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ladyseaheart1668 · 6 years

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Endless Summer Fan Novel (Book 1, Chapter 11)

In the lobby of The Celestial, my friends stand in a circle. No one moves. No one speaks. They stand slack-jawed, eyes glued on the blue image of a woman shimmering before them.

“Error.” Iris speaks in her pleasant, modulated voice. “Visual input is registering as frozen.”

“No, Iris,” I answer in a voice dull with exhaustion. “They're just...staring at you.”

“So...” Quinn finally says, “this is the observatory's A.I.?”

“Not exactly. She's a backup copy Alodia and Zahra restored. But she doesn't know what happened on the island.”

“It remembers nothing?” Aleister groans.

“No,” Iris confirms. “I apologize for the inconvenience.”

On the couch nearby, Michelle is wrapping Craig's sprained wrist in an ace bandage. She snorts.

“Sounds more like convenient to me.”

“Ouch!” Craig yelps as she tugs hard on the bandage. “Easy, doc!”

“Pipe down, you big baby. You know ripping that pipe out of the wall didn't help this sprain.” She shakes her head. “Anyway, I thought you were the toughest guy in school.”

Craig grins. “You really think that, Meech?”

“Shut up. I'm just saying. How do we know if she's telling the truth?” She nods at Iris.

“You do not,” Iris replies. “I was not programmed to have any facial tics to signal deception.”

“Thanks for making my point.” She secures the bandage on Craig's wrist. “By the way, I'm shocked we didn't all get killed out there.”

“We're fine, Michelle,” Sean says. “We handled ourselves well.”

I sigh, sinking into a chair and putting my head in my hands.

“We were lucky, Sean,” I murmur. “This island's getting crazier by the minute. There was a good chance a lot of us wouldn't be coming back. We can't keep pushing our luck like this.”

“Thank you!” Michelle says. “At least Alodia gets it!”

“Really, Alodia?” Sean sounds disappointed. “Sure, we had some close calls, but look what we accomplished...”

Diego puts a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it protectively. “...I think you've had more than a few close calls,” he murmurs in Spanish.

“Don't worry about it just now,” I say softly back in the same. I glance up and notice two pairs of eyes sliding over to us. Jake and Estela are watching us. I sigh. ...Obviously, the Columbian and the man who has lived the last few years in Costa Rica both speak Spanish. I'll have to remember that. Diego and I can't expect to be able to have private exchanges in public just by switching languages.

Estela turns her attention back to Iris. “What's important is that Michelle has a point. The machine can't be trusted. We should destroy it. Now.”

Iris' lips curve into a frown, her holographic brow wrinkling. “Please refrain.”

“No way, dude!” Raj cries. He leaps in front of Iris as Estela moves towards her.

“Get out of the way, Raj!” Estela growls.

“No!”

“Raj is right!” I say sharply. “Take it easy, Estela. It wasn't that long ago that none of us trusted you, either.”

“Exactly!” Raj says, shooting me a grateful look.

Estela glares at me. “That was a massive gamble on your part.”

“One that paid off,” I answer firmly. “We wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you, right?”

“...Don't be too sure that it paid off just yet.” Still, she backs down.

“Thank you, Alodia,” Iris chimes.

“You can thank me by proving me right, Iris.”

“Affirmative.”

“You know,” Zahra says, “If I could just get my hands on that golden snitch thing, I could get a look at what makes Iris tick.”

She makes a grab for the projector drone, but it evades her fingers.

“I would prefer if you did not,” says Iris.

Zahra makes another grab for it, and it evades her again. “Just! Get! Over! Here!”

“Alodia...” Quinn says. “Those voices on the radio...are you sure that's what they were saying?”

“My god, it's...it's erupting...the volcano's erupting...”

We all stop dead, looking at Iris. Her holographic lips are moving, but her voice is that of a panicked man. The same we heard at the observatory.

“Uh...what is she doing?” Diego asks.

“That's what we heard,” Grace replies grimly. “She must've recorded it.”

“This is unbelieveable...” Iris continues, this time in a woman's voice. “The La Huerta volcano is erupting, but...it's not like anything I've ever seen...” And then, in the terrified whisper of an old man, “...God help us all...”

Diego shivers. “...That's not creepy. That's not creepy at all...”

“No, it's stupid!” Craig snaps. “It makes no sense! The volcano hasn't erupted!”

“Yet...” Grace murmurs. We all look at her. “...We might be hearing broadcasts that haven't happened yet.”

“Grace...what are you saying?”

“We gotta face facts. Sabertooth tigers? Giant mutant crabs? A fox that breathes ice? Now this?”

Murphy tips his head questioningly, trilling. I look over at Jake, who meets my gaze. Somehow, I can tell he's thinking the same thing I am, remembering those strange atmospheric lights we saw from the airstrip control tower...

“Everyone's thinking it,” Grace continues. “I know it's scary, and we want to keep telling ourselves everything's okay, but we can't afford to do that anymore. So let's just say it out loud, okay? ...Time travel.”

Everyone starts talking at once.

“That's just silly!” Lila shrieks.

“This isn't your fanfiction, Grace!” Michelle cries.

“Yeah, and I must have skipped the part in my evolution textbook about ice-breathing foxes!” Craig adds.

“I didn't say we were traveling in the past,” Grace sighs. “Just like the broadcasts, maybe somethings just haven't happened yet.” She gestures pointedly to Murphy.

“Okay, I mean, let's say sure, it's got something to do with time. I admit it's the only explanation that accounts for everything we've seen, but...” Sean shakes his head. “What matters is, what do we do about it? I think the observatory proved one thing, and that's that no help is coming for us.”

“...It's up to us, then,” I murmur.

“Alodia's right,” Grace says. “It's just a problem, and every problem has a solution. We just have to find it.”

“Yeah,” Jake grumbles. “Sure thing, Mulder. Good thing we've got a crack team of geniuses here to deal with the situation.”

“You can't think that way,” Quinn says insistantly. “I know what it's like to want to throw in the towel, but we're all counting on each other.”

“Uh, guys...?” Raj speaks up. “There is one thing we found here at the resort while you were gone.”

He reaches behind the bar and pulls out a photograph of a picturesque marina, filled with docked yachts and sailboats. I immediately recognize it. It's the one they found when I found myself as a passenger in Raj's mind while I slept.

“...This is...here...”

“It's only a couple miles south,” Raj confirms.

“It's Mr. Rourke's private marina,” Lila says. “Reserved for only the resort's most illustrious guests. Many kept their prized yachts there.”

“And if there are any left...”

“We know what we have to do,” Sean finishes for Michelle. “Everyone get your things. We're getting off this rock.”

“Oh, yes, certainly!” Aleister sneers, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “After only narrowly surviving our little jaunts to the shelter and the observatory, why not wander off again?!”

“Aleister!” Sean cries. “You can't seriously be suggesting we stay here after what we just talked about!”

“I am simply asking for a little more pattern recognition. We are extraordinarily fortunate to have survived this long.”

“And we'll keep surviving!”

Aleister meets Sean's gaze steadily, his expression grim. “So you insist. But keep tempting fate, and we may face something we cannot survive so easily.”

For a moment, a wave of cold dread crashes over me. From somewhere deep within me, I feel it rising to the top of my brain: the knowledge that Aleister is absolutely correct.

* * *

Whether or not we're walking to certain death, the fact remains that the marina is our best hope of escaping La Huerta. In my suite, I gather my belongings into my duffle. For a moment, I consider bringing the dossiers that I have hidden under my mattress, but I decide against it. If there is a usable vessel at the marina, and if it can get us off the island, I don't see much point in bringing them. I would rather have them hidden.

A knock at the door interrupts me. I open it to find Quinn standing outside. She smiles shyly.

“Hey...”

“Hey. Come on in.”

She accepts my invitation. “I'm um...really, really glad you're back. With the rest of us, I mean. I've been thinking about you.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. I was actually pretty worried about you.”

“Didn't think I could handle myself?”

“Oh, I have no doubt you could handle quite a bit.” She moves to the window and gazes out over the island. “...I can't believe we're leaving. I know it's only been four days, but...”

The sunlight casts her reflection against the glass window. She looks like a ghost, floating over the island peaks. I watch her raise a hand to touch the glass, her expression solemn.

“...But...?”

“...I feel as if I've known you forever.” She turns to face me. “Do you think we'll still talk? When we get back home, I mean?”

“Of course we'll still talk. I didn't know any of you except Diego before we got here, and no matter what happens, I feel like I made friends for life.”

“Let's just hope that 'for life' is a long time.”

“Amen to that.”

She shifts awkwardly, rockinig on her heels for a moment. For the first time, I realize that she is carrying a small department store bag.

“There...is another reason I stopped by. I found these really nice clothes in a suitcase a guest left behind in my suite. They must've been here for some mountain climbing. They'd be useful if things get dangerous out there. Besides that, I thought they would look really good on you.”

She holds out the bag, and I accept it, carrying it over to the bed. I pull out a pale blue tank top, a pair of sturdy jeans, and some solid hiking boots. Underneath that, there is a pair of fingerless hiking gloves, and a bandolier-style utility belt, complete with a knife sheathed at the shoulder.

“Woah!”

Quinn comes to sit beside me on the bed. “See, you'd have all these tools, like the knife and such. So no matter what happens, you'd be prepared. ...What do you think?”

I hug her. “It looks awesome, Quinn! You're the best!”

“Really? You like it?”

“I'll put it on right now.”

“Okay. I'll turn around.”

“Oh, don't bother. I don't have much modesty left. Constant costume changes at dance team shows tend to knock the shyness out of you pretty quick.”

I peel off my burgandy tank top and cuttoff jean shorts. I am not blind to the fact that Quinn is biting her lip as her eyes trail over my barely-clad body. I grin.

“You okay there?”

“I'm fine. I just...kinda don't want you to put it on now.”

“If things go well, maybe you can take it off me later. ...Finish what we started in the kitchen.”

“Careful,” she says softly. “Don't make a girl promises you can't keep.”

Something in her tone dries up any impulse to flirt. Perhaps it is because I am not sure I want to finish what was started in the kitchen. I clear my throat and pull on the climbing gear. She helps me tighten the straps on the belt.

...God, what the hell is wrong with me? I've kissed a gorgeous woman and a heart-stoppingly beautiful man, but I can't imagine crawling into bed with either of them? Well...no...that's not exactly true. I can see visions of lying with Quinn in my arms, holding her close, and stroking her hair...visions so beautiful they make my eyes moist. And those visions are overpowering any visions of kissing her naked flesh or tasting the valley between her legs. Meanwhile, the thought of Sean holding me in his arms post-coitus just makes me feel...hollow. Everything I envision before that makes my blood rise, but I think of lying in the afterglow, being tenderly held against his broad chest and caressed by his gentle hands, and I want to pop that dream bubble and run away from it...

“...How does it feel?” Quinn asks, bringing me back to the present.

I gaze at my reflection in the mirror, admiring the way it fits. “As a matter of fact, it feels amazing.”

“It looks amazing, too.” She meets my gaze in the mirror. “...Are you ready to go home?”

“...Ready as I'll ever be. ...Let's go.”

* * *

We take the path along the shoreline to the marina, leaving a wide trail of footprints in the sand. It will take longer than the path through the rainforest, but it's also safer. I look back over my shoulder, watching The Celestial's tower disappear behind the trees. I glance back and notice Zahra trailing her eyes up and down my body.

“...See something you like?”

“Just digging the new look. That's a pretty nice knife you got there.”

“Thanks.”

Zahra flashes her own knife, a switchblade that she unsheathes with a practiced flick of her wrist. It glints in the sun.

“...Mine's bigger.”

At the head of the group, Jake looks out over the horizon. Iris floats beside him.

“Got a weather report for us, Princess Leia?”

In the ensuing silence, Diego clears his throat. “I think he's talking to you, Iris.”

“My designation is not Princess Leia.”

“It's 'cause you're a hologram, and she was a hologram in that one scene and...” Jake rubs a hand over his face. “Dammit, if you don't remember any references, nicknames are gonna be friggin' impossible.”

“...Alias accepted. Princess Leia, now accessing weather scanners. High of: Nintey-one degrees. Precipitation: zero percent. Humidity: Seventy percent. Barometer: 30.1 inches mercury. Visibility: 6.2 miles.”

Jake blinks in surprise, then smiles. “Perfect weather for the trip.”

“So, where exactly are we sailing once we get a boat?” I ask.

“Northeast. Santo Domingo's about 250 miles from here. Those big yachts in the marina definitely have the range to get us there.”

“Hey, Jake,” Diego says. “So, you were in the military, right? What exactly is gonna happen to us when we get there? I mean, if this time travel crap is real, are we about to get quarantined?”

“Or thrown in the loony bin,” Zahra adds.

“What if we go back to like, World War II times, and we have to kill Hitler?” Craig suggests. “I always wanted to kill Hitler!”

“Relax,” Jake says. “Most likely, it'll just be the local coast guard. They'll either let us go...or they'll throw us in jail for the rest of our lives.”

Diego looks at me nervously. “He's kidding. Right, Allie? Tell me he's kidding.”

“He's just kidding, Diego.”

“...Heh...I knew that.”

I glare at Jake, who is shaking his head. “Why are you always trying to scare people?” I hiss.

“Only when they should be scared,” he retorts. “You don't think every military on the planet is gonna wanna know what we saw? What we found? We gotta get our asses outta here, but that doesn't mean the danger's over.”

I don't respond. Suddenly, I am very glad I chose to leave those dossiers in my room. We all walk on in comfortable silence for awhile, occassionally making small talk.

Then, just behind me, Aleister starts muttering to himself.

“How could I have been so stupid?”

“What are you talking about?” Grace asks.

“I never should have come here!” he snaps. “Why did I do this to myself? Why did I think my life would somehow be better after coming here? What did I expect? I should have simply accepted things as they were...”

“Easier said than done, bro,” Craig sighs.

“Maybe,” Quinn says. “But it's worth it the effort to find peace with yourself.”

“I guess I kinda felt the same way,” Grace says. “I wanted something else for myself, but I should've known not to rock the boat.”

“Better to know your limits,” Zahra agrees. “Taking risks just gets you on the F.B.I. Watchlist.”

“I just want to get back home and have everything exactly the way it was,” Michelle adds.

“Come on, guys,” Sean protests. “Look where we are! Look what we've faced! You telling me you haven't felt like you've grown in the last four days?”

“I've grown sick of the pep talks, Cap,” Jake mutters.

“I've had too many close calls in the past four days to feel much other than scared,” I admit. “I'll never roll over and accept death, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna get any thrills out of fighting it off. ”

“Come on, Alodia. You're an athlete. Isn't it worth pushing your limits to achieve new heights? What's living worth if you don't strive to be more than you are?”

“Yeah, on the balance beam or the tumbling floor or at the barre. But what's happening on this island isn't living, Sean. It's surviving.”

“Maybe you're right. But for my part, I still think trying to affect change is worth the risk. Coach always told me, whether it's an engineering class or a 260-pound linebacker, you've gotta look each and every challenge square in the eye and face it head on.”

“Was your coach around three feet tall and a motivational poster?” Jake quips.

“Hilarious, coming from a guy who takes his advice from Jose Cuervo,” Sean shoots back.

“Speaking of Jose, if any of you kids find yourself in Costa Rica, look me up. First round's on...” he trails off suddenly as we round the bend at the end of the shoreline, his face falling. When we see what he's looking at, we all stop short, staring dumbly.

...Smoke coils slowly in the air like black snakes. The crystal blue water of the marina laps against the charred wood and metal of the ships' shattered hulls. ...They've been destroyed. Every yacht. Every boat. Millions of dollars worth of exquisite luxury vessels. They are all in charred, smoking pieces, floating in the marina, their shivers strewn over the docks. As if they were blown apart by bombs...

“...Lila?” Raj says weakly. “This...doesn't look like the photo.”

Sean steps forward, his expression slack. He drops to his knees. “...How...?” he whispers. “...Why...?”

“First my plane, now this?” Jake mutters.

“Someone is trying awfully hard to keep us here,” Estela says grimly.

“See?” Aleister cries. “This is what I'm talking about! This is what we get for trying!”

Grace whimpers, tears forming in her eyes. Michelle puts an arm around her.

“Will you shut up, Aleister?! You're scaring Grace!”

Seeing Grace's tears, Aleister suddenly looks stricken. He looks away contritely, murmuring an apology. I look back at Sean, slumped on his knees, gazing out at the devestation. Suddenly, I feel my temper flare. All his pep talks, all his attitude, all his acting like the team captain, the leader, the hero, and suddenly it's too much? Suddenly, even he is ready to roll over and accept defeat? Rage bubbles up in me, and I can't swallow it.

“Get the hell up, Sean!” I snarl.

He looks back at me. “...Alodia...”

“I'm not accepting defeat!” I scream. “Are you?!”

Jake puts a hand on my shoulder. “Maybe you should...”

I shrug him off. “No! I told you I am not going to roll over and accept death! I am decidedly not having fun anymore, but that does not mean this island gets to keep me! I'll fight until it kills me! Are you gonna do any less than that, Sean Gayle?! Are you gonna be any less than that?!”

Almost to my surprise, he actually seems to be considering my words. To my further surprise, he sets his jaw and climbs to his feet.

“No. I'm not.” He looks back at me. “...Thank you. I needed that.”

Surprise drains the anger right out of me. “...Um...you're welcome.”

“Great talk and all,” Michelle says, “but what exactly are we supposed to do now?”

“I don't know,” Sean admits. “But I know what we won't do, and that's give up. There are answers here. We've just gotta find them. Something will tell us what we're up against.”

“You heard the man!” Craig says. “Split up!”

One by one, we start splitting off to search the marina. Murphy twines around my ankles like a cat, trilling a question at me. I pick him up.

“Where do you think we should start, fella?” Murphy yips. “Let's go help out our old buddy Diego, huh?”

“Your old buddy Diego who is literally five feet away from you,” Diego quips, grinning at me. “But I could use a hand. I think I found something already.”

I kneel beside him on the dock and see that he's fiddling with a hefty, waterproof case covered in seaweed.

“A case?”

“I guess. It was floating in the water. Can't get it open, though. The latch is stuck.” He shakes his head. “Every fiber of my being is telling me not to open the creepy box. That's like, Movies 101.”

“Well, someone's gotta open it. Why don't we open it together? That way, we're both Pandora.”

“I'm crossing my fingers that whatever's in here is not all the evils of the world.”

I take the knife from my shoulder sheath and use it to pry the latch open. Then, on the count of three, Diego and I lift the lid together. We both recoil immediately.

...Inside the case is another set of file folders, just like the ones I found in Rourke's office, and at the observatory. Pinned to the top of the folder is a picture of Quinn.

“...Uh...why is there a picture of Quinn in here?” Diego asks. “...Were they tracking us? I seriously doubt The Celestial runs background checks on every guest.”

