The M/V Santa Cruz Day 1

Disembarkation (11-28-08)

We started the day today with a few spare minutes to run errands (mailing postcards for me), and then we had a lecture from Arturo regarding water sustainability in the Galapagos. Afterwards, we loaded up and boarded ship on the M/V Santa Cruz (M/V = motorized vessel). Needless to say, I didn't start out with sea legs. Until after lunch and a Dramamine, I was pretty queasy.

After lunch, however, was a different story. We cruised to Cerro Brujo (witch hill) and walked out on to the beach to go snorkeling. As soon as we hopped out of the raft into the water, you could immediately tell that there was no human presence on that side of the island. A few feet away were scattered the sun-bleached bones of a dead sea-lion. A few feet away an other sea lion was rotting in the sand while a finch flitted from its head to its fins. Completing the scene was a nearly decomposed blue-footed booby. This scene, maybe as much as any other, sums up the Galapagos for me. There are constant reminders that this beautiful area always has a contrary side, whether it is pollution, habitat destruction, over colonization, unsustainable tourism, etc.

On the other side of the beach I went snorkeling for the first time. When I'd thought about the trip, I'd planned on hiking at every opportunity. Now, I think I'm going to shift gears and go snorkeling at every opportunity. The water was nearly transparent with occasional clouds of sand disturbed by flippers and stingrays.

While I was still drifting and trying to get my mask adjusted I looked down and two sea lions swam directly below me. A few minutes later I swam through a school of fish. Later, I got to see a puffer fish from a few meters away. Just a few minutes later I got to watch a stingray settle into the sand. Never mind the countless colorful fish I couldn't begin to name. Needless to say, I'm now hooked on snorkeling. I'd planned on hiking every time there was an option of things to do, now it's going to be all about snorkeling!

 

Time to work (11-28-08)

After snorkeling, we came back to the ship and broke up into groups based on subject areas. Our goal as a group over the next few days is to design a unit that integrates environmental education into our curriculums.

In individual conversations over the past few days, several of us have talked about the tension between the simultaneous beauty and harshness of nature. We decided to call our unit the Paradox of Paradise, and it will focus on the progression of images of nature in literature through idealism with the romantics to nature's role as an impassive obstacle in modernism.

It was fun to get to collaborate with other teachers who get as excited about literature and poetry as I do. This was definitely another high point of the trip.

 

 

Awesome day.