienced the week before. The daily forecast this week was predictably, ‘overcast’, with only brief appearances from the sun (which did make for more comfortable midday temperatures).
Work this week has consisted of getting together all the Fisheries monitoring data sources from which I can glean information about monitoring sites, to add to those sites already recognized by the Ecosystems team in their main database. The sites will have coordinates with various degrees of accuracy attributed to them and can be referenced by other databases.
Out and about on Santa Cruz Island
I was exploring the back streets of Puerto Ayora recently when a cacophony of sounds drew me to a cordoned off block and a large number of people gathered on the roadside. A soccer game was being held on a field made up of crumbled volcanic rock (sliding tackles not recommended). At the same time, groups of cyclists were racing laps around the soccer field and an adjacent gymnasium. Along with the cheering crowds, there was a loud commentary coming through some very large speakers which was added to by occasional bouts of shouting from a number of inebriated bystanders. I found out later that there had been a festival on that day. 
Last weekend, after uploading my 2nd blog post, I went for a quick trip by water taxi to the other side of Academy Bay (in which Puerto Ayora is situated) and walked to Las Grietas; a gorge with cool clear water at the bottom. Being the weekend it was crowded and I didn’t try the water, but certainly intend to do so sometime in the future.
Yesterday (Saturday), I was joined by another volunteer, Jacob, for a cycle trip into the
highlands up to Los Gemelos (two pit craters known as 'The Twins') and a number of other places of interest. We set off relatively early and just out of Puerto Ayora investigated a short lava tunnel that didn’t look wholly stable and we certainly didn’t trust enough to venture into. 
There was another tunnel to look at further up the road in the small town of Bellavista (about 7km from Puerto Ayora), where we arrived thoroughly in need of a rest and re-hydration after a 40 minute uphill bike ride. The tunnel was just out of town on private property and so cost US$2.50 to go through. To be honest, the entrance didn’t look any more stable than the one at the previous tunnel, but we ventured on with a borrowed flashlight and my headlamp (which was in need of fresh batteries). The tunnel was surprisingly long (800m to 1km) and we came across frequent rock falls. It was (I have to admit) a tiny bit of a relief to finally get to the end.After a bit of discussion we decided to catch a taxi the rest of the way to Los Gemelos, some
15km further up the road. This would give us a mostly downhill ride back. All the taxis on the island are pick-up trucks and a bike in the tray is a common sight. 
The road headed steadily uphill and passes between Los Gemeles/‘The Twins’ , which is also the crest of the island and where we got out. The craters are very impressive and there was plenty of birdlife to be seen and heard.The way back was pretty much all downhill. About 3km from Los Gemeles is the small town of Santa Rosa and the start of a downhill side track leading to a Giant Tortoise Reserve. The guide books suggest keeping an eye out for wild tortoises grazing in the fields on the way to the reserve and we secretly hoped to see one to avoid having to go all the way to the reserve entrance and then into the reserve itself.
We needn’t have worried. About halfway down a familiar domed shape loomed up next to the
side of the road ahead of us. We stopped about 20m away and stealthily walked towards the large tortoise eating the lush grass, being careful not to disturb it and likely cause it to retract its head with a hiss back into its shell. Its size became apparent as we approached to within a metre or so, and it still hadn’t noticed us. When the tortoise eventually did notice us, it stopped chewing and watched us warily. The photo I’ve included shows Jacob, who is of average height, next to the tortoise (I’m 6’4”/ 193cm and didn’t do it justice!).The rest of the (downhill) ride back to Puerto Ayora went by relatively quickly and on arriving back I promptly got a flat tire. My bike does remarkably well to carry a rather hefty 100+ kg, but it must have decided enough was enough.
Today (Sunday) we walked the 1 hour to the lovely Tortuga Beach (which has strong currents), out past the peninsula to a lagoon with another lovely beach and calm waters ideal for swimming
and snorkeling. Unfortunately, our snorkeling efforts were, for the most part, thwarted by a lack of good visibility. It was still nice to have spent some time away from the town and station, despite the hot 1 hour walk back.I was absolutely shattered after the weekend’s activities and look forward to a few days without too much physical activity.
More next week...
Pete