I don't answer immediately. I open the files. Quinn is on top, followed by Craig and Michelle. Diego reads over my shoulder.

Target Analysis

Clearance: Epsilon

Surname: Kelly

First: Quinn

Middle: Erin

D.O.B: 1996 July 20

Birthplace: Boulder, CO

Background: Spent her whole childhood in a hospital battling Rotterdam's Syndrome (rare autoimmune disease.) Costs bankrupted her parents, leading to their divorce.

Psychological Profile: Constant near-death experiences give her unabashed craving of experiences, marked by socialization and intimacy issues.

Threat Assessment: 0 (strong-willed survivor, but not a threat)

Target Analysis

Clearance: Epsilon

Surname: Hsiao

First: Kuan-yu

Middle: Craig

D.O.B: 1995 Nov 17

Birthplace: Saginaw, MI

Background: Shy nerd turned big man on campus. Unlikely to be drafted into the pros. His star is fading fast, so he hangs onto the glory days. A grueling life has left him tough enough for any encounter.

Psychological Profile: Not very bright, but intense loyalty (particularly to his QB, Sean Gayle) prevents him from being manipulated.

Threat Assessment: 3

Target Analysis

Clearance: Epsilon

Surname: Nguyen

First: Michelle

Middle: Thuy

D.O.B: 1995 Dec 31

Birthplace: Bellevue, WA

Background: Raised by a single mother, taught to work hard for what she wants, and she wants it all. Top of her class, will have her pick of med schools. Stud QB boyfriend is just the cherry on top.

Psychological Profile: As motivated and hardworking as they come. Hard to tell if she enjoys her status, or if it's all a means to an end.

Threat Assessment: 5

Quinn's profile is stamped with the sigil of a dolphin. Craig's is a pawprint that I think is supposed to be a bear. Michelle's is what appears to be a stylized peacock.

“This is insane!” Diego whispers. “What's the point of all this? And what do those weird symbols mean? They all look like animals.”

“I'm not sure. But it all has to add up to something.” I am quiet a moment. Then, after checking to see that there is no one around who could understand me, I whisper in Spanish, “There are more of them. I found more at the observatory, and some in Rourke's office. I've been hiding them under the mattress in my suite. ...Someone is tracking us, Diego.”

“Shit! Allie, why didn't you tell me?!”

“I was scared. And distracted. And I don't want to trust anyone else with the information just yet.”

“I won't say anything. ...Who have you found?”

“...You. And Sean, Jake, Estela, Raj, Zahra, and Grace.”

“...Dare I ask what it said about me?”

Impulsively, I throw my arms around him. “...Nothing I didn't already know. Nothing you don't know I know. But please...don't ask me to repeat it.”

He holds me back. “...Okay. Okay, Allie. I won't. ...But you'll let me read it, won't you?”

“Yeah. When we get back to The Celestial. I assume we will go back by the evening...”

“Probably.” He pats my back. “...Don't go to pieces on me now, Allie. You're supposed to be the brave one, remember?”

“...You're brave, too.” I pull back. “Will you find someplace safe for those? I'm gonna look around a little more.”

“Can do.”

I leave him to it, wandering over to Craig, who is at the far end of the dock.

“Hey, Craig, any luck?”

“Actually, yeah. Check it.” He gestures me over, and points out a jet ski tethered to the dock, completely intact.

“Oh, wow! Good find!”

“Yeah...but it's almost out of gas. Nowhere near enough to get to the coast.” He sighs and looks around at the smoke rising from the destroyed ships. “Guess we're still stuck here.”

His words make sense, but his tone is easy. Nonchalant. ...Almost cheerful.

“Craig...you still don't want to leave, do you? Even with all the monsters and the time travel, you want to stay.”

“...Yeah,” he admits. “Guess I do. Maybe I like it here.”

I am quiet a moment. The details of his dossier are still fresh in my mind. Of his, and Diego's...I wonder what the people tracking us would have to say about me.

“...I have nothing to go home to, either,” I confess softly.

Craig freezes. “...Really...?”

“Yeah. ...Nothing I'd really miss, anyway. ...The most important person in my life is already here.”

I look over at Diego. A memory comes to me unbidden...of the last time either he or I had any real family outside of each other. ...The last time either of us had someone in our lives outside of each other who we trusted so completely. I remember the moment it all changed, that winter break when he turned up on my doorstep in tears, a hastily packed suitcase in hand...

“In some ways, this place feels like a fresh start,” I continue. “Maybe it's dangerous, maybe it's weird, but here I feel...important somehow, ya know?”

“...Yeah. Actually, I do.”

“...Just remember you're not alone, okay?”

I lay a hand on his arm. He nods, trying to look nonchalant.

“...Yeah. I know. ...Thanks, dude.”

“Comin' through!” Jake bounces past us, leaping from the pier to a splintered sailboat. He deftly maintains his balance on the slick deck.

“Careful there, Top Gun!”

He smirks at me. “I ain't never been careful in my life.” He rummages through the sailboat's storage compartment, taking out maps and bits of paper. Then he gives a triumphant shout. “Ha! Come to papa! Hey, Princess! Catch!”

He tosses me something small and orange. I manage to catch it.

“Hey, a flare gun! Nice!” I consider firing it, but then think better of it. “...No point in firing it now, when we don't know if anyone's around to see it.”

“That's using some sense. We oughta wait until we see a plane or a ship in the distance.”

He hops back onto the pier. I look past him and see Lila on the deck of a massive yacht. The bow is mostly intact, but the ship is snapped in half, with the stern portion mostly submerged. I pass the flare gun to Jake, and cross the gangway to join her.

“Lila! Find anything over here?”

She shakes her head, frowning. Her forehead is creased with concern. “...Not yet. It's just...weird...”

“What is?”

“I feel like I recognize this yacht.”

She heads to the middle of the ship, where the deck ends in twisted, splintered steel. A cracked staircase leads down to the partly submerged deck below.

“Wait, you're not going down there, are you? It's flooded...”

“I have to check something.”

“I'm coming with you, then.”

“Really? Well...let's go then!”

We head down into the dark compartment. Lukewarm seawater rises quickly around us, lapping at my knees, then my thighs, then my hips as we wade further in.

“This must've been a storage compartment,” Lila murmurs.

I duck under a hanging cargo net and find several cracked wooden boxes that have tumbled from their shelves.

“Be careful, okay? I've got a bad feeling this ship is gonna go completely under any minute now. What are you looking for, anyway?”

“Proof. Help me with this?” She gestures to a wooden crate, and I help her lift it out of the water. Lila wipes the brine off the label. “...There it is. This vessel's name.”

“...Daedalus?”

“I was right,” Lila says softly. “We're on Mr. Rourke's yacht.”

“What does that mean? Why would he leave it here?” Lila doesn't respond. Tears gather in her dark eyes. I put a hand on her shoulder. “Lila, I'm sure he's okay somewhere.”

“Thank you, Alodia. But I'm not so sure about that.”

Before I can respond, a sudden crack shakes the floor beneath my feet. Lila screams.

“The yacht! It's going under the--”

The water rushes in and closes over my head, cutting me off. The stern of the ship breaks off from the bow and slips beneath the surface. And it's taking me and Lila with it. I swim desperately for an exit, but my path is blocked by the thick ropes of the cargo net. Fast as I can manage moving through saltwater, I rip the knife at my shoulder from its sheath and saw through the ropes of the cargo net. When I've broken through, I grab Lila's hand and pull her after me as I rush for the surface.

We breach the surface and greedily gulp the air, reaching to grasp the edge of the pier as the others come running up to us.

“Holy hell!” Jake grabs my arms and pulls me onto the safety of the pier. “You guys okay?”

I nod weakly, coughing up a little bit of seawater. Diego kneels beside me, rubbing my back.

“How'd you even make it out of there?” Sean asks.

“It's was Alodia's quick thinking,” Lila manages to gasp. “...I'd be dead now if it weren't for you.”

“It's Quinn you should thank,” I say with a weak smile. “She gave me the knife.”

“I'm glad you're all right, Alodia,” Sean says. “Way to keep your wits about you.”

“Gotta admit, I'm impressed,” Jake remarks. “I thought you were a goner for sure.”

I snort, poking him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

There's a shout from the other side of the marina that catches our attention.

“Everybody!” Grace yells. “Come here quick!”

We pick ourselves off the ground and hurry over to the pier where Grace is standing by something tied to the dock beneath a large tarp.

“What've you got for us?”

Grace yanks away the tarp, revealing a speedboat, completely intact.

“A high-performance runabout,” Iris chimes. “Visual analysis indicates a Neptune-class model 2850.”

“It almost looks brand new,” Grace observes. “Not sure why this one's okay when everything else is destroyed, but...”

“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Short Stuff,” Jake chides.

“Pretty sure the Trojans would feel differently about that,” Diego mutters.

“Does it have keys?” Sean asks. Grace shakes her head. Sean looks hopefully at Zahra, who raises an eyebrow.

“Are you telling me to hotwire it?”

“Noooo, I'm not telling you anything. You do exactly as you please.”

“You're goddamn right.” She flicks out her knife and hops into the boat. After a couple minutes of tinkering, the engine revs to life.

“Hell yeah! Nice work!” Jake gives her a hand out of the boat. “What's the range, Blue Girl Group? Can it get to the Dominican Republic?”

“That's you again, Iris,” Diego says when the hologram doesn't respond.

“I see. Range is sufficient to reach the Dominican Republic on a full tank of gas.”

Jake checks the gas gauge and winces. “It's got gas, but it's not completely full. A little over three quarters of a tank. She might make it. But she also might stall out in the middle of the Caribbean and we die.”

“Who's 'we' in this situation?” Diego asks. “Because to fit everyone, we're gonna need a bigger boat.”

“You're right,” I concede. “It's way too small. A couple of us should go and bring back help. But who? It's a gamble that it would even reach safe haven.”

Everyone looks around uncertainly, until Sean strips off his shirt and hops in. “I'll go. I can be back with help before you know it.”

“Easy, Magellan. You'd get lost within a mile.” Jake strips off his shirt and hops in beside him. “I know the Caribbean. I'll play navigator.”

“We've got room for a third. Anyone else wanna come?”

“...Allie should go,” Diego declares.

“...I should?”

He sighs. “Maybe I worry too much, but you've gotten clawed up and knocked around more than I'm comfortable with in the past few days. And no offense to your skills, Michelle, but I'll feel better knowing Allie's on her way to civilization and a fully-trained doctor.”

“I agree with Diego,” Quinn says.

“As do I,” Estela chimes in. “You have seemed to take the brunt of the abuse this island is keen to heap on us.”

“Whaddya say, Princess? Fancy a speedboat ride with me and Steve Rogers here?”

“Sure. I'll tag along. But for the record, Diego totally worries too much.”

Diego chuckles, hugging me. “I know, I know. But you indulge me and I love you for it.”

Sean and Jake each offer me a hand and help me into the boat.

“Welp,” Zahra says. “It was nice knowing ya.”

“Zahra!” Lila chides, and turns to us. “Here, take some extra water with you. We've got enough to spare.”

“You two look after my friend here,” Diego says, then smiles at me. “And Allie, you look after these two dummies.”

I snort. “Can do. We'll be back soon. Promise.”

Sean takes the throttle and guides the speed boat out into the open ocean. He increases speed a bit and the island begins to recede behind us, our friends on the shore shrinking down to pinpricks. I suddenly feel nervous, especially leaving Diego behind.

“...I hope they'll be okay until we get back,” I murmur.

“They'll be fine.” Jake lies down on a seat and stretches out in the sunshine. “Sit back and relax awhile, Princess. We've got about three hours of nothing but flat ocean ahead. ...I've got some sunscreen in my bag if you want it. You look like you burn easy.”

I snort. “Yeah, yeah, I'm as white as a Victorian aristocrat. Pass it over.”

I slip off my tank top and jeans to apply the sunscreen, spreading it over my arms, legs, belly and face.

“Need any help with that?” Jake asks.

“I could get your back for you,” Sean offers quickly.

I grin as a deliciously wicked thought crosses my mind. “...Why don't you both help?” I am delighted to see them both look startled.

“...Both of us?” Sean asks.

“...At the same time?”

“Yeah.” I smirk at them. “I wanna make sure I'm tooooootally covered.”

The men share a weird look.

“Well...uh...I guess we could stop for a second,” Sean relents, and slows the boat to an idle.

I part my hair at my neck and lie down on my stomach, still grinning wickedly. Sean and Jake line up on either side of me and begin spreading out the sunscreen. I can't help drawing in a deep breath. Jake's touch is rough, firm, and forceful, like a deep massage. Meanwhile, Sean's is soft, gentle, caressing. Under their combined touch, I feel myself melting.

“You're doing it all wrong!” Jake hisses. “You're not even getting it into the skin!”

“You're the one missing spots!” Sean snaps back.

“I think you're both doing great,” I mumble appreciatively.

“Does that feel all right?” Sean asks, rubbing a spot on my shoulder.

“You have no idea...”

Jake works a spot on my lower back. “How's that?”

“Absolutely perfect.”

Way too soon for my liking, they finish up, and Sean revs up the engine again. Jake's hand lingers on my back a moment longer. I realize his fingers are just touching the edge of the bandage on my ribs.

“...I just changed it before we left. Should be good for at least three hours.”

“How do they look underneath? They still hurt?”

“Yeah, a little. But they aren't bleeding, and they don't look infected.”

“How about that bite Estela mentioned?”

I sit up and show him the site, where all that remains is a small puncture wound. “No swelling, see? And I haven't had a fever or anything that would indicate any reaction to the antivenom.”

After a moment, he nods.

“...I think Petey was right to send you along with us, at any rate. You're probably fine, but it'll also be a lot safer if you're checked out by professionals as soon as possible.”

I pull my clothes back on. “I'm sure you're right. But, since all that poking and prodding is about three hours away...” I stretch out on the deck, yawning. “I'm gonna get comfy.”

He chuckles. “Atta girl.”

I close my eyes, savoring the warmth of the sunlight on my face and the smell of saltwater. Suddenly, I feel a chill pass over me. The view from behind my eyelids, red a moment ago from the sunlight shining through the blood vessels, suddenly turns dark. I open my eyes and find the sun has slipped behind a cloud. ...A huge, bruise-colored cloud, pregnant with rain. And there are more tumbling in fast behind it.

“Storm's rolling in fast,” Jake observes, his voice low and grim. “Surf's kicking up quick.”

Almost to punctuate his words, a wave slams into the side of the boat, causing it to lurch sharply. I grip the guardrails. Chilly winds whip past me, tugging my hair away from my face and spraying me with raindrops.

“See that?” Sean says loudly above the noise of the wind. He is pointing towards the sky. In the clouds overhead, I can make out the sparkle of orange lightning.

“I see it,” Jake says. “Just like what we saw from the plane.”

“Guys!” I shriek. “Look out!”

Dead ahead of us, a massive crater has opened up in the ocean. Deep, dark water swirls at unbelieveable speeds.

“Whirlpool!” Jake cries.

“There's something coming out of it!” I cry.

All we can do is watch in horror as a massive creature breaches the surface and rises at least ten stories above us. It is serpentine, almost draconic. It towers over our little boat, the orange lightning reflecting off its blue-scaled body. The tops of leathery blue wings rest just above the water's surface. It has no eyes that I can see, only two curling horns where its eyes ought to be. But its open mouth reveals rows upon rows of sword-like teeth. Lightning crackles between the jagged dentata, leaping from tooth to tooth like they were clouds.

“...Sweet mother of God,” Sean whispers.

The creature lets out a howl that echoes across the marina. My heart wedges in my throat. We haven't gotten at all far from La Huerta. And our friends are still standing on the shore.

#Endless Summer #play choices #choices stories you play #pixelberry choices #Diego Ricardo Ortiz Soto #jake mckenzie #sean gayle #craig hsiao #aleister rourke #raj bhandarkar #estela montoya #quinn kelly #zahra namazi #michelle nguyen #grace hall

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riverofhistory · 5 years

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Episode 4: From Trilobites to Therapsids

Image credit: Evan Howard, under CC BY 2.0. (cropped)

The following is the transcript for the fourth episode of On the River of History.

For a link to the actual podcast, go here. (Beginning with Part 1)

Part 1

Greetings everyone and welcome to episode 4 of On the River of History. I’m your host, Joan Turmelle, historian in residence.

The history of life on Earth is punctuated by several key themes. Throughout these next three episodes, I will be explaining the events that shaped the age of visible life, the Phanerozoic Eon. This time spans 541 million years, all the way to the present day, so this is the Eon to which we are currently in. You will notice that the evolution of living organisms is often regulated by the recurring fluctuations of a mostly oxygenated atmosphere and a mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere. You’ll also see that, despite the sheer horrors of mass extinction events, they are critical in shaping biodiversity. And, perhaps most crucial of all, the development of new features among groups of organisms is mostly a process of reshaping and recycling old things. In evolution by natural selection, you will never see a new trait forming out of nothing. Nearly always, new traits are developed in specific situations and only later find new uses as the environment changes.

The first era of the Phanerozoic Eon is the Paleozoic, or the age of ancient life. It lasted from the beginning of the Phanerozoic 541 million years ago and ends 251.9 million years ago. It was during this time that grand marine ecosystems developed and spread all across the globe, and living things spread out onto the land and made a home for themselves there.

The Paleozoic starts with the Cambrian Period (541 to 485.4 million years ago). Following a brief period when the fragments of Rodinia collided to form a new supercontinent called Pannotia, which itself split apart some 573 million years ago, the landmasses of the Earth were mostly collected into four continents. The largest, towards the south pole, was Gondwana. An expansive and long-lived continent, Gondwana includes regions that will eventually become Africa, South America, Australia, India, Madagascar, and Antarctica. Moving northwards from the south pole is Baltica, which includes most of Europe. Flanking Baltica is Siberia and Laurentia (made up of mostly North America). Two great oceans encompassed the continents, with the Iapetus Ocean separating Laurentia from Gondwana and the Panthalassic Ocean making up most of the northern hemisphere. Bordering the continents were an abundance of shallow seas, which acted as a cradle for the newly evolved animals.

As the Ediacaran faunas slipped away into obscurity, the descendants of the first animals diverged into two major groups based upon their mode of embryonic development. There is a process called gastrulation, where the growing bundle of cells collapses inwards on one side of its body and becomes the precursor to the gut. For most of the animals on one lineage, the protostomes, the opening to the gut became the mouth, and the exit-hole (the anus) opened later. For the members of the other animal lineage, the deuterostomes, the opening to the gut became the anus first, and the mouth came last. This seemingly trivial observation underpins most of the animal kingdom, and by the end of the Proterozoic Eon most of the major animal lineages had evolved.

The biggest key trait for the animals of the Cambrian was the development of hard skeletal parts on their bodies. Prior to these adaptations, most animals were soft-bodied and resembled worms. Around the beginning of the period, some lineages began to incorporate minerals like calcium and silica onto their bodies. This biomineralization is still poorly understood but has been hypothesized as tying to dietary needs. Some of the oldest fossils of hard-parts belong to the teeth of early worms like Protohertzina, that could have used their new adaptations to better grab prey items. In response, some organisms, like the early mollusks, developed hardened shells to protect themselves. One lineage of animals used calcium carbonate to stiffen their bodies and support themselves on the seafloor. Possibly related to sponges, the archaeocyathids formed symbiotic relationships with algae and bacteria that bound their cup-like bodies together, becoming the first reef-building organisms. As later animals, like true sponges and the ancestors of corals, refined their abilities to make hard-parts, they soon overran the archaeocyathids and drove the entire group into extinction.

As more and more lineages evolved hard internal and external skeletons, and the process became increasingly easier due to chemical changes in the oceans, animal diversity peaked in a grandiose display of unique and fascinating species 535 million years ago. This was the Cambrian Explosion, an event marked in the fossil record as the first time that organisms could really leave well-preserved fossils, as shells and skeletons tended to preserve better than soft-parts. That being said, there have been some spectacular fossils found in Cambrian deposits that have managed to preserve more easily decayable structures, like tentacles, internal organs, even skin pigmentation. These types of fossils seem to have formed through a rapid layering of clays that prevented the bodies of the different organisms from breaking down. Two sites stand out for their deposits, the Maotianshan shales of Yunnan, China, and the younger Burgess Shale of British Colombia, Canada.

With most of today’s animal lineages already established at the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion, much of their evolution during this time went towards the development of their primary modes of life.

Mollusks are among the most abundant animals in the oceans, rivers, and lakes of the world, but their evolution (like that of all major animal groups) began in the warm, saltwater seas off the coasts of the continents. The shells of mollusks serve as defensive structures that protect their vital organs from predators, and they themselves feed with a hardened and barbed tongue called a radula that scrapes edible materials from the surfaces of rocks. Cambrian mollusks came in a variety of forms, including the three majors groups: the valve-shelled bivalves (including clams, mussels, and oysters), the mostly coiled-shelled gastropods (snails and slugs), and the cephalopods (squids and octopodes) which gradually lost their shells.

Distantly related to mollusks are brachiopods. You’re probably not familiar with them, but during the Paleozoic Era they were one of the most common animal groups in the oceans. They look like clams but are actually very distinct in their anatomy. The valve-like shells of brachiopods cover filamented-tentacles that collect food particles from the water, and the shell is opened and closed by special muscles. Clams, like all bivalve mollusks, have a ligament that controls the movement of their hinged-shells, and they’re free-swimming organisms: brachiopods attach themselves to seafloor sediments by a long, flexible stalk.

Though well-adapted to their environment, mollusks and brachiopods were outnumbered by the arthropods, today the largest group of animals in the world. Ancestral arthropods used minerals to strengthen their entire bodies and developed an external skeleton or exoskeleton that preserved their internal organs. Unique for most animal groups was the evolution of jointed limbs, which could be adapted to a variety of different environments and lifestyles. Living arthropods include insects, arachnids, crabs, shrimp, and millipedes: some 80% of all animals. Who could guess that an exoskeleton and jointed limbs would prove to be such a successful adaptation?

The road to the arthropods was paved by many strange experiments in evolution, and the animals that underwent these changes belong to a larger group called Panarthropoda (named because it includes arthropods as well as their relatives). Genetic evidence and fossil remains show the earliest panarthropods as worm-like creatures, with stubby limbs and soft skins that probably walked along the seafloor or gripped onto sponges, like squirrels and monkeys in the trees. Today there are a few living descendants from these early groups, called velvet worms. Their soft skins leave them vulnerable to the elements, so they only survive in moist, tropical rainforests. One particularly curious member was Hallucigenia, famous among paleontologists because it was originally interpreted as a many-stalked animal that used rows of tentacles to grab food from the water. Later studies discovered that these researchers had accidentally been viewing the animal upside-down! It was an early panarthropod, protected from predators by a row of spines that grew along its back. The “tentacles” were actually its limbs.

Later panarthropods continued to strengthen their bodies with minerals and some adapted their limbs into paddles, allowing them to swim among the sponge reefs of the Cambrian oceans. They developed two appendages at the undersides of their heads that served as sensory organs and a few toughened those organs with hard teeth. One bizarre member of this group was Opabinia, looking like some Lovecraftian beast, shrunk down to a measly 2 and a half inches. It sported five eye-stalks and had one long flexible structure that ended in a little tooth-lined clasping grip, which it used to snag food and bring it towards its mouth (kind of like an elephant).

But the group that really dominated the Cambrian was the anomalocarids, which took up a wide range of niches. Niches are like occupations that organisms hold: the roles they play in different ecosystems. For example: a tiger holds the niche of apex predator in its habitat - nothing preys on it, but it alone sits at the top of the food web. Some anomalocarids may have filled the niche of apex ocean predator. There is some possible evidence that these panarthropods used their frilled appendages to grab soft-bodied prey and direct it towards a circular mouth, lined with teeth-like projections. But many members of the group were filter-feeders, with their appendages lined with long bristles for collecting food particles, like the baleen whales of today. Though they were the largest animals in the Cambrian, anomalocarids appear to have mostly died off by the end of this period, with evidence that a few species clung on for another 100 million years before going extinct.

Proper arthropods fully divided their bodies into segments, each sporting its own pair of jointed limbs. These animals divided into two major groups: mandibulates, with paired antennae and chewing mouth parts, and chelicerates, lacking antennae and having shredding mouth parts. Mandibulates include insects, crustaceans, and myriapods (millipedes and centipedes); chelicerates include arachnids and horseshoe crabs.

The highlights of the Cambrian Explosion (and really the stars of the Paleozoic Era) were the trilobites. We’re not sure what kind of arthropods they are, but that’s really the only major mystery of this now extinct group. Their woodlouse-like fossils are so prevalent, and their record so complete, that we have a good idea how they lived, what they ate, and what their reproductive cycle was like. The name means “three-lobed” and refers to the general structure of their exoskeleton: a cephalon or head, a thorax, and a pygidium or tail. They came in a variety of different body forms, including species with spines, species with enormous eyes, and species with thin bodies. There were free-floating planktonic forms and trilobites with eye-stalks that probably hid under the sand, but most trilobites appear to have been grazed on particulate food. The largest species grew to the size of bed pillows, large enough to eat other trilobites. In the Cambrian Period, they were the most common and most successful of the newly evolving animals.

The previously described animals were all protostomes, but deuterostomes had also expanded in diversity. One prominent group in the oceans were the echinoderms, who incorporated minerals into a strong but flexible inner skeleton or endoskeleton. A series of tubes stretches through their bodies and helps these animals breath, move, and feed. Echinoderms today include sea stars and urchins, and the earliest members of the group were mobile organisms. However most Cambrian echinoderms appear to have been filter-feeding, stalked animals, attached to the ocean floor. Other deuterostomes include the hemichordates, which were worms that supported their bodies with a long nerve cord and breathed through gill slits at their front ends.

Perhaps the most important group to animals such as ourselves are the chordates, because this is the lineage that humans and all other vertebrates belong to. Ironically enough, chordates did not play a large role in the Cambrian oceans, and as a whole they were probably uncommon in their ecosystems. Like hemichordates, chordates have gill slits and a nerve cord that runs through the body, but in this group the cord became supported by a rod stiffened by cartilage, the notochord. Also prevalent is a tail that helped these deuterostomes control their movement as they swam through the seas. Some of these chordates retained these ancestral traits and buried themselves into coastal marine sediments, becoming the lancelets. Others hollowed out their bodies and some of those secured themselves to rocks, becoming the sea squirts and salps. The ancestors of vertebrates developed early in the Cambrian Period, around 530 million years ago. Particularly good fossils from the Maotianshan shales of China show that two early vertebrates - Haikouichthys and Myllokunmingia – had encased their brains in a skull and sported small vertebral elements around their notochord. These were not true bony vertebrae, but from these ancestral forms onwards there is a marked increase in bony hard-parts throughout the body. Animals like these were very fish-like, and for all intents and purposes could be called the earliest fishes.

By the end of the Cambrian Period, the abundance of minerals in the shallow seas changed nearly all of the major animal groups alive today, and in turn, they began to change their ecosystems as well. Prior to the Cambrian Explosion, much of the seas were covered in mats formed by microbial colonies, including those of cyanobacteria. With the rise of grazing animals like mollusks and echinoderms, these mats began to face decimation as the new animals feasted on them. As a consequence, these mat-forming microbes began to move deeper into the oceans and higher onto surface rocks where these newly-evolving animals could not get them.

Roughly 499 million years ago, deadly hydrogen sulphide levels rose and oxygen levels depleted in shallow marine waters and caused many different species to go extinct. Trilobites were severely affected, as were many unique forms of animal life. It is unclear what set off this change in ocean chemistry, but it set the conditions for new animals to evolve.

Part 2

The Ordovician began 485.4 million years ago and ended 443 million years ago. The massive continent of Gondwana moved slowly southwards and the remaining landmasses of Laurentia, Siberia, and Baltica gradually began to move towards each other. Small island continents slowly collided with Laurentia to the south and produced the first stages of the Appalachian Mountains. This continental drift caused the Iapetus Ocean to widen slightly, and there were still extensive shallow seas where large collections of sediments eroded into their waters. Like the period that preceded it, the Ordovician was mostly a hot, tropical world.

These warm oceans, now bounced back from their previous chemical changes, had many marine niches left open for species to fill. On top of that, the rise in minerals from erosion produced a bloom of planktonic organisms. There is a marked rise of fossils featuring new groups of animals during the beginning of this period, with the number of species tripling from previous levels over a 25 million-year timespan. This led paleontologists to coin a name for this time: The Global Ordovician Biodiversification Event. The animals that evolved during this period were to set the standard for marine faunas for the duration of the Paleozoic Era, and introduced a number of new modes of living. For the first time, animals began to make greater journeys out into the open ocean and some groups of mollusks and worms started burrowing deeper and deeper into the seafloor.

Reefs expanded in great numbers during the Ordovician, and the main builders during this period were a group of now-extinct sponges called stromatoporoids. They were originally thought to be types of corals because their skeletons were made of dense calcite minerals, much tougher than sponges nowadays. But they were not the only encrusting marine animals around. One of the last major groups of animals finally evolved in the Ordovician: the bryozoans. Sometimes called moss animals due to their superficial similarities, bryozoans live in hardened colonies that grow on rocks or the shells of animals. Each colony is made up of several tiny creatures with little tentacles to filter-feed with. Their numbers were significantly greater in the Paleozoic, but living species are not as common as other colonial animals like corals.

The major groups of mollusks continued to diversify, and the bivalves came into high prominence during the Ordovician. Like the unrelated brachiopods, bivalve mollusks have valved-shells (that’s where they get their name), and they’re filter-feeders, but rather than use filamentous tentacles to catch food, bivalves have plates of gills inside their shells, all lined up like a stack of paper. While the brachiopods controlled the deeper regions of the seas, bivalves were more content in nearshore waters where they didn’t have to compete for the same resources. Gastropod mollusks were doing well too, and a few of the dominant lineages evolved in the Ordovician, including the ancestors of limpets. Limpets have survived into the present day and their anatomy is remarkably ancient, lacking the coiled shells of their later relatives. Nonetheless, the conical shells of limpets are excellent adaptations: the animal can stick itself to rocks and completely cover its body with a tough exterior that most predators have difficulty with.

The heavy-weight champions of the Ordovician were the cephalopods. Although the majority of species today have reduced or lost their shells altogether, the earliest groups had spectacular shells. One lineage, the endocerids, could grow their shells up to 19 feet in length, making them the largest animals in the world at the time. They have been suggested to be major marine predators, using their tentacles to snag prey items, but it is equally possible that some species were filter-feeders. In any case, they would have been awkward animals to look at; because their giant shells were full of empty spaces the center of gravity would have made them float vertically in the water, with their tentacles facing downwards, like living icicles.

Despite their losses during the Cambrian extinction event, trilobites managed to bounce back and became more diverse than ever. Great swarms of them roamed the seabed, feeding on all sorts of organic materials. Some groups when threatened by predators could roll themselves up into a ball, using their head and tail to completely protect their soft undersides and legs, while other species used their spines for defense. There were plenty of new arthropod predators in those days, with the earliest eurypterids evolving 460 million years ago. Though they look like giant marine scorpions (and are commonly called sea scorpions), eurypterids were only distantly related to arachnids. Nonetheless, some species possessed scorpion-like pincers for snipping at prey, and one kind called Megalograptus had a spike at the end of its tail – though there’s no evidence that it was venomous. Crustaceans too were beginning to diversify. The first ostracods and branchiopods evolved: these are small-bodied animals that swim through the water with their arms or antennae. Ostracods are mostly microscopic and planktonic animals, but branchiopods are perhaps more familiar due to two major lineages: the water fleas and the brine shrimp (popularly marketed to children as ‘sea monkeys’).

All of the surviving lineages of echinoderms evolved during the Ordovician Period, including the first sea stars, brittle stars, urchins, sea cucumbers, and crinoids. Among these groups the crinoids are the least common in modern times, but during the Ordovician they were remarkably diverse, growing in groves around calm, shallow seas. Crinoids attached themselves to the ocean floors on long stalks and sported a comb of filter-feeding tentacles atop their heads. They shared their world with other long-gone lineages, including the blastoids, who looked like crinoids but had very pentagonal heads. A new lineage of hemichordates developed that were to become the dominant planktonic animals of the early Paleozoic: the graptolites. Despite their relation to the living worm-like species, graptolites were remarkably different. They were tiny colonial animals – like bryozoans – that lived in hardened tubes that simply floated along ocean currents. These tubes, made of proteins, often sported beautiful patterns and shapes, with some graptolites resembling fans or coils, and others lining their tubes with rows of spines or branches.

The vertebrate story continued at a slow pace. By the Ordovician, fish had evolved proper bones and covered their bodies in scales, and the majority of species had gone a step further and strengthened their scales into solid armor. Like most of the other animal groups, these would have proved to be a great defense against predation. However, fishes still remained a small part of the ecosystem. They were not apex predators, for they still lacked jaws and could only suck up soft-bodied food from the seafloor, and they did not venture out into the open oceans either, with all species remaining in shallow seas and along coastlines and estuaries.

The earlier development of the ozone layer proved to be a beneficial aid to life on Earth, allowing so many different marine organisms to thrive in the oceans, but for the first time ever, life began to colonize the terrestrial world. Up until the Ordovician, the only types of plants were marine species of red and green algae. The only land-living, photosynthetic organisms were the mats of cyanobacteria that moved onto surface rocks to escape the threat of grazing animals. Analyses on living species of green algae suggest that the first land plants developed from freshwater species and survived on land because they adapted their bodies to become waterproof (which prevented them from drying out). Fossils from 473 million years ago show plants very much like liverworts, which are the oldest surviving group of land plants today. Liverworts do not have roots or stems, but instead attach their flattened bodies called thalli to the ground. Like their algal relatives, liverworts and other early land plants reproduced with spores, which the adult plants release into the water where they land and grow into copies of their parents. This meant that, despite their terrestrial existence, the first land plants were restricted to warm, moist environments.

But they were not alone in their travels, because they were soon followed by the earliest land fungi. Fungi had already been around on Earth since the Proterozoic, making up on of the major groups of eukaryotic organisms. In fact, they are more closely related to animals then they are to plants, meaning you have more familial relations to the mushrooms in your soup than to the carrots or onions. Fungi are mostly decomposers: breaking down dead materials that provide them with nutrients. They had a ready food source when the first land plants began to die, and through their decomposition process they began to churn parts of the sediment, creating soil. All land plants today rely on soil for nutrients, so newly growing spores were treated to an increasingly safer environment, thanks to the fungi. Ever slowly the stage was set for the rise of terrestrial environments, as vast numbers of liverworts blanketed the margins of freshwater rivers and lakes.

The good times were not to last, as the Ordovician closed with a major mass extinction event. While the direct causes are still debated by researchers, the changing conditions at the time almost certainly put pressures on marine organisms. Analysis of rock formations around 450 million years ago demonstrate that carbon dioxide levels plummeted, while oxygen levels increased dramatically. As Gondwana moved south and covered the poles, the Earth became cool enough for glaciers to form there, which expanded and took in such large amounts of water that the sea levels dropped. Many of the warm, shallow marine environments were lost as a result, and as much as 86% of marine species went extinct. Yet again, the trilobites took some serious damage and their numbers never recovered to previous levels; and there were great losses of brachiopods, bryozoans, and graptolites. What happened to all the carbon dioxide? Hypotheses blame the drop in levels due to the rise of the first land plants, because their sheer numbers on land may have photosynthesized a little too well. Other evidence points to volcanic weathering causing the drop in carbon levels; remember, weathering of certain rocks often takes up carbon dioxide. The ice sheets at the south pole were at their greatest extent during the last seven million years of the Ordovician, but when the period ended much of the marine life in the oceans was gone.

The Silurian picks up where the Ordovician left off: a relatively short geologic period from 443.8 million to 419.2 million years ago. As the Earth’s overall climate warmed up again the glaciers began to recede in Gondwana, and the sea levels rose. The giant continent itself started inching northwards. By now, Laurentia and Baltica had connected together as one landmass called Euramerica, due to the inclusion of lands that would eventually become Europe and North America. Siberia remained isolated, and the Iapetus Ocean began to close as Gondwana and Euramerica moved closer to each other.

As it had done after the Cambrian, marine life rebounded following the Ordovician, but now there were depleted stocks. Trilobites and graptolites lost much of their diversity, and the great sponge reefs had lessened in number. In their place emerged two types of stony corals that had evolved quietly during the Ordovician. The first group and the ones that primarily formed the new reefs were the tabulate corals. They were colonial organisms, like living corals, and formed flattened, table-like structures in great quantities. Among them was the second group, the rugose corals, who could form colonies or remain as single organisms. Their bodies looked like horns, but they often angled themselves in their growth. Surprising as it may seem, corals are related to sea jellies: whereas sea jellies adapted themselves to be free-floating animals, corals flipped that body plan over and resided to an existence attached to rocks and seafloor sediments. These new coral reefs became great templates that supported a wide variety of animal life.

The iconic invertebrates of the Paleozoic, the giant cephalopods and frightening eurypterids, continued to stalk the oceans. Among the mollusks, the bivalves managed to radiate into a great number of new groups, given that their main competitors the brachiopods faced such heavy losses at the end of the Ordovician.

Fish became big winners during the Silurian Period, thanks to the evolution of true jaws. Given that the first fishes were jawless animals, how did this adaptation come to be? Genetic and anatomical evidence points to a change in development of the front most gill arches (the parts of the throat that provide support for the gills themselves). These migrated towards the exterior of the mouth and allowed that part of the body to close and open at will. Given that gills help fish take in oxygen from the water, this ability to work the mouth would have helped them take in more water (this feat is called buccal pumping). These ancestral jawed fishes could effectively breath faster than their contemporaries and as a result could swim better too. Over time, this adaptation found another function, fish that had strengthened the repurposed gill arches could now catch and kill prey with their mouths more efficiently. New dietary options opened up, and now the fishes of the Silurian could eat each other! The gill arches became true jaws. This remarkable change in physiology prompted the evolution of all the major groups of jawed fishes, and as a result, the jawless fishes were now about to face some serious competition.

The situation on land grew much more serious. As collections of plants and fungi changed the surfaces of freshwater coasts, new plants evolved to join their number. Among the liverworts were the first mosses, which had special structures called rhizoids that gave them some anchorage to the soil. New plants evolved later on, around 433 million years ago, that underwent significant structural changes to their bodies. These were the vascular plants, so named because inside their revolutionary new roots, stems, and leaves was a system of vein-like tubes that could take in water and nutrients and distribute them through their body. This was a more efficient system than what the liverworts and mosses had, because it meant that vascular plants had more strength to support their bodies in the gravitationally-dominant environment. One of the icons of Silurian botany is Cooksonia, which was one of the most common land plants at the time. They were relatively tiny plants, only growing as high as 2 inches, that had a Y-shaped prong structure. At the end of these prongs were their spores, which they could release into the wind. At the other end of the plant spectrum is Baragwanathia, which was among the tallest plants on land (growing up to 11 inches high). These plants were lycopods, one of the surviving members of this new flora that can still be found today. They’re distinguished among their peers by their covering of tiny leaves all along their stems, which increased their surface area and allowed more sunlight to be captured. Traits like these allowed lycopods and other vascular plants to outgrow their competitors and really change the landscape.

But the plants and fungi were no longer alone in their world. Fossil evidence indicates that for the first time, animals began to make serious trips onto the land. Prior to the Silurian, there is some fossil evidence that certain creatures were making small visits to the sandy coasts: for example, trackways have been found that have been identified with eurypterids and aquatic myriapods like millipedes. But these animals could not have permanently stayed on land because they still breathed with gills and so they had to return to the water to survive. Arthropods that managed to survive on land had underwent mutations that changed their bodies. The first land arachnids developed book lungs that were retained inside the body and took in oxygen from the air instead of water. Other arthropods like mandibulates switched out gills for a series of spherical holes along their bodies, connected to an interworking system of tubes that carried oxygen everywhere. Among all members of the group, their jointed limbs proved to be helpful in supporting their weight as they roamed the soils. By the end of the Silurian, arachnids (in the form of scorpions and a now extinct group called trigonotarbids) and myriapods (in the form of millipedes and centipedes) established a presence of land. With new resources like plant matter, some arthropods developed into herbivores, while others took advantage of the new prey items and remained carnivores. It is even possible that the ancestors of earthworms and nematodes were living on land at this time, though their soft-bodies would have not preserved well in these conditions. Thus, the first land ecosystems and food webs were in place.

Part 3

The Silurian Period passed calmly into the Devonian Period, 419.2 million to 358.9 million years ago. As Gondwana moved northwards it started to rotate as the lands that would become Australia and China began to move towards Siberia. Euramerica made contact with Gondwana by the middle of the Period, closing the Iapetus Ocean forever. This collision of continents pushed up great mountains along the connected landmasses: these were the precursors of the Caledonian Mountains, which today can be found along Greenland, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. This mountain building also helped push the Appalachians higher. The glaciers that dominated the south pole in the Silurian had receded significantly till they were almost nonexistent. Carbon dioxide levels rose, and the world became much warmer and dryer.

While tabulate corals were still doing well during the Devonian, the rugose corals increased in diversity and joined their relatives as the main reef-building organisms. Brachiopods and crinoids continued to filter-feed among the reefs, while eurypterids decreased in overall importance in marine ecosystems. Among the crustaceans, the earliest decapods evolved, which sport ten legs. The ancestral body plan of the first decapods was very shrimp-like, and indeed shrimp and prawns belong to this group (though these are interchangeable terms for the same animals that lack any scientific basis). More prominent members of the decapod group, like the crabs and lobsters, didn’t evolve until much later in the Mesozoic Era. The mollusks themselves also gave a world a new lineage of cephalopods, with strong sutured shells that formed coils. These were the ammonoids and they became predatory mollusks, unlike their filter-feeding relatives the endocerids (which, incidentally, died out during the Silurian).

The ammonoids and decapods proved to be very special organisms, because they featured in a remarkable adaptation event called the Nekton Revolution. Paleontologists coined this term to refer to a change in the fossil record when many organisms began to adapt to a swimming lifestyle. To be nektonic is to be free-swimming. Now more and more animals were occupying niches in the open ocean, and the seas began to crowd with an abundance of different organisms.

The fish, which had already developed into their main groups, were now diversifying into different forms and taking advantage of the new niches that were being created: it was the Age of the Fishes. One group of jawed fishes called antiarchs converted their front fins into hardened plates and moved their eyes to the tops of their heads, possibly helping them move along the seabed and bottom-feed. Another lineage, the chondrichthyans, made their internal skeletons cartilaginous (that is, made of cartilage instead of bone), which lightened their weight and made them faster and more efficient predators. This paved the way for the first sharks. It’s often been said that sharks have remained unchanged since the Devonian, but a quick glance at the fossil record debunks this: most of the early sharks of the Paleozoic were strange and weirdly-shaped animals, one example being Sethacanthus which sported an anvil-shaped growth at the top of its back that paleontologists have had difficulty explaining. Modern-type sharks won’t evolve for a long time. But the most spectacular of all the fishes in the Devonian were the arthrodires, who strengthened their heads and jaws with thick armor plating. The biggest members of the group included the open-ocean filter-feeder Titanichthys and the apex predator Dunkleosteus, both reaching lengths of up to 33 feet. With the rise of jawed fishes like these, nearly all marine ecosystems from the Devonian to the present day had vertebrate animals as their main predators.

Among the bony fishes stemmed two kinds. There were the ray-finned fishes or actinopterygians that trading in their fleshy front fins for a webbed-ray of bony or cartilaginous spines. In the present day, most fish species belong to this group. The other group of bony fishes kept their fleshy-fins and developed a lobed-anatomy where the fins encased a series of bones. These lobe-finned fishes or sarcopterygians are vital to the story of our evolution, because it was from this group that the ancestors of land vertebrates originated. How did this remarkable transition from aquatic animals to land animals take place?

The current fossil evidence we have points to the bony fishes of the Devonian evolving along seashores and coastal environments. Most of the lobe-finned fishes were finding food in estuaries and freshwater rivers. They were not particularly fast vertebrates, and they didn’t need to be, as they did not face any of the pressures of open ocean living that their relatives the ray-finned fishes faced. By growing out the bones in their fins and creating a wrist joint, sarcopterygians could skulk about the riverbed or cling to aquatic plants. Over time the fins became more flexible and more joints developed: from ankles to elbows. Now the sarcopterygians had proper limbs that allowed them to better move through their freshwater environment. But at the same time, this anatomy proved beneficial when a few of these fishes started making temporary journeys onto the shores in search of food, as there were plenty of arthropods already there. Repeated trips caused their skeleton to strengthen and become more flexible. The hip bones adjusted to the hind limbs and gave them more support, while the shoulders separated from the ribs to aid with steering the body. A neck formed, and some of the bones of the limbs moved outwards and formed digits. They could breathe the air with lungs and collect oxygen from the water with gills. It’s important to state that fishes ancestrally had air sacs: ray-finned fishes modified them into swim-bladders to aid with buoyancy, while lobe-finned fishes developed them into proper lungs. The stegocephalians had arrived, spearheaded by the appearance in the fossil record of forms like Tiktaalik, Acanthostega, and Ichthyostega. While these fishes were capable animals on land, able to shuffle along the sands and silts like seals and mudskippers do today, they were primarily aquatic and still gained most of their resources in the water. But it was a capable start of things to come.

The land became a truly inviting place during the Devonian. Liverworts, mosses, and lycopods blossomed into a number of larger forms, and they were joined by a host of new vascular plant lineages that grew into complex branching forms with the first proper leaves. Monilophytes – the group that includes the ferns and horsetails – gave their roots the ability to spread out and form new copies of itself. Because these structures form underground, they can allow monilophytes to survive in harsh conditions, meaning that the earliest ferns and horsetails were able to spread out farther than other plants previously could. Another lineage of vascular plants went from using spores to dividing their sex cells into different structures, with the female sex cells staying in the parent plant and the male sex cells needing to be dispersed as pollen grains. This simple adaptation allowed these plants called spermatophytes to increase their genetic diversity and their range of distribution, because now pollen could be carried further by the wind. Not only that, once the two sex cells met and formed an ovule (or egg), special cells were directed to form a hard outer layer around it. This shell enclosed a wet storage of food that sustained the embryonic plant until it could be planted somewhere else. This is how seeds formed, and fossils of Devonian plants called Elkinsia and Runcaria reveal this process in action. In the meantime, some of the members of the monilophytes and seed plants started to grow more and more vessels for transporting water up their stems. These structures were formed by an organic molecule called lignin, which itself was encased in another organic molecule called cellulose. Following generations of growth, the lignin-cellulose outer-layers of plants strengthened and hardened and gave rise to the first plants with woody stems. Wood is a tough material and it allowed plants to rocket to the skies: the first trees had evolved. Understandably, they started out small, but soon towered over their neighbors: one of the oldest trees, Wattieza, was 26 feet tall. With the evolution of seeds and wood, plants spread much farther from the waters than they ever could before.

Arthropods and mollusks flourished in the growing forests: the earliest mites, spiders, and harvestmen, accompanied by the first air-breathing snails. Insects begin their story in the Devonian, having evolved from freshwater crustaceans related to branchiopods in the Silurian. These hexapods, as their name suggests, developed a body plan with six legs. Some of these early hexapods adapted their tails to act as ‘spring-boards’ that could propel them away from predators. They survived to the present day, earning their common name springtails. The first insects distinguished themselves by growing larger and moving away from the underground, moist environment of their ancestors. They became herbivores, ingesting the leaves and stems of the new plants that were evolving. Like the springtails, remnants of this time still exist today in the form of the soil-living bristletails and those domestic pests the silverfish.

Right around the end of the Devonian struck a series of mass extinction events. The expansion of terrestrial plants with deep, piercing roots seems to have allowed great quantities of soil nutrients to wash away into the rivers and seas, causing oxygen levels in the water to decrease. This eutrophication would have caused vast regions of the seas to become anoxic and deadly for living things. It was a particularly damaging collection of extinction events: estimates place the loss of marine groups at 40-50%. Some of the organisms that were still recovering from their losses in the Ordovician, like the trilobites and brachiopods, were hit hard. In fact, all but one lineage of trilobites was wiped out. The graptolites, that curious lineage of hard-shelled, planktonic worms, vanished from the Earth, as did many unique forms of echinoderms and most of the newly-evolved ammonoids. The great reefs of tabulate corals and sponges met their end, leaving those organisms relegated to lesser roles in the ecosystem. The Age of Fishes ended with losses too: all of those weird and wonderful jawed fishes, the arthrodires, the antiarchs, and others, died in the low-oxygen oceans. Jawless fishes saw most of their number go extinct, leaving two lineages of worm-like animals, the hagfishes and the lampreys, to go on to present times.

Part 4

So the world entered a new period, the Carboniferous, from 358.9 million to 298.9 million years ago. Euramerica and Gondwana remained connected as a giant continent, but by the middle of the period those pieces of Gondwana that would go on to form the lands of China had collided with Siberia. In turn, these ancestral Asian lands pushed against Euramerica and rose up the Ural Mountains. A vast expanse of water was opened, creating a new ocean called the Paleo-Tethys. Parts of Gondwana still hovered over the south pole, and the small glaciers there slowly began to grow again. At the western edge of Euramerica, the Rockies were beginning to raise.

But the primary modifiers of the Earth’s land and climate would prove to be the living things that resided upon it. The seas of the world were much reduced in diversity following the Devonian Extinction Events, and for a period of time there were no major reef-building organisms. The rugose and tabulate corals were still around – in lower numbers – but they did not form reefs. In their place emerged great forests of crinoids, those stalked echinoderms that filter-feed through the water. Often termed ‘meadows’, these expanses of crinoids grew and died in such rapid succession that they formed deposits of limestone.

On land, the foundations of the world’s coal deposits were developing. As plants continued to evolve and spread across the land, great forests grew and went on to cover much of the available land. New species of trees evolved among the vascular and non-vascular plants. Some kinds of lycopod, like Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, could tower 130 feet in the air and sported scale-like bark. There were giant horsetails too: Calamites reached up to 66 feet high and in some cases had stems 24 inches thick. Tree ferns were present and seed plants also produced enormous forms, like the 148-foot high Cordaites. As you can see, giant trees were the norm in the Carboniferous. There were so many tough, woody plants around, but nothing to eat them. Despite a patchy fossil record, we can be confident that wood-eating bacteria and fungi had not evolved yet because of how these trees ended up dying. When they eventually dropped to the ground, rather than decompose, the trees got covered up by swampy sediments. Over time, the remains of the trees piled on top of each other, and millions of years of heat and pressure from the Earth’s surface converted the biological remains into coal deposits. The most prominent remains of coal come from Carboniferous rocks, which is what gave the period its name: due to the lack of decomposition, all the carbon that the plant took in is still there. Keep this in mind for later.

With so many forests on the land, carbon dioxide levels plummeted while oxygen levels rose significantly: over 30% above present day levels. In turn, the presence of so much oxygen in the air (plus the fact that wood now existed) meant that passing lightning strikes could spark fires for the first time. All this oxygen had another adverse effect on animal life too.

Due to the way arthropods breathe, the more oxygen is available to them, the larger they get. This period of Earth’s history is famous for its abundance of seemingly-improbable giant arthropods. The myriapods begat the giant millipede-relative Arthropleura, an herbivorous species that grew over 7 feet long. There were massive three-foot scorpions roaming the coal forests, preying on the hordes of new terrestrial species. And insects truly began to diversify during this time. The key adaptation that marked the path for the insects was wings. While still a controversial discussion in paleontology, genetic and morphological evidence has suggested that the precursors of insect wings developed from gills that became repurposed for movement in air rather than water. The first wings were stiff structures that were held outwards from the body, and these were found in the first mayflies, dragonflies, and damselflies. Relatives of these insects, the dragonfly-like griffinflies were among the giant arthropods of the Carboniferous. The wingspan of one called Meganeura reached 26 inches meaning that it would have been a formidable aerial predator. Later insects modified their wings to fold inwards towards their bodies, and this proved to be a beneficial change because it meant that these delicate structures could be protected from wear and tear. By the end of the Carboniferous, the ancestors of grasshoppers, cockroaches, lacewings, and beetles had made a home for themselves in the coal forests.

Stegocephalians remained mostly aquatic animals for most of the Carboniferous, but a descendant branch of this group, the tetrapods, began to diversify into a myriad number of lineages. Tetrapods are proper four-limbed vertebrates that all (at least ancestrally) retained five digits on each foot. One group, the temnospondyls, produced crocodile-like forms that lurked in the swamps and fed upon large aquatic animals. It is among the temnospondyls that we find the ancestors of true amphibians, who retained an aquatic larval stage. Other tetrapods formed lineages that did not survive the Paleozoic, including worm-like animals that lost their limbs. The most significant development in the vertebrate story was the amniotic egg, where the embryo is stored with water and nutrients inside a hardened shell that could be laid on the land, rather than in water. With so many opportunities for predators to feast upon the jelly-like, soft eggs of their predecessors, this adaptation meant a better chance for survival. So the amniotes evolved to become proper terrestrial animals, able to survive away from the water and take on the newly emerging ecosystem that is the land. As a consequence of living in a dry world, amniotes developed toughened, water-proof skins and claws on their digits allowed them to better maneuver over rough surfaces or brush. By the end of the Carboniferous, two lineages of amniotes had evolved, becoming the two great groups of land vertebrates: the sauropsids or reptiles, and the synapsids, the ancestors of mammals. The two groups are distinguished by the placement of holes behind the eye socket that aid with jaw-muscle attachment. Reptiles typically have two holes behind their eye socket, while synapsids have just one. And there were herbivorous and carnivorous species that played vital roles in their food webs.

The Carboniferous was a dramatic time for life. The effects of the coal forests proved too great for the planet, and the resulting losses of carbon dioxide and gains of oxygen caused the Gondwanan glaciers to grow in size until they expanded across the continent. The climate cooled and caused many of the forested swamps to fragment in size or die off altogether. Wetland-adapted tetrapods died off in huge numbers and many of the giant lycopod trees perished as well. It was the hardy plants and animals that took over their ecosystems. Ferns and seed plants expanded their range and formed vast swaths, and the amniotes diversified in the new drying world. This glaciation was short-lived, but of course that meant that its effects put greater pressure on life as a whole.

The final period of the Paleozoic Era was the Permian, 298.9 to 251.9 million years ago. The Gondwanan glaciation ended during the early part of this time, around 280 million years ago, and the levels of carbon dioxide rose again. The famous supercontinent of Pangaea formed during this time, as the Gondwana-Euramerica landmass collided with Siberia and the other continents. This meant that, had our modern borders been present at the time, you could walk from Sumatra to Argentina without ever needing to cross a body of water. With the shrinking of the coal forests and the rise of upland, terrestrial ecosystems, vast parts of the land were not in contact with any river or coastline and they subsequently dried up and formed deserts and scrublands. Thus, the Permian was a hot, dry planet, but one populated by animals and plants that could withstand it.

Marine faunas bounced back slightly, and sponges once again took the helm as the main reef-builders. Brachiopods and bryozoans managed to do very well and were common animals in the seas, while the trilobites were few and unimportant. Ammonoids regained their former numbers. The diversity of fishes, while much reduced from their Devonian days, was still high, and there was even room for experimentation. A relative of sharks and rays, Helicoprion, sported a strange coiled row of teeth in its mouth and this baffled paleontologists for years because no one knew where exactly it was supposed to go. Reconstructions abounded, with some placing the whorl at the front of the jaws and some placing it deep in the throat. The most recent interpretation, based on better fossils, finds the tooth whorl in the center of the lower jaw where it stuck out awkwardly.

Alongside the ferns grew newer kinds of seed plants. Gymnosperms did remarkably well in the drier parts of the land, with the first cycads and ginkgoes taking root in the sands. Conifers (represented today by species like pine, spruce, and fir) had evolved in the Carboniferous, but they flourished during the Permian. Despite all this diversity, the most common tree in the world was not a conifer but a seed-bearing plant called Glossopteris. What made this plant so hardy was ability to cope with colder environments, including mountain ranges.

Tetrapods roamed over the warmer and wetter regions of the planet, with giant temnospondyls sharing the swamps, lakes, and rivers with equally giant predatory lobe-finned fishes called rhizodonts. The stars of the Permian lived on land, however. The amniotes spread out far and wide over the Pangaean supercontinent and took on nearly every niche and body type available. Among the reptiles were the first land vertebrates to return to an aquatic existence, with later varieties occupying more of an amphibious niche: periodically switching between land and water. Some reptiles took to the air, developing membranous structures along their sides for short gliding. The earliest ancestors of turtles appear to have lived about this time, too.

Most of the apex predatory and herbivorous niches went to synapsids, who often were the largest animals in their ecosystem. The earliest synapsids were lizard-like animals, that walked with a sprawling gait and had an ectothermic physiology, gaining heat from their surrounding environment for metabolic functions. Included among these ancient synapsids is Dimetrodon, which sported a row of spines along its back that were encased in webbing. It was originally thought that structures like these aided in their ectothermy, with excess heat being released by the sail while winds that blew on it cooled the animal, but recent studies now dispute this: it just doesn’t seem to work like that. Newer studies have shown a role of the sail in courtship displays, meaning that Dimetrodon was almost certainly a colorful animal.

Later synapsids gradually adapted their bodies to better efficiency. The limbs were placed underneath the body, and the sprawling gait was traded in for a walking locomotion. This would have changed their physiology too, and this has prompted many paleontologists to view these newer animals, called therapsids, as endothermic (able to generate their own internal heat). Therapsids were increasingly mammal-like vertebrates and they were more efficient predators and herbivores. Some species took on a burrowing lifestyle, while others became arboreal (living in trees). Some reached enormous sizes and resembled ferocious pigs, while others were sleek and almost weasel-like. The most spectacular members of this group, and the dominant predators of the later Permian times, were the gorgonopsians. They sported fangs that certainly helped them deliver crushing blows to their prey, and some species grew over 11 feet long.

But no matter how hardy a species you are, whether an apex predator or a cold-adapted tree, you’re not guaranteed safety from extinction. It was at the end of the Permian Period, 252 million years ago, that the mother of all mass extinctions occurred. Based upon all the evidence we have, paleontologists have recognized that around this time, a series of volcanic eruptions in Siberia unleashed a huge blanket of lava over the continent. As volcanoes do, carbon dioxide would have been released into the air, but this was on a scale of gigatons (that is, a billion tons). Over the rapid 1-million-year period of these eruptions, as much as 170,000 gigatons of carbon dioxide were belched into the air, triggering a devastating greenhouse effect that warmed the entire planet. The waters of the world became acidic and the land dried and cracked with heat. Life never came so close to being killed off, as 80-96% of all organisms went extinct. The list of casualties is pretty long, but among the animals we have met during our voyage through time, every trilobite, eurypterid, rugose, and tabulate coral was wiped away. Brachiopods, bryozoans, echinoderms, mollusks, and arthropods suffered heavy losses. For the first time during a mass extinction event, land animals were heavily effected, with many of the newly evolved synapsids, reptiles, and temnospondyls suffocating and starving to death. The only organisms that managed to actually thrive in this hellish world were colonies of sulfur-eating bacteria.

Yes, life was almost rendered extinct on Earth, but it wasn’t. The fact that you are here right now is a testament to the versatility and resourcefulness of your ancestors. To have survived the near end of the world and then go on to fill the next is a great gift, and one that should be embraced whole-heartedly. When the Paleozoic ended and the Mesozoic began, the slate was wiped clean and a new story could be told.

And with that, we must lay anchor to our river journey. In the next episode, we enter the Mesozoic Era. This was the golden age of the dinosaurs, the most famous prehistoric animals of all. But they were not the only new organisms to call the Earth home. They shared the world with a host of strange plants, mollusks, insects, fishes, and reptiles, as well as the direct ancestors of the mammalian lineage. That incredible time and all the events that shaped it, will be told to you.

That’s the end of this episode of On the River of History. If you enjoyed listening in and are interested in hearing more, you can visit my new website at www.podcasts.com, just search for ‘On the River of History’. A transcript of today’s episode is available for the hearing-impaired or for those who just want to read along: the link is in the description. And, if you like what I do, you’re welcome to stop by my Twitter @KilldeerCheer. You can also support this podcast by becoming a patron, at www.patreon.com/JTurmelle: any and all donations are greatly appreciated and will help continue this podcast. Thank you all for listening and never forget: the story of the world is your story too.

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21 Photos to Inspire Your Galapagos Bucket List

The Galapagos Islands definitely is a magical place the place you will be immersed in a nature show in contrast to no different. The distant UNESCO World Heritage web site is a melting pot of distinctive wildlife, which impressed Charles Darwin’s landmark idea of evolution following his go to in 1835. It’s house to wildlife species which might be discovered nowhere else on Earth.

Big tortoises, flightless cormorants and waved albatross. Oh my!

These pictures will encourage you to both put the Galapagos in your bucket listing or transfer it approach up within the precedence rating.

Crabs & Boobies

Many multi-colored Sally Mild-Foot crabs roam the rocks close to the seas edge and blue-footed boobies are simply recognized by the brilliant azure coloured toes. In case you’re fortunate you’ll catch them doing their mating dance the place they rock side-to-side whereas exaggeratedly lifting their eye-catching child blue toes.

Lazy Sea Lions

Galapagos sea lions lounge nearly all over the place you go on the islands. Their lazy demeanor and candy stares will tempt you to rub their comfortable tummies.

Birds Past Blue-Footed Boobies

You might by no means tire of watching the nice blue herons foraging whereas standing in just a few inches of water or marveling on the ballooning crimson neck sacks of the male frigatebird and even staring into the beady red-ringed eyes of the swallow-tailed gull.

The islands are a chook lover’s paradise.

Plus there’s penguins.

Galapagos penguins are the one wild penguins that stay North of the Equator. Although they’ve the smallest inhabitants dimension of all of the penguins, these are ones that you just really don’t need to courageous the bitter chilly to see.

Iguanas & Lizards

Identical to lazy sea lions cowl the islands, so do iguanas and lizards. Marine iguanas will stroll on the docks or solar themselves on a rock whereas the crimson headed lava lizard crosses your path.

Pristine Pure Landscapes

As if the wildlife wasn’t sufficient to carry you to the Galapagos, every island had a special breathtaking terrain.Customer numbers are restricted with retains the human footprint at a minimal.

You Would possibly Additionally Get pleasure from

Hike to the highest of Bartolome Island within the Galapagos See Galapagos Penguins within the Wild See the Blue-Footed Booby Mating Dance within the Galápagos Islands Insider Tricks to Conquering Peru’s Traditional Inca Path to Machu Picchu Hike

. . . Verify it Off Your Bucket Record . . .

Location/Info:

Located within the Pacific Ocean, the Galapagos Islands are a volcanic archipelago that lie 620 miles from the South American mainland. A province of Ecuador, it consists of 13 fundamental islands and 6 smaller isles. It’s a distant vacation spot that may be a melting pot of distinctive wildlife, which impressed Charles Darwin’s landmark idea of evolution following his go to in 1835. Have been referred to as a “residing museum and showcase of wildlife” it’s house to wildlife species which might be discovered nowhere else on Earth; the large tortoise, Galapagos sea lions, Flightless Cormorant, the Waved Albatross and, in fact the boobies.

Getting There:

Galapagos is reached via the nation of Ecuador by flying into both the capital metropolis of Quito or the international locations largest metropolis of Guayaquil. In case you don’t plan on spending any time on the mainland, fly into Guayaquil, since it’s nearer to the islands and most flights from Quito to the Galapagos cease there. In case you plan on doing a little exploring in Ecuador prior or after your journey, go to Quito. Its well-known previous city is an UNESCO World Heritage Web site stuffed with colonial allure, bustling markets and architectural buildings. Whichever metropolis you select, will more than likely require an in a single day keep.

The Galapagos Islands has two airports, one on San Cristóbal and the opposite on Isla Baltra, simply north of Santa Cruz. Which airport you select will rely on how you have got determined to discover the islands. The flight from Guayaquil to the islands is roughly an hour and forty-five minutes (about 40 minutes from Quito to Guayaquil). Home flights will be booked via TAME, Avianca or LAN.

Language(s):

Spanish is the official language in Ecuador and on the Galapagos Islands, although English is extensively spoken on excursions, plus within the eating places and motels.

Foreign money:

The US Greenback

Electrical energy:

Plug Sort A/B, 110v. The voltage and socket is identical because the U.S., so there’s not want for an adapter or converter.

When to Go:

Each month within the Galapagos has its highlights and the climate makes any time of the yr a superb time to go to, so once you go enormously will depend on the kind of expertise you wish to have. For instance, in March on San Cristobal and Genovesa you may catch a glimpse of the frigatebirds inflated crimson throat pouches, in Could your probabilities enhance for witnessing the blue-footed booby mating dance on North Seymour and in August you may catch the newly born sea lion pups. There may be at all times one thing unbelievable to see on the Galapagos. For an entire listing of wildlife exercise take a look at the month-to-month calendar at Ecuador Journey Web site.

The height tourism months are June, July and August, in addition to mid-December via mid-January. It is best to e-book your journey properly upfront throughout these instances, because the variety of guests allowed on the islands is proscribed. Remember that the costs are additionally usually larger throughout this time. December via Could is when the ocean tends to be the calmest. In these months the climate is hotter and barely wet with temperatures sometimes within the 80s. On most days the solar will nonetheless make an look after the rainfall. June via November brings cooler temperatures (within the 70s) and colder water. Skilled divers favor this time of yr, because the currents bringing vitamins into the water attracts extra wonderful marine life.

Learn how to Go to/Planning:

One of many largest selections to make when planning your journey to Galapagos is how you’ll select to discover the islands. You’ll be able to both take a cruise on a live-aboard boat or keep onshore utilizing a lodge as your base. If you choose the latter, it’s potential to e-book day journeys to a number of the standard islands from Santa Cruz or San Cristobal. Although this can be a extra economical possibility, getting round independently will be difficult, as exploring a lot of the islands requires being accompanied by a licensed information. Plus, you’ll have limitations to the islands you may attain because of the distance. The benefit to a multi-day live-aboard cruise is that they leverage the night time hours by utilizing them to journey between islands, so your days aren’t wasted. The small group yachts, underneath 20 passengers, are the easiest way to discover the islands and see extra of the wildlife in a customized setting. There are dozens, if not a whole bunch, of licensed vessels with a wide range of stops and routes to select from. Ecoventura is the sustainable journey firm who took me via the islands, and is right for these wanting a small group expertise with educated naturalists. In case you go for day journeys from the principle islands, Sharksky presents good choices. The perfect resolution could also be to take a 4-day cruise then spend a pair days by yourself on a populated island, like Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz or Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in Cristóbal.

Getting Round:

Navigating between the islands would require a aircraft or boat. Although for getting round on the populated islands you may lease a motorbike for about $15 per day or catch a taxi for a few bucks to most locations.

The place to Keep:

If you’re staying in a single day in Guayaquil, attempt Lodge Oro Verde (from $124), which presents shuttle service from the airport or for a extra peaceable keep in a quiet residential space, Nazu Home Mattress & Breakfast (from $86). In Quito, splurge at Lodge Patio Andaluz (from $210) centrally positioned within the historic district or hideaway at Las Terrazas de Dana (from $109), a contemporary ecolodge within the cloud forest of Mindo. Within the Galapagos, keep within the lap of luxurious at Finch Bay Eco Lodge (from $325) on Santa Cruz Island or the household run Galapagos Suites (from $134). On San Cristóbal, attempt the straightforward Galapagos Eco Pleasant (from $89) that has all you want.

The place to Eat:

Whereas in Quito, get your ceviche repair at Zazu (www.zazuquito.com) or take pleasure in conventional Ecuadorian dishes and pasta at Fried Bananas Café (www.newfriedbananas.com), be sure that to order the fried banana dessert made with vodka. In Guayaquil, attempt native meals with a classy twist at La Pizarra (www.fb.com/lapizarraec) or go for Noe (www.noesushibar.com), generally known as the place to go for nice sushi. On the island of Santa Cruz have an informal dinner at Calle de los Kioscos, an open-air market with loads of low cost native meals decisions. For out of doors eating, head over to La Garrapata (+593 5-252-6264) for the contemporary tuna in a sesame and pepper sauce. For an area expertise on San Cristóbal, get burgers at Cri’s (https://ift.tt/2sTzTmS) and eat on the tiny stools out entrance.

Bucket Record Should-Dos:

Plan your journey across the month of Could to get a greater probability of witnessing the Blue Footed Booby mating dance, the courtship ritual of those standard birds.

Take the steep climb to the highest of the volcanic cone of Bartolomé and get a peak on the most photographed pure construction within the Galapagos, Pinnacle Rock.

Do because the sailors did within the 19th century and ship a submit card at Put up Workplace Bay on Floreana Island. Go away one and sift via the others to choose one near house handy ship.

Take a better have a look at the large tortoises on the Darwin Analysis Station (https://ift.tt/Kyq8rp) in Puerto Ayora the place scientists and volunteers are concerned in conservation.

Snorkel via the community of lava tunnels generally known as Los Tuneles on isle Isabela. The distinctive formations above and under the water embody a collection of arcs and tunnels which might be a sanctuary of marine life.

Important Data:

It’s a requirement to have a naturalist with you when exploring the protected islands; you can’t simply enterprise off by yourself.

Although you could possibly hop onto a last-minute cruise once you attain the islands, it’s finest to e-book properly upfront, a minimum of 3-Four months throughout non-peak instances and 6 months to a yr throughout excessive vacationer months.

When arriving to both of the 2 Galapagos airports, vacationers should pay a $100 per individual ($50 for youngsters underneath 12) Galapagos Nationwide Park (galapagospark.org) entrance payment at immigration.

A visa shouldn’t be required to enter Ecuador, although be sure that your passport doesn’t expire inside 6 months of arrival.

It’s strictly prohibited to the touch or in any other case disturb the character or wildlife of the Galapagos. Don’t feed the animals (not even a drop of water) or depart behind any type of litter.

Packing Ideas:

Exploring the Galapagos sometimes means being on a ship, so just be sure you load up on movement illness medicine. Some days can get fairly uneven and seasickness may even have an effect on these not liable to it. Strive the sea-band wristband or Dramamine’s much less drowsy system.

Be type to the ecosystem by bringing biodegradable sunscreen, shampoo, conditioner and lotions. (Alba Botanica makes a extremely rated sunscreen and Campsuds makes a multi-purpose cleaner that can be utilized as a shampoo, physique wash and even dish cleaner.)

A small pair of binoculars can go a great distance when making an attempt to identify wildlife from the boat. (Bushnell Falcon makes some good ones for underneath $30)

Restrict plastic waste by bringing a reusable water bottle. (The Vapor Aspect Bottle is ideal for journey because it folds up right into a tiny neat bundle when empty)

Carry the fitting pair of sneakers. Mild mountaineering sneakers are mandatory for a number of the islands and water sneakers are wanted for the moist landings when the panga can’t carry you all the way in which to the shore or dock. A dual-purpose Eager type lively shoe would work properly. Additionally, carry a snug pair of deck sneakers to put on whereas simply hanging out on the boat.

Don’t neglect an underwater digicam to seize the unbelievable marine life. I exploit a GoPro, however if you need a less expensive possibility simply get an underwater case to your cellphone.

Most excursions will present snorkeling gear (masks, tube, fins and moist swimsuit), however take into account a minimum of bringing your personal masks. A correctly fitted one can improve your snorkel expertise and reduce the probabilities of lacking marine-life due to having to fiddle together with your gear.

You’ll be able to depart the make-up and blow dryers at house since you’ll more than likely be out and in of the water a number of instances per day.

Carry a small daypack to take alongside on the hikes.

Pack a dry bag to retailer all of your electronics. It may well get difficult transferring from the small panga to shore whereas carrying your digicam gear and also you need to be sure that it’s protected.

If you’re taking a cruise, there will likely be some down time and really restricted Web. Carry a e-book or obtain motion pictures to your laptop computer previous to leaving house.

It will get sizzling within the Galapagos and a long-sleeved UPF shirt to guard you from the solar whereas mountaineering or snorkeling can save your shoulders from a brutal burn.

Useful Web sites:

Galapagos Conservancy www.galapagos.org

from Cheapr Travels https://ift.tt/2RL3vLI via https://ift.tt/2NIqXKN

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Galapagos Cruise Travel Log - Quasar Expeditons

01 of 13

Day 1 – Boarding the Evolution and Snorkeling off Punta Carrion

Linda Garrison

Like most people, I've always dreamed of visiting exotic places around the world like the Galapagos Islands. When I first started this job as a cruise travel writer in 2000, I had my own list of places to see during my lifetime. Years later, I've traveled to hundreds of places around the world and enjoyed them all–even the ones I didn't have on my original bucket list.

I've finally scratched off the last destination (for now) on the “must see” top 10 list I entered this century with–the Galapagos Islands. I've always been a lover of wildlife and science, and this Galapagos archipelago of islands that straddles the equator about 600 miles west of Ecuador has long enticed me. The island group is quite large, with 13 major islands, 6 small ones, and dozens of named and unnamed islets. One island, Isla Isabela, is the 12th largest in the South Pacific. The islands are volcanic in origin, with the tallest peak over 5000 feet. Most cruises are on small ships that focus on either the eastern group of islands or on Islas Isabela and Fernandina in the west. Quasar Expeditions alternates between the two itineraries so that guests can stay on two weeks and see different islands, harbors, and flora and fauna.

Because the islands are so isolated, the wildlife has evolved over the centuries, with many species of animal and plant life seen only in the Galapagos Islands. Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835 while on an adventure on the HMS Beagle. Although he was only in the islands for five weeks, his research on the different species of mockingbirds on all the Galapagos Islands and the 13 different species of finches he observed on the different islands led to the publication of his landmark book, “On the Origin of Species”. The guidebooks stress that you shouldn't visit unless you are fascinated by wildlife, the outdoors, and geology. Most of the islands we visited in the Galapagos Islands are not inhabited, and only 28,000 people live on the five inhabited islands. So, those who prefer urban or indoor activities when vacationing might not be a good match for a Galapagos cruise vacation.

Travel to the Galapagos with LAN Airlines

I traveled to the Galapagos on LAN Airlines from New York City non-stop to Guayaquil, an Ecuadorian coastal city of over two million residents that has most of the flights to the Galapagos. LAN has non-stop flights from JFK to Guayaquil or to Quito. Most flights to the two airports in the Galapagos Islands depart from Guayaquil. We arrived in Guayaquil in the very early morning after an overnight flight, and then had a long layover until our flight to the islands, allowing plenty of time for our luggage to get transferred and for us to use the free WiFi at the airport.

Boarding the M/V Evolution of Quasar Expeditions

We landed on the small island of Baltra and were met by Dolores Gangotena de Diez, one of the owners of the Quasar Expeditions' small expedition yacht the Evolution and her son Fernando, who also works for the family business. She lives in Quito with her husband, the other owner. Dolores fell in love with the Galapagos when she first visited in the 1960's, passed this dedication to the Galapagos to her family, and still is very enthusiastic about the islands 50 years later.

Our group boarded a shuttle bus, which took us to the pier where one of the ship's pangas (the Ecuadorian word that equates to a small boat like a Zodiac, RIB, or dingy) met us for the transfer to the Evolution. Our group of seven arrived at the Evolution about 1 pm in the afternoon of the second day of the cruise. We had a nice lunch outdoors on the deck before donning our swimsuits for the afternoon's activity–snorkeling at 2:45. The dozen other guests were resting after a busy morning of hiking; they had eaten lunch earlier.

The Evolution was formerly a fishing ship that was significantly refurbished as a small expedition yacht. It's really lovely, with larger cabins than I've had on other small ships and nice wood paneling. Not luxurious, but very nice, with a classy feeling. Like other expedition ships I've been on, this one did not have keys to lock the cabin while you were gone, so don't bring along any valuables. Passports and any money can be secured in the cabin's safe. The cabin's private bathroom was especially impressive compared to other yachts. I was on the lowest deck in the most forward cabin (D2). I had a tiny window about 8 inches in diameter, but it was level with the ceiling, so I couldn't see outside. Just good for telling if it's daylight or dark. I was afraid this cabin might be rough, but it was actually very stable since it was mostly below the water line. Those staying in the D level cabins don't need an alarm clock; the anchor is right underneath, so you are awakened when the ship anchors each morning, which is usually not long before the daily wake up call.

After our first lunch, we quickly found our swimsuits (suitcases were delivered to our rooms while we were eating), got changed, and went up on the deck to select snorkeling gear and the shorty wet suits that come down to your knees and have short sleeves. The ship was still anchored off Baltra, so we boarded two pangas and went over near a rocky cliff called Punta Carrion to do snorkeling in very calm water. The water is crystal clear (like the Caribbean) and cold, but the wetsuits kept us warmish after the original shock. We saw many tropical fish this first snorkeling expedition, but I think it was more like a kind of a “get-acquainted” snorkel for Samuel (the naturalist) and Victoria (his assistant) to check out our skills.

We stayed in the water about 45 minutes and then returned to the Evolution. Many of us hopped in the hot tub on the Beagle Deck after we shed our wetsuits. The hot water felt good!

Continue to 2 of 13 below.

02 of 13

Day 1 – Sea Lions of Mosquera Island

Linda Garrison

I quickly unpacked while the Quasar Evolution repositioned to an anchorage near Mosquera Island, a small sandy beach where Galapagos sea lions like to rest. This little spit is only about 120 yards by 600 yards and is like a giant sand bar. We left the ship about 5 pm on the pangas and stayed on the island until sunset. This was the type of adventure the Galapagos is famous for–dozens of sea lions, and none of them the least bit afraid. It's like they are missing the fear factor gene for humans. We were told to keep about three feet away and to not touch them, but the curious little things would waddle right up to us, touching our legs with their long whiskers. We saw a baby sea lion nursing and the colony seemed to be all ages. The alpha male woke up about the time it started to get dusk and began patrolling his island, swimming up and down the beach, barking and encouraging the younger pups to get back on shore since the sharks start feeding at dark. This is just the way I pictured the Galapagos–unique wildlife completely unafraid of humans. What an experience.

Returning to the ship at dark, we enjoyed snacks and a cold drink before showering and attending the nightly briefing and dinner. Sam (the naturalist) led a briefing in the lounge each evening before dinner and discussed our itinerary, wildlife interactions, and activities for next day. A copy of the daily schedule was posted on the reception desk, and I took a photo of it each day to remind me.

As I noted before, all meals are buffet, and both lunch and dinner start with an Ecuadorian soup, which is served by the waiters. All the soups were good, which is surprising since the weather is warm. Our first night's dinner started with vegetable soup, followed by a buffet with green salad, grilled wahoo with capers, turkey with fig sauce, potatoes, steamed veggies, and turnips. Dessert is cheese, fruit, or the nightly dessert, which was a brownie with ice cream our first night.

After dinner, I slept like a log (or a sleeping sea lion) until about 5 am the next morning. Some people went out on deck to see if the ship's lights attracted any sharks, but I couldn't keep my eyes open. They saw one shark. I didn't even hear the anchor raised in the middle of the night as we sailed for Sombrero Chino Island, a small island off the southeast coast of James Island.

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03 of 13

Day 2 – Panga Ride, Hiking on Sombrero Chino Island, and Snorkeling

Linda Garrison

Our first morning on the Evolution of Quasar Expeditions, we had a 6 am wake up call. The ship played quiet music over the loud speaker for a few minutes before an announcement was made that the pangas would sail at 6:30. I was already awake, and the ship was anchored near James Island, which is also called Santiago Island and San Salvador Island. (Note: All of the Galapagos seem to have three names–an Ecuadorian, English and a Spanish one).

We boarded the pangas and rode near one of the more recent lava flows. The stark black lava against the crystal clear, blue water reminded me of Hawaii. We saw Galapagos penguins, blue footed boobies, lava herons, and one great blue heron like we have at home.

After riding around for a while, we landed at a gorgeous sandy beach on Sombrero Chino Island and had great fun watching the sea lions play and bask in the sun. The lava flows and rock formations were interesting, and we also saw many brilliant orange Sally lightfoot crabs, marine iguanas, lava lizards, and other wildlife and birds. Since it was still early, the morning was a perfect time to hike and be near the beach. However, it was already obvious that multiple sunscreen applications would be important on this trip!

We returned to the ship at 8:30 for a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit, muesli, etc. Very good.

Before we could get rested, it was time to put on our swimsuits for the 10:30 snorkeling or beach expedition. The “deep water” snorkeling panga returned to the lava flow area where the water was so brilliantly clear, and the other group went to a sandy beach on Sombrero Chino Island where they could swim, lie on the beach, or snorkel from the beach. I went with the “deep water” snorkelers, which just meant we snorkeled from the panga, and thank goodness they had a ladder for us to use to get back on the panga!

This crystal clear water with a white sandy bottom bordered by the black lava was a great snorkel for me, and I saw two things I had never seen under water–two white tipped reef sharks (one lying on the bottom sleeping and the other up under a lava ledge at the shoreline) and Galapagos penguins. These little birds can swim very fast under water! We also were entertained by a sea lion for quite a while. What an underwater acrobat he was. The water seemed a little colder than the first day. Sam said it ranged from 21 to 24 degrees Celsius, which is about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit. Very nice to have on a wet suit. Of course, we saw many reef fish like I have seen in the Caribbean and Hawaii like parrot fish, Sargent Majors, etc. According to Sam, the opening of the Panama Canal in the early 1900's contributed to the movement of the reef fish of the Caribbean into the Pacific Ocean.

We also saw a couple of sea cucumbers, which almost became extinct in the Galapagos. They were “fished out” in the mid 1990's, with over 7 million harvested in just 2 months in 1994. These are not good to eat, but some Asians think they have aphrodisiac properties. Millions more were harvested in the next few years, even though the government outlawed the taking of sea cucumbers in December 1994.

I felt like I had done a full day's activities by lunch. However, we had an outdoor traditional Ecuadorian lunch to enjoy. The meal started with ceviche, which is seafood “cooked” in lime juice. We had 3 types–jack fish, octopus, or squid. Most people tried all three, but I stuck to the fish one. It was so good, most of us had seconds. I was about full after that, so just ate a little salad (lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes) and some fruit and skipped the roasted pork, cabbage with apples, and banana cake.

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04 of 13

Day 2 – Exploring James Island – Marine Iguanas and Fur Seals

Linda Garrison

Finishing lunch about 2 pm, we had a whole two hours before our next Galapagos Islands adventure. I actually took a short nap in the cabin. We rode the pangas ashore from the Evolution for a wet landing on James Island, Charles Darwin's favorite island, which is also called Santiago or San Salvador. This island was once inhabited, but is not any more. It's the archipelago's fourth largest island and has several walking trails for visitors.

We landed at Puerto Egas on James Bay on the west side of the island. It was a wet landing on a black sandy beach–quite lovely. We all toted our walking shoes so they wouldn't get wet, and the ship kindly provided small towels for us to sit on the rocks surrounding the beach and dry the black sticky sand off our feet.

We were all a little surprised to see the remains of when James Island was once settled for salt mining in the 1960's. After the settlers left, the island was overrun by ferral goats by the 1990's, and almost all the vegetation was destroyed. The government hired a New Zealand firm to use helicopters to fly over the island and kill all the goats with machine guns. The goats were left to rot. It sounds a little gruesome, but the island rebounded.

We hiked along a trail that skirted the lava shoreline. The tidal pools and black lava were covered with hundreds of marine iguanas. Very creepy to see a dozen or so of them kind of piled up on the rocks or sand, making it easy to see why a group of iguanas is called a mess! I loved exploring the tidal pools (without getting my feet wet) and the grottos where we saw our first Galapagos fur seals swimming. Many sea birds flew overhead while the marine iguanas patrolled the lava rocks and sand. All of our group got into photographing the iguanas.

The walk was fairly easy, but we were all happy that we did it in the late afternoon to avoid some of the heat. The sun sinks quickly when you are at the equator, and we saw it go down over the ocean before we got back on the pangas and returned to the ship after our two hours ashore.

As usual, delicious snacks and fruit juice greeted us upon our return. The ship usually had two hot snacks, plus chips of some sort and then a cold tropical juice like passion fruit or maybe lemonade. I quickly took a shower just in time for the nightly briefing and dinner.

Dinner was lentil soup (another good one!), fish, chicken, veggies, and chocolate cake, fruit, or cheese for dessert. Off to bed by 10 pm or so.

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05 of 13

Day 3 – Genovesa Island – Snorkeling and the Birds of Darwin Bay Beach

Linda Garrison

The Quasar Evolution sailed during dinner and then overnight to the northernmost Galapagos Island, Genovesa, which is also called Tower. We even crossed the equator back into the northern hemisphere sometime during the night. When I awoke the ship was anchored in Darwin Bay in a caldera much like the crescent shaped one at Santorini. The cliffs at Genovesa are not as tall, but it's still the same concept–a volcanic caldera that was once the site of an eruption. This island is not inhabited and is not as frequently visited as some of the other Galapagos Islands, but the trip north of the equator was worth the sailing time.

Our naturalist Sam wanted to possibly show us a creature that often frequents the waters of the caldera. Since the creature is shy, we needed to go snorkeling very early since he also knew that four other small ships would be at Genovesa the same day. So, we ate breakfast and were in the pangas by 8:30. What creature were we seeking? Hammerhead sharks! Never thought I would go looking for a shark, but the waters are so rich and the food is so plentiful in the Galapagos that snorkelers/divers who behave themselves are safe (or so we were told). Anyway, this snorkel was only recommended for those of us who were more experienced since it was much deeper water and the water was very choppy.

We slipped into the water from the pangas and slowly moved along the cliffs overlooking the caldera. Quite magical since the water was deeper than I am used to, but you could still see fairly well. The chop made it a little less brilliant than the day before, but the fish were MUCH larger. We saw huge parrot fish, angel fish, and other marine life. Sam and one other person saw a hammerhead but I missed it. We pressed on, kind of circling back and forth along the cliffs where Sam and Candace had seen the hammerhead. Finally, many more of us, including me, caught a glimpse of the shy shark. I wasn't nearly as scared as when I had seen the reef shark up under the ledge the previous day, maybe because this one was deeper and further away. Believe it or not, the hammerhead wasn't the highlight of the snorkel. We also saw a huge school of manta rays–must have been about 30 of the giant black rays with white bellies. They were swimming in the opposite direction of us and went right under us. Wow!

We were back on board by 10 am, quickly changed clothes and got back into the pangas for a walk along Darwin Bay beach, a small coral beach inside the caldera. It was a wet landing, but since the walk wasn't long, I just wore my teva sandals. There's a flat, half-mile trail that goes inland just a short distance, and we saw many red-footed boobies nesting in the small bushy trees. We also saw some Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, yellow-crested night herons, lava herons, and other birds.

The most exciting (and most photographed by our group) Darwin Bay beach birds were the great frigatebirds who were in their mating season. The males have a giant red neck pouch that they can inflate like a balloon. This pouch can stay inflated for a long time and is used to attract females. They can even fly with it slightly inflated. The female great frigatebirds don't have the bright coloring of the males, but do have a red ring around their eyes. This is one of the easiest ways to differentiate them from the magnificent frigatebirds, which is a separate species. Strolling along the beach trail was interesting, and we even came upon a lava grotto formation that linked to the caldera.

I can't describe how mesmerized we were by the male frigatebirds with their inflated bright red balloons. Often the balloons were so large that the bird had to rest his chin on the balloon. They looked like they would pop very easily. Some male frigatebirds would be off by themselves, others would be grouped together. I must have taken 100 photos of this mating ritual. Once a female selects a male, they might mate 100 times over a two week period. Enough said.

At the end of the hike, we returned to the beach to see some sea lions, one of whom was nursing. A few who hadn't changed clothes for the walk waded into the water for a swim. They were joined by one of the sea lions who played with them a little. These creatures are so unafraid. I can't seem to say that enough.

We returned to the Evolution for another nice lunch. Some of the guests went kayaking after lunch. The ship has four, 2-man kayaks, so people had to take turns. I passed since we had a hike along the cliff at 4 pm.

Continue to 6 of 13 below.

06 of 13

Day 3 – Genovesa Island – Hiking on the Top of the Cliff

Linda Garrison

At 4 pm, we were back in the pangas for the short ride from the Evolution to one of the caldera cliffs of Genovesa. It was across the bay from the morning's hike in Darwin Bay. The cliff top is accessed via Prince Philip's Steps, which were named after a 1964 visit by the British royal. The stairway is 81 feet up to the top of the cliff, and the stairs were steep and difficult. Sam said this hike would be our most difficult, so I didn't think the 92-year old member of our group would try it, but he climbed the cliff and did the entire hike of about 2 miles.

The hike along the cliff top began with a trek across the caldera, stopping at the other side where we had great views of the sea. The path was rocky and uneven, but flat with desert plants like cacti. We saw many birds–boobies, frigates, storm petrels, tropicbirds, short-eared owl and even a waved albatross, a species the ship owner Dolores said she hadn't seen in many years. The short-eared owl is very territorial, so Sam was able to point him out in a dark gulley cave off the trail since that was one of his usual daytime haunts.

When we saw what we thought were two boobies “fighting”, we didn't realize that one was the chick of the mother and he was trying to get her to feed him. The boobie-babies (gotta love that) do not fly until they are about 1 year old, and their mothers feed them regurgitated food until they are able to fend for themselves. After one year, the babies are often larger than their moms, so feeding them can be quite challenging. The mother we saw was trying to tell her son that she didn't have any food for him! She kept running away and he kept trying to grab her neck and open her mouth to start the regurgitation process.

The sun was setting as we climbed back down Prince Philip's Steps, but we rode the panga along the rocky cliffs and got to see our first close-up view of the Galapagos fur seals that we had seen in the grotto at James Island.

Only time for a shower before the nightly briefing and dinner. Dinner started with zucchini soup, followed by salads, shrimp and veggies over rice, beef stroganoff, cauliflower, or French fries. We had “make your own ice cream sundae” for dessert. Nice ending to the day.

The ship had sailed before dinner, so by the time we finished dinner, the ship was almost at the point to where we would cross the equator. So, several of us went up to the wheelhouse to watch the GPS for the latitude reading of 000. Since we crossed the equator during the middle of the night on the northbound trip to Genovesa, and it was about bedtime during the southbound trip, this ship didn't have a Poseidon ceremony to honor the equator crossing like I've seen on other ships.

Continue to 7 of 13 below.

07 of 13

Day 4 – Blue-Footed Boobies of North Seymour Island

Linda Garrison

The next day was another glorious day on the Evolution. I woke up about 5:30 am, and the anchor was dropped not long afterwards. In order to re-fuel the Evolution, we had docked back on Baltra Island where our adventure had begun. As the ship was refueling, we were told to stay inside until we sailed for North Seymour Island in the Galapagos Islands.

The official soft music wake up call was at 6:45, with breakfast at 7 am. Doesn't take long to get ready when it's all-casual, all the time. We had an omelet station, plus the usual fruit, yogurt, muesli, granola, etc. Our first activity of the day was a hike at North Seymour Island, so the pangas left the Evolution at 8:00 am, not long after anchoring near the island. Sam, our naturalist guide, had announced at the nightly briefing that he wasn't going to caution 92-year-old Douglas on the difficulty of any more planned hikes. He had successfully negotiated Prince Philip's Steps, and the rest of the trip would be easier.

The North Seymour Island hike started out very rocky, but got smoother. It was about a one-mile hike, was mostly flat between the beach and the inland area, and was filled with scrubby bushes and trees. Glad I wore my closed-toe walking shoes again. Seymour is famous for its colonies of blue footed boobies and magnificent frigatebirds. The blue footed boobies were amazing to watch. They have a very complicated mating dance, and we were entertained by several pairs for over an hour. The female blue-footed boobies perch on a rock and the males “dance” by walking slowly and lifting their feet high. This dancing is followed by wing flapping and tail and beak pointing. The males continually whistle while the larger females honk. We watched two males court one female by alternating their dances. She ignored both for a while, but finally chose the one with the brightest blue feet! Apparently, this is common since the brighter the feet, the “stronger” the male in booby-land.

How quickly we forget. The day before, we all snapped hundreds of photos of the male great frigatebirds at Genovesa Island. On North Seymour, we practically ignored the red-ballooned frigates, giving most of our attention to the blue footed boobies. In addition to the great frigatebirds, we also saw magnificent frigatebirds on North Seymour. The two species can most easily be differentiated from the great frigatebirds by the ring around the eye of the female birds–the great ones have a reddish-pink ring and the magnificent ones have a blue ring around the eye. The male great frigates have green iridescent feathers on their backs, and the male magnificent frigate birds have blue feathers on their backs. These two very-similar-looking frigates are separate species and never mate. Good piece of cocktail party trivia, isn't it?

We were back on the ship by 10:30, quickly had a snack and fruit juice, changed clothes, and went snorkeling near a cliff on North Seymour. It was another successful snorkel, although the water was choppy. We saw gazillions of tropical fish, many much larger than I've seen in the Caribbean and Hawaii. We saw a large sting ray lying on the bottom and one very brilliant yellow puffer fish. I also saw two other puffers–one black with white spots and the other brown. The highlight of the snorkel was the sighting of yet another large (more than 6 feet) white tipped reef shark. He was lying on the white sandy bottom in about 15 feet of water. He laid there for about five minutes or more (long enough for all of us to get a close look) before slowly moving off.

Returning to the Evolution, several of us jumped in the hot tub for a soak before showering and changing clothes for lunch. It was Mexican day, so we all enjoyed the “make your own” burrito with ground beef and beans, along with all the fixin's (guacamole, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, oninons, etc), chicken enchiladas, and a beef stew. The starter was a tuna/tomato salad, which was a little odd, given the theme, but was tasty. Dessert was either apple pie or passion fruit mousse. We had another delightful lunch outdoors on the covered aft deck, and at one point saw a whale (think it was a minke) frolicking in the wake of the ship.

After lunch, a few of us did a tour of some of the cabins, the galley, and the engine room. When living in comfortable air conditioning, I often forget just how hot these “other” places on the ship can be. We wore ear protection in the engine room, which was roaring with all the machinery going.

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08 of 13

Day 4 – Hiking and Kayaking at Santa Fe Island

Linda Garrison

The Quasar Expeditions' Evolution had sailed south for the Galapagos island of Santa Fe during lunch, and we arrived about 3:30. One group went kayaking while the other hiked on the island, and then we reversed. It was a wet landing on yet another gorgeous beach. This one was well-protected by volcanic lava flows, making the cove attractive to sea lions. The sandy beach was almost covered with either sea lions or a few large rocks, and we had to pick our way through the (mostly) slumbering giants to access the trail.

The small island of Santa Fe (24 square km) is one of the oldest islands in the archipelago, and has had many issues with invasive species like goats, black rats, and fire ants. Over 3,000 goats were removed between 1964 and 1974, and continual monitoring has been used to prevent the return of the little fire ant since it was eradicated in the late 1980's.

Approaching the island on the panga, at first I thought I saw palm trees dotting the landscape. As we got closer, I realized that these towering “trees” were actually giant prickly pear cactus, many over 30 feet tall. The trunks resembled pine trees because of their size and reddish-brown coloring, but looked like palms because the thick cacti vegetation doesn't start until about 20 feet up. Some of the cacti had lovely yellow flowers.

We hiked up into the highlands a ways on a 1.5 km (less than a mile) trail that was very rocky, one of the toughest we had. It was difficult walking, but we all made the circle trail, glad we had on our walking shoes. The trail ended up at another beach near the landing beach. This one was also filled with sea lions. While hiking, we had great views of our ship and two others in the bay.

Again, we saw different wildlife—two huge Santa Fe land iguanas, both lying in the middle of the trail, and two Galapagos snakes, also sunning themselves in the middle of our trail. Couldn't believe the snakes just laid there. One was a “baby”, about 18 inches long, but no bigger than a fat pencil. The second was over two feet, but was much fatter, so we could see his yellow stipes. The snakes were rather drab compared to photos I've seen of other tropical snakes. Still not as big as even a garter snake back home. The Galapagos snake is the only one in the islands, and probably arrived on floating pads of vegetation from the mainland, like some of the other wildlife did. The snakes are not very poisonous, but Sam said they have fangs in the back of their throats. They mostly feed on lava lizards and baby iguanas. It is very unusual to see one, so we got extra lucky. We also saw a Galapagos hawk flying overhead, the first one I had spotted.

Arriving at the second beach, those who wanted to go kayaking took the panga back to board the kayaks out in the bay. The rest of us hiked back to the first beach (just a short ways away) to retrieve stuff left behind on our hike. The sea lions were much more active on this island than those we saw the first day on Mosquera. It was a little scary watching some of them, and we kept our distance from the large males. Many were playing in the water or on the beach, and some demonstrated terrific yoga moves (like a downward dog) that I wish I could do as well.

Back on the ship, it was time for fresh juice (we had so many different tropical juices, I can't begin to name them) and snacks (chips, beef empanadas, and some type of plantain ball). The ship sailed for our next island as soon as we were back on board. By the time I showered (another two-shower day), it was time for the briefing and dinner. I was really zonked, so dozed through the part of the briefing where Sam turned off the lights and showed slides about climate and water currents. Dinner was a chicken soup, salad, fried calamari, turkey with peach sauce, potatoes, and ice cream and crepes for dessert.

A few of us went outdoors after dinner to check out the constellations. Even I could spot the Southern Cross hanging low in the sky–we were back in the southern hemisphere for sure. As we moved south, it moved higher in the sky.

Into bed by 10:00. The next day we would be on Floreana Island (also called Santa Maria or Charles Island).

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09 of 13

Day 5 – Post Office Bay on Floreana Island

Linda Garrison

Woke up a little after 5 am, and the Evolution was already anchored off Floreana Island in the Galapagos. Dressed and went up on the covered top deck for a cup of tea. Surprised to find a few other guests up there. Guess it's “the” place to hang out for many of us. We didn't have the wake up music until 7:30, followed by breakfast at 8 am. I ate healthy, only having a bunch of fruit and some muesli mixed with granola and fruit. Yummy, and proud that I skipped the eggs and crispy bacon!

Off the ship at 9 am to go ashore with a wet landing at Post Office Bay. The history of Floreana is fascinating. Pirates, whalers, and convicts visited and stayed on Floreana in the past, and three groups of Germans (not together) once settled here in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Two German doctors (man and wife) were the first to arrive in 1929. They even had their teeth pulled before leaving Germany to avoid a possible health problem. According to the legend, Dr. Ritter (male) was a dentist and very controlling over his wife. They even shared a pair of dentures.

When a German family the Wittmers arrived in 1932, Dr. Ritter forbid his wife to socialize with them. Mrs. Wittmer had read Dore Strauch's (Dr. Ritter's wife) book she had written about the island paradise they lived on. Evidently she only talked about the good parts and omitted the struggles, lack of fresh water, lack of arable land, lack of other people, etc. Or, maybe her controlling spouse edited out all the bad parts.

I guess the abusive Dr. Ritter got his comeuppance. Although Dr. Ritter was reportedly a vegetarian, he died of food poisoning after eating chicken. His wife immediately returned to Germany. Some speculate she killed him.

The Wittmers stayed on the island and wife Margaret even had children without any assistance. Some speculate the family fled Germany because of the Nazis, but they certainly didn't know what they were getting into. They definitely should have done more research than just reading Mrs. Ritter's book. However, Margaret lived a long life, dying at age 95 in 2000, so she must have been a strong woman. Her surviving children and grandchildren still run a small hotel/restaurant on the island, which has less than 100 full-time residents, most of whom are sustenance farmers. To be near the limited amount of fresh water, they primarily live up in the highlands away from the beach since we saw no signs of civilization. A passenger boat brings supplies/visitors every two weeks. Talk about a Robinson Crusoe life!

The third group of Germans were even more unusual than the first two. It was a (self-proclaimed) Baroness, her husband, and her two male lovers. She apparently kept things stirred up on the island. She died mysteriously, as did her entourage. Our guide showed us a photo of a “party” at her home–there were 8 men and she was the only woman. Maybe she was a little bit of a courtesan rather than a baroness, but this Galapagos affair certainly makes a fascinating story, especially for those who have visited the islands.

Floreana “Post Office”

Enough of Floreana history. You might be wondering how Post Office Bay got its name. Back in 1793, British sailors set up a barrel as a post office, leaving letters to be picked up by other ships. Ships going to England (or wherever) would sort through the letters and hand deliver to those who lived in destinations they were visiting. No postage necessary. Today, visitors leave behind post cards in the barrel (a different one), sort through those that are there, and do the same–hand deliver those going where they are. Since we knew where everyone on our ship lived, we sorted through the couple of hundred in the box, calling out towns in the states/provinces where people lived. I didn't take any cards, but did write down the address of someone in Decatur, GA and another person in Hartwell, GA. The ship provided three cards for each of us. I addressed a card to Ronnie and I, dated it, and left it behind. I also did a card for two young kids I regularly send post cards to. Doubt if anyone ever delivers them. In fact, we speculated that someone regularly throws a few hundred away since all those we saw dated were from 2013. It was fun to go through the cards and see where people were from. (Update: Received card 8 weeks later with USA stamp, but unreadable postmark. Would love to know who was kind enough to mail it to me!)

Following the short walk to the post office, we had an hour's free time on the beach–a real rarity for this trip. We were supposed to explore some lagoons via panga and kayak, but the Galapagos National Park officials pulled the permission from the ship just the day before. There were two other small boats' guests enjoying the beach, swimming. and snorkeling, and we found their lagoon permits were pulled, too. It's important to know that like any cruise, things can change and itineraries change. No one complained since we were so busy otherwise.

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10 of 13

Day 5 – Snorkeling at Champion Island and Devil’s Crown

Linda Garrison

One panga went back to the Evolution early, and I joined it. I'm not much for sitting on the beach and didn't feel like applying more sunscreen. Back on the ship about 10:30, I had 1.5 hours until our next Galapagos Islands' adventure–snorkeling off Champion Island. We had snacks on the top deck, so I sat up top in the shade and the breeze with some of my companions while we sailed to Champion Island, a tiny islet where no humans are allowed ashore (except maybe some scientists).

The wind was whipping the panga when we got into the water, and the waves were about the highest I've ever snorkeled in. However, once I put my face in the water, I almost forgot about how much I was having to fight the waves and keep my snorkel tube above the water–the number of fish off the point where we started was by far the most I have ever seen at one time. Schools of millions of fish were all around; and since the water was deep, you could see even more. Wow! I felt so insignificant, much like when you look at the sky on a clear night. All shapes and sizes of fish were holding on this rocky point, fighting the waves and the current. We were told to move with the current, but to avoid the rocks. It wasn't difficult to swim since we had on wetsuits and flippers, but a little creepy to realize the vast numbers of fish all around us, some of which were very large.

We snorkeled down along the coast of the island and the numbers of fish decreased. When we got around the backside and out of the wind into calmer waters, we didn't see as many fish, but sea lions were all around un in the water, diving and playing. A couple even nibbled on some of the flippers (not mine). All too soon it was time to go back to the ship for lunch.

As usual, lunch was delicious, and was another traditional Ecuadorian meal. We started with a cold fish soup with about a half dozen large nice shrimp in a gazpacho-type broth. Next came salad, fish in a coconut sauce, small hunks of pork breaded and fried, bright yellow potato pancakes with a peanut sauce, fried plantains, huge-kernel South American corn, and rice. (I skipped the rice.) We had rice pudding or cheese cake for dessert. The rice pudding had nutmeg and cinnamon in it, and was topped with a sweet pepper whose texture reminded me of a prune. It was 2:15 by the time we finished lunch. Our last snorkeling adventure of the week was to follow at 3:15. Not much time to get lunch digested, re-apply sunscreen, and squeeze into that wet swimsuit.

Our last snorkeling adventure of the week would have been the best one, had the clouds not rolled in with the wind, lessening the visibility. It was still fantastic, with tons of marine life. We rode in the pangas to Devil's Crown, which is right off Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island. This rocky outcropping looks like a jagged crown, with cacti growing on some of the rocks. It's a paradise for marine life, and one of the best snorkeling spots in the Galapagos Islands. The current was strong, making it tough to stay in one place, especially given the winds and waves. I was exhausted when we finished, but the snorkel was a good one. We saw a very large white tip reef shark patrolling right below us in about 10 feet of water. You could really see the white tips on his fins. Like the morning dive, the water was teeming with many types of marine life and we enjoyed watching the sea lions swimming with us again.

All too soon it was time to reboard the pangas and head back to the Evolution. We all hopped in the hot tub (or at least 14 of us did) for a quick soak before taking a shower to continue to warm up. The cloudy weather and rough seas contributed to the coldest water we had snorkeled in.

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11 of 13

Day 5 – Hiking at Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island

Linda Garrison

We only had a short time on the Quasar Evolution before heading off to a beach near Punta Cormorant in the Galapagos Islands. We had a wet landing on a beach with greenish-sand, and hiked to a hyper-saline lagoon and saw a half dozen flamingoes wading in the water. We hiked across the point to a second beach where many frigatebirds were circling. This beach is popular with turtles laying their eggs, and the pesky frigates eat the baby turtles when they are making their way from the nest to the water.

Although this second beach was gorgeous, we didn't swim there since it was teeming with sting rays and sharks, many of them in only a foot or so of water. We didn't see any baby turtles, and Sam speculated that the frigates had fed on most of those that had hatched. We did see some adult turtles in the surf, along with the numerous sharks and rays. Fun watching them, and we almost stayed until dark.

Snacks awaited us when we reboarded the ship. Fish fingers and some type of stuff on a tortilla chip. The nightly briefing was very nice, and since Dolores and Fernando were leaving the ship the next day, they had a little farewell champagne with all of us. Several people gave testimonials about the great trip we've all had. Douglas wrote a little ditty about Sam our guide, which we were supposed to sing to the tune of the song, “Twas on the Isle of Capri”. Unfortunately, no one (not even his kids) knew this tune. So we just kind of chanted it. Sam was quite touched.

Dinner was a yummy cauliflower soup; green salad, pea salad, and Greek salad; creamy mixed seafood on pasta, vegetarian moussaka, and cooked carrots. Dessert was birthday cake for one of the other guests.

The next day would be our last full day, and we would finally see the giant tortoises of the Galapagos.

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12 of 13

Day 6 – Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz – Giant Tortoises, Lava Tubes, and Civilization

Linda Garrison

Our last full day in the Galapagos Islands was a little bit of a shock–we were back in “civilization”. When we awoke, the Quasar Evolution was docked in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, one of the few settlements in the Galapagos. The town has over a third of the 28,000 archipelago's residents, plus there were many boats in the harbor. Those living/staying on the other inhabited islands can take day ferries back and forth, so the harbor was very busy. We anchored and took the pangas into the dock.

Charles Darwin Research Foundation

Our first visit was to the Charles Darwin Research Foundation, a poorly funded society that continues his research and tries to keep the tortoise population flourishing. The museum was un-inviting and a little depressing. However, the live giant tortoises were very interesting and made the visit worthwhile. Like many of the other wildlife, each island has a different species of tortoise, some of which are extinct and others endangered. When pirates and other sailors first arrived in the Galapagos, they quickly found that these animals could live up to a year with no food or water. So, they filled up the holds of their ships with hundreds of the creatures and lived off them, throwing the shells overboard when they were finished. Most of the tortoises lived in the highlands, so since the females were smaller (and weighed a lot less), the sailors toted mostly females down to their ships, decimiating the population even quicker.

The most famous Galapagos tortoise was Lonesome George, who died in the summer of 2012. He had been discovered on Pinta Island in 1971 and brought to the Darwin Research Station in 1972 at about age 90-100. Scientists tried to find other tortoises on Pinta Island, but never could, giving him the name of “lonesome” since they weren't sure how long he had been alone. Then they tried for years to get him to breed with other tortoise sub-species from other islands, but they soon found that for tortoises, if the males didn't “use it”, they “lose it”. Poor George had gone for decades without mating, so his sperm count was too low to reproduce, even by artifical insemination. So, the last of the Pinta island tortoises is gone.

We saw many baby tortoises, plus adults used for breeding. Since it was early in the morning, the keepers were feeding them, and it was interesting to watch them eat. I was especially impressed by the long necks and height of these creatures, which enables the plant eaters to reach taller vegetation.

Rancho Primicias – Giant Tortoise Reserve

All too soon, it was time to leave for the Galapagos highlands, where we hoped to see Santa Cruz giant tortoises in their natural habitat. We rode up into the hills in an air conditioned bus for about 30-40 minutes, and it was nice to see some of the countryside, which looked like Costa Rica or other tropical countries. Soon we arrived at the Rancho Primicias, a wildlife preserve that borders onto the national park. Tortoises move freely between the two areas, but the wildlife preserve has trails that cross prime tortoise territory (muddy and swampy). If it is muddy, visitors are given rubber boots to wear, but since we had been lucky enough to have dry weather, we didn't have to put on our socks and boots.

Our group immediately saw three tortoises very near the gift shop/reception building. I couldn't help but wonder if the food is supplemented here to attract them. The animals are huge, with some weighing over 800 pounds, and they often live over 100 years. Although giant tortoises move very slowly (about 1/4 mile per hour), they migrate on islands between the highlands and the lowlands to follow the green vegetation. We struck out on the trail and saw a few more near the swampy areas they like. The biggest tortoise we saw was completely blocking the trail, so we all got a few good photos of him (remember the males are bigger).

After searching for Galapagos tortoises for a while and wandering around the nature reserve/park, we had a little free time to check out the — gasp!– souvenir shop, which had all the expected goodies. Sam had thoughtfully told us to bring some money, so everyone fully utilized our first shopping opportunity in a week.

Walking in a Volcanic Lava Tube

Leaving the tortoise area, we stopped at a large lava tube on the way back to Puerto Ayora. This one goes on for about 400 yards and is quite large. It also looks man-made with the walls so perfectly formed. I've seen lava tubes elsewhere on Hawaii and Lanzarote, but this one was surprising since there weren't any visibly active volcanoes nearby.

We rode back to the harbor and were on the Evolution in time for a late lunch. One funny thing was a sea lion lying on the pier under a bench. The animal had to climb up on the dock and then up a bunch of steps to get to his preferred resting place. At first I thought it was a dog, but then saw it was actually just a sea lion. I can't decide if humans are invisible to them most of the time or just another warm-blooded creature.

After lunch, we had the departure briefing, and then I grabbed my notebook computer, went back into town, and found an Internet cafe ($3 for 2 hours) where I caught up on email for the first time in a week. Back on the ship at 5:30, we had the farewell briefing and dinner–lobster tails, French fries, salad, steamed veggies, calamari, etc. It was a great memory meal to leave the ship.

The Captain of the Evolution pulled up the anchor after dinner and we started back to where we started–anchored off Baltra Island where the airport is located.

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13 of 13

Day 7 – A Sunrise Panga Ride and Off to Guayaquil

Linda Garrison

Six of the 19 of us had signed up for a sunrise panga ride and exploration of a mangrove area for our last morning on the Quasar Expeditions' Evolution in the Galapagos Islands. The sea was perfectly calm–the first time we had seen this phenomenon. The panga moved slowly into a large bay, and we watched the sun rise at about 6 am. It is easy to forget how quickly it comes up near the equator since it has so much further to go before sunset.

The quiet mangrove lagoon was filled with pelicans, feeding fish, and even a huge school of cownose rays, which were interesting to watch as they quietly patrolled along the edge of the mangroves. All of us agreed we were glad for the early wake-up call at 5:30 am.

Back on the Evolution, we ate breakfast, loaded the luggage in the panga, and were off to the airport. We had a LAN flight at 11 am to Guayaquil, where we would spend the night before flying non-stop and overnight back to New York on LAN the next night. This Guayaquil layover would give us about 30 hours in Ecuador's largest city, just enough time to get a taste of the city.

All too soon we were flying away from the Galapagos, each of us with special memories of these amazing islands. The islands were even more spectacular than I had anticipated, with wildlife and activities I've never had before. Although the Galapagos Islands were the main highlights of this vacation, Quasar Expeditions and the crew of the Evolution planned an excellent itinerary, which greatly facilitated and enhanced our Galapagos expedition. They seemed to know what we wanted to see and do, where we needed to be, and when we needed to be there. Then, they gave us time to soak up the environment and the memories. I spoke to every guest on the ship, and each felt the same way I did about the experience on the ship and in the Galapagos Islands.

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary airfare and cruise accommodation for the purpose of review. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our Ethics Policy.

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teruyalab · 7 years

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Source: practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

Witness the final days of Paul Hughes’ magnificent reef tank on our recent reader visit. WORDS: NATHAN HILL

Convict tangs, Acanthurus triostegus.

Display tanks in stores are the mannequins of high-street boutiques. They should inspire, elicit a desire to copy, and show the customer what can potentially be achieved. They’re also a reflection on a retailer’s competence. After all, would you take advice from a store that ran disheveled tanks with dying corals and ill-looking livestock?

Advanced Aquarium Consultancy in Essex owns the textbook example of a display tank done right. Its reputation preceded it, warranting several aquarists to contact me and advise that I should get over and see for myself. When I first visited the store some months back, under the auspices of a shoptour, each and every testimony I’d heard was validated. This is a shop display that hits hard enough to wind you when you see it, leaving you with nothing to say but ‘wow’.

In a curious twist, the tank has become a victim of its own success. If aquascapes can be King for a day, then so this tank is peaking right now. As the store has grown and the business has boomed, the premises it calls home are now expanding, meaning that a bigger, newer — dare I say better — display is in the awnings. Within weeks of this magazine hitting press, the tank will be no more. Its prime coral choices will be clipped and fragged, the fish transferred and a whole miniature reef seeded afresh in a new home. Having witnessed the ‘dry’ layout of the new tank, I feel safe in saying it’ll be wonderful.

Highly colourful Scolymia.

Its owner, Paul Hughes, is a man with a name rightly associated with quality reefing. After long stints in the industry, including spells of coral farming, he has turned his hand to installations and consultancy, with a long list of successful reef builds under his belt.

I was so impressed after my shoptour that I was soon booking up for a return visit. Here’s a little of what we saw and discussed that day…

Your tank is ostensibly called a display tank, but to what extent is it a self-indulgence? Looking at it, and the pride you have in it, I sense that this set-up is more personal than corporate.

Absolutely! It’s more than just a shop brochure, although of course it does aid the shop in terms of sales. As I practically spend every day of the year at AAC HQ, there’s no longer any time for a personal home aquarium — so why not have a good one here instead? I may be working in an aquatic profession, but I think that it’s essential for customers to feel my genuine enthusiasm for the subject too. How long has it been up and running for now? Approximately three years, but it was started from my extensive collection of LPS corals and SPS mother colonies from a previous home coral farm and display tank.

From a hardware perspective, how has the tank evolved? What has stayed, what has gone, and has anything in particular impressed you? The aquarium’s principal system equipment and engineering has pretty much remained the same throughout my career, since the advent of the Berlin system ideals. The tank’s fundamental ingredients are a protein skimmer, calcium reactor, kalkwasser reactor, phosphate control, high levels of circulation, lots of living rock and strong lighting. Although nothing has been sacked equipment wise on the current system, what has impressed me during the tank’s development, has been the evolution of the high-powered AI LEDs which have been changed several times to more improved models. The Deltec protein skimming has been uprated too.

Silver belly wrasse, Halichoeres trispilus.

Would you class yourself as more of a fish person, or more of a coral person? Without a doubt, anyone who knows me well understands that I see fish mainly as a pain in the backside in a reef system, apart from those that perform useful jobs, such as wrasse, dragonets and pipefish and the odd grazing tang. In recent times a customer trend towards fish-only systems has rekindled an old interest in butterfly fish and other possible combinations in a reef aquarium too. I'm meeting more and more aquarists that risk introducing one of their wish-list 'reef-safe' angels or butterflies, or alternatively try to shape their coral garden around those species that won't view everything as a potential meal.

But corals will always be my first fascination, and my specialist subject. I'm focussing more of my spare reading time on studying coral pests, diseases and viruses — there’s so much more to learn than just the chemistry, and nutrient cycles to grow a coral.

Corals are Paul’s first fascination and he spends a lot of his spare time studying them.

It stands to reason a lot of people will be inspired by the looks of this tank. Who inspires you? Recently on the international scene (and from a design perspective), Youngil Moon from Korea for his Real Reef Rock displays. Closer to home, reefing gods such as Reef bloke of Ultimate Reef fame and other greats such as David Saxby, Terry Evans and Martin Lakin.

For me, one of the most inspirational aquariums ever was a classic tiny 60cm/2ft SPS reef tank by Julian Sprung, which had a mangrove tree growing out of the top of it! Check it out — I think it was in volume 1 or 2 'The Modern Reef Aquarium' in a thing called a book (Feature eds note: The Modern Reef Aquarium range of books, by Fossa and Nilsen are available from the publisher Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, and may be the best marine books in existence.)

Paul wants to add ‘new shoots’ to replace the ‘trees’ in the current set-up.

Did you plan livestock before you started, and did you stick to it? Or was the selection a gradual process? I never make too many hard and fast rules, or rush things. Any selection of livestock has to constantly evolve in a decent reef aquarium in my opinion.

The phenomenal success of one species in a mixed reef may prove to be detrimental to others, especially as you learn more of the coral’s own personal requirements including growth patterns, lighting and hydrodynamic requirements, and aggression. This may mean forfeiting one species to save another.

What I do have, like many experienced gardeners with their planting schemes, is the ability to visualize the final outcome and how it should turn out. But it's never written in stone.

Ghost cardinalfish, Apogon leptacanthus.

I understand that some of the coral in here comes from frags of colonies that have never been imported since. How did that all come about? It is true, some of the corals in the display can trace their ancestor’s roots back 15 to 20 years or more. The initial frags and colonies were passed on to me by like-minded stony coral pioneers, including David Saxby and Martin Lakin. Is there any livestock you regret adding? I heard something about a cantankerous crab that’s been causing you problems… Well, 'Robert the robbing crab' certainly wasn't added deliberately I can assure you. He recently consumed a £150 Papaya clove polyp, pinching a ‘flower’ from it every night. Other species at times that have brought great annoyance include adult wrasse that have terrorized any new additions to the tank, causing all sorts of dramas.

You use a mixture of LED and T5 lighting — what’s your thinking behind that? Is LED on its own not up to the job yet? Ooooh that’s a juicy one. Are LEDs up to the job ? By themselves? Yes, they are. The fact is, a photon of light is a photon of light whatever the source. It's how's it's delivered, spread and the number of units used that's very often the issue for sole use of LED lighting. I could harp on about metal halide lighting and T5 tubes supplementing one another in recent history, for years and years — and why did we do this? I'd say to level out the point sources of light and reduce shadowing. It's either that, or you need to really cover the surface well with LEDs to provide a very even cast, just as you would with metal halide and T5 use. Let’s also remember that many folks doubted the efficiency of T5s as the sole source of light, when they first came out. I'm particularly interested in the new E5 T5 high powered LEDs that have just entered the market. These are LEDs but are well diffused and will even outshine those PAR monster LEDs from America. I'm sure that E5s will bring further debate to the reefkeeping community and I will certainly experiment on finding the best solution for the system I can create around its needs; no trends, just what works best. Lighting can always be improved, it's tough trying to replicate sunlight and the way it works.

The set-up includes some well-grown LPS corals.

What degree of remote control do you have over the system? What software do you use for things like lighting? I use the AI platform for the Hydra 52 LEDs, and Apex is fitted for temperature control and monitoring , but very little else. I am more of an 'analogue' man and prefer cranky timer switches for their simplicity and reliability. Tell us something you do that would make other reefkeepers frown. You should see me with the food! But it's only PO4 media that’s needed to put the additional phosphates from my heavy feeding right. Which brands do you trust the most? Eheim, Tunze, Deltec, Schego, AquaIlluminations, Sera. D-D H2O Ocean, Red Sea. What would you say has been the best innovation in marine keeping? The black gold — RowaPhos! Before this, there was nothing like it, and now there are a hundred and one imitations. Some of them are getting close, but Rowa is Rowa and it has helped me grow the huge numbers of coral frags that adorn many reef aquariums around the UK .

Goldrim tang, Acanthurus japonicus.

You have lots of small pumps running on this system. What’s the benefit of many small pumps over a couple of bigger beasts? I prefer the idea of micro flow patterns and plenty of surface water movement to disperse the light rays coming from the LEDs, so that I don't get hotspots. I have a couple of big beasts too, for laminar flow.

I know the set-up is ‘migrating’ to a new home next door, so how long has the tank got left in it? How much of the livestock are you hoping to reclaim? By the time this article gets published it’s pretty fair to say that I will start chopping it about. The best way to get the new garden growing properly is with 'new shoots' rather than 'trees', as the frags will find their new flow patterns and light. I hope to be able to reclaim pretty much all of it, but there will also be plenty of frags available for customers, so it has its plus points. It is getting tired and overgrown and would need a good coppicing to rejuvenate some growth, even if there wasn't a new tank on the horizon.

Meet the aquarist Name: Paul Hughes. Age: 46. Profession: LFS owner for my sins. Time in the hobby: Earliest fishkeeping memories from six years old. Most tanks kept at any time: Loads — can’t remember but it borders on ridiculous when I think back to my tropical days. Favourite fish: Too many to mention, but one group that I love includes the following species Anampses lennardi, Anampses meleagrides, Anampses femininus. They always float my boat. Favourite corals: Cyphastrea sp. and the chalice coral groups.

Livestock Fish Purple tang, Zebrasoma xanthurum Yellow tang, Zebrasoma flavescens Convict tang, Acanthurus triostegus Scopas tang, Zebrasoma scopas Goldrim tang, Acanthurus japonicas Golden anthias, Pseudanthias aurulentus Randall’s anthias, Pseudanthias randalli Yellow-back anthias, Pseudanthias evansi Purple queen anthias, Mirolabrichthys tuka Yellow tail tamarin, Anampses meleagrides Spotted mandarin, Synchiropus picturatus Silver belly wrasse, Halichoeres trispilus Hoeven’s wrasse, Halichoeres melanurus Dusky wrasse, Halichoeres marginatus Ghost cardinal, Apogon leptacanthus Common clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris

Corals Montipora sp. Pocillipora sp. Seriatopora sp. Cyphastrea sp. Pavona sp. Ricordea florida Pachyclavularia sp. Acanthophyllia sp. Blastomussa sp. Symphillia sp. Acanthastrea sp. Goniopora sp. Scolymia sp. Acropora, including A. gomezi, humilis, florida, nana, carduus, horrida and hyacinthus.

Tank basics

Dimensions: 205 x 65 x 80cm/82 x 26 x 32in.

Lighting: A mixture of five AI Hydra 52 LEDs, plus two 39W T5 D-D Razor Lights. System cranks up through a dawn period, and closes in a dusk period, giving 12–13 hours of lighting daily. Evenings involve the use of UV, violet and royal blue light settings to encourage coral fluorescing.

Temperature control: Two 500W titanium heaters keep things warm, while dual fans are on standby for the event of overheating.

Filtration: The tank utilizes much of the Berlin method, with heavy reliance on good circulation and live rock to convert pollutants — roughly 140kg of live rock is used in Paul’s set up. Circulation comes from a mixture of eight Tunze stream pumps, combined with a Tunze wave box. Phosphates are controlled with a sump-based PO4 reactor, while occasional carbon use and floating Polyfilters help to extract anything else undesirable. Limited mechanical filtration occurs at the point of exit on the PO4 reactor, where a filter sock is attached.

Maintenance regime: Five daily fish feeds, using a mix of frozen (Mysis, red plankton, brine shrimp) and dry foods. Corals receive a mixture of Polyp Lab Reef Roids and Boost, Goniopower from Two Little Fishes, and Red Sea’s Reef Energy. Inside the tank, the glass is wiped down daily, while a 25% water change occurs fortnightly. RowaPhos is changed every six weeks; Kalkwasser roughly every three-to-four weeks.

#aquarium #acuario #aquário #fish tank #saltwater #nano reef #reef tank #reef aquarium #marine aquarium #marine tank #pico reef #水族館 #アクアリウム

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topfygad · 4 years

Text

21 Photos to Inspire Your Galapagos Bucket List

Big tortoises, flightless cormorants and waved albatross. Oh my!

These pictures will encourage you to both put the Galapagos in your bucket listing or transfer it approach up within the precedence rating.

Crabs & Boobies

Lazy Sea Lions

Galapagos sea lions lounge nearly all over the place you go on the islands. Their lazy demeanor and candy stares will tempt you to rub their comfortable tummies.

Birds Past Blue-Footed Boobies

The islands are a chook lover’s paradise.

Plus there’s penguins.

Iguanas & Lizards

Pristine Pure Landscapes

As if the wildlife wasn’t sufficient to carry you to the Galapagos, every island had a special breathtaking terrain.Customer numbers are restricted with retains the human footprint at a minimal.

You Would possibly Additionally Get pleasure from

. . . Verify it Off Your Bucket Record . . .

Location/Info:

Getting There:

Language(s):

Spanish is the official language in Ecuador and on the Galapagos Islands, although English is extensively spoken on excursions, plus within the eating places and motels.

Foreign money:

The US Greenback

Electrical energy:

Plug Sort A/B, 110v. The voltage and socket is identical because the U.S., so there’s not want for an adapter or converter.

When to Go:

Learn how to Go to/Planning:

Getting Round:

The place to Keep:

The place to Eat:

Bucket Record Should-Dos:

Plan your journey across the month of Could to get a greater probability of witnessing the Blue Footed Booby mating dance, the courtship ritual of those standard birds.

Take the steep climb to the highest of the volcanic cone of Bartolomé and get a peak on the most photographed pure construction within the Galapagos, Pinnacle Rock.

Do because the sailors did within the 19th century and ship a submit card at Put up Workplace Bay on Floreana Island. Go away one and sift via the others to choose one near house handy ship.

Take a better have a look at the large tortoises on the Darwin Analysis Station (https://ift.tt/Kyq8rp) in Puerto Ayora the place scientists and volunteers are concerned in conservation.

Important Data:

It’s a requirement to have a naturalist with you when exploring the protected islands; you can’t simply enterprise off by yourself.

A visa shouldn’t be required to enter Ecuador, although be sure that your passport doesn’t expire inside 6 months of arrival.

Packing Ideas:

A small pair of binoculars can go a great distance when making an attempt to identify wildlife from the boat. (Bushnell Falcon makes some good ones for underneath $30)

Restrict plastic waste by bringing a reusable water bottle. (The Vapor Aspect Bottle is ideal for journey because it folds up right into a tiny neat bundle when empty)

Don’t neglect an underwater digicam to seize the unbelievable marine life. I exploit a GoPro, however if you need a less expensive possibility simply get an underwater case to your cellphone.

You’ll be able to depart the make-up and blow dryers at house since you’ll more than likely be out and in of the water a number of instances per day.

Carry a small daypack to take alongside on the hikes.

If you’re taking a cruise, there will likely be some down time and really restricted Web. Carry a e-book or obtain motion pictures to your laptop computer previous to leaving house.

It will get sizzling within the Galapagos and a long-sleeved UPF shirt to guard you from the solar whereas mountaineering or snorkeling can save your shoulders from a brutal burn.

Useful Web sites:

Galapagos Conservancy www.galapagos.org

from Cheapr Travels https://ift.tt/2RL3vLI via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Cheapr Travels

0 notes

topfygad · 4 years

Text

21 Photos to Inspire Your Galapagos Bucket List

Big tortoises, flightless cormorants and waved albatross. Oh my!

These pictures will encourage you to both put the Galapagos in your bucket listing or transfer it approach up within the precedence rating.

Crabs & Boobies

Lazy Sea Lions

Galapagos sea lions lounge nearly all over the place you go on the islands. Their lazy demeanor and candy stares will tempt you to rub their comfortable tummies.

Birds Past Blue-Footed Boobies

The islands are a chook lover’s paradise.

Plus there’s penguins.

Iguanas & Lizards

Pristine Pure Landscapes

As if the wildlife wasn’t sufficient to carry you to the Galapagos, every island had a special breathtaking terrain.Customer numbers are restricted with retains the human footprint at a minimal.

You Would possibly Additionally Get pleasure from

. . . Verify it Off Your Bucket Record . . .

Location/Info:

Getting There:

Language(s):

Spanish is the official language in Ecuador and on the Galapagos Islands, although English is extensively spoken on excursions, plus within the eating places and motels.

Foreign money:

The US Greenback

Electrical energy:

Plug Sort A/B, 110v. The voltage and socket is identical because the U.S., so there’s not want for an adapter or converter.

When to Go:

Learn how to Go to/Planning:

Getting Round:

The place to Keep:

The place to Eat:

Bucket Record Should-Dos:

Plan your journey across the month of Could to get a greater probability of witnessing the Blue Footed Booby mating dance, the courtship ritual of those standard birds.

Take the steep climb to the highest of the volcanic cone of Bartolomé and get a peak on the most photographed pure construction within the Galapagos, Pinnacle Rock.

Do because the sailors did within the 19th century and ship a submit card at Put up Workplace Bay on Floreana Island. Go away one and sift via the others to choose one near house handy ship.

Take a better have a look at the large tortoises on the Darwin Analysis Station (https://ift.tt/Kyq8rp) in Puerto Ayora the place scientists and volunteers are concerned in conservation.

Important Data:

It’s a requirement to have a naturalist with you when exploring the protected islands; you can’t simply enterprise off by yourself.

A visa shouldn’t be required to enter Ecuador, although be sure that your passport doesn’t expire inside 6 months of arrival.

Packing Ideas:

A small pair of binoculars can go a great distance when making an attempt to identify wildlife from the boat. (Bushnell Falcon makes some good ones for underneath $30)

Restrict plastic waste by bringing a reusable water bottle. (The Vapor Aspect Bottle is ideal for journey because it folds up right into a tiny neat bundle when empty)

Don’t neglect an underwater digicam to seize the unbelievable marine life. I exploit a GoPro, however if you need a less expensive possibility simply get an underwater case to your cellphone.

You’ll be able to depart the make-up and blow dryers at house since you’ll more than likely be out and in of the water a number of instances per day.

Carry a small daypack to take alongside on the hikes.

If you’re taking a cruise, there will likely be some down time and really restricted Web. Carry a e-book or obtain motion pictures to your laptop computer previous to leaving house.

It will get sizzling within the Galapagos and a long-sleeved UPF shirt to guard you from the solar whereas mountaineering or snorkeling can save your shoulders from a brutal burn.

Useful Web sites:

Galapagos Conservancy www.galapagos.org

source http://cheaprtravels.com/21-photos-to-inspire-your-galapagos-bucket-list/

0 notes