Evolutionary Plume

Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove, Fernandina Island, Galapagos, Ecuador

Morning rather fast paced hike around Urbina Bay, Galapagos, Ecuador, on our National Geographic Cruise in fairly warm conditions. We woke early and gathered our wet and dry shoes, climbed aboard a zodiac raft and landed on shore. The hike led over lava rocks to the site where a Galapagos Hawk sat on a post and allowed twenty+ people to photograph it from every side from quite close (10’ or less). It was a juvenile.

The area of Urbina Bay was uplifted in 1954. There aren’t many bones left by the uplift, although the tour staff have laid out the skeleton of a pelican, skeleton of a house cat, skeletons of Sea Turtles washed up on the island that likely died of dehydration recently. I spotted a new type of crab called a velvet crab. Lots of lava on shore bear testimony this is an active volcano area. The main thrill of the uplift though is the huge remnants of sea coral that was cored by scientists and recorded as being 600+ years old. These outcrops are dead but grasses have begun to grow on them.

The loop trail turns inland for awhile and we managed to come upon the local variant of land iguana, the red bat, dead giant tortoises and several live ones.

The Galapagos are late receiving rainfall since the rainy season was supposed to start three weeks ago, but inland, the greenery has expanded from a dead zone in 1954 to lush greenery with full-sized trees and shrubs, of which many were now in bloom. I recognized the tropical maple in blossom, but found many others I need to identify (I’ll add later).

As we left back to the shore we saw manta rays (no pictures).

Lunch for me was Teriyaki Corvina, couscous and vegetables, cold noodles and grated carrots, bread and a sample of walnut tort.

After lunch, Bob complained of continual muscle pains in his legs, so we decided to take the afternoon off and catch up on my paperwork—school and blogs. I taught him several leg stretches, fed him Motrin, and let him sleep. We missed out on snorkeling in Tagus Bay and the kayak session which we signed up for.

Birds: Medium Ground Finch, Galapagos Hawk, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Striated Heron (Sheri only)

Galapagos or Giant Tortoise (elephantos), Galapagos Red Bat

Velvet Crab

Isabela and Fernandina Islands, Galapagos, Ecuador

Today was a more moderate day,  waking up to spot seabirds and dolphins. We didn’t get up fast enough to see the striped dolphins but we did see bottlenosed dolphins and identified several seabirds. Most of the day followed easily with only a zodiac cruise, one hike and one snorkel session.

We were allowed to go on the zodiac cruise with the photography group and I had the chance to get many excellent p having ictures of rocks at Punta Vincent Roca—with birds, crabs, coral, and other sea life. We were treated with Galapagos Penguins and Pacific Green Sea Turtles in the area along with the Galapagos Fur Seal  and Sea Lions and fun. Here's my penguin video.

The formations at this end of the Isabela Island are spectacular geologically, with lava areas, sand stone, lava tubes, uplift and interesting erosion patterns and layers.  The guide was especially helpful suggesting different ways to view the area and encouraging us all to take more and more photographs. The Zodiac driver though was a real helper because he managed to give us all a look from many different directions. I managed to get several videos, Brown Noddy’s fighting over territory and sea action.

The snorkeling was an athletic event, tidewater pulling us into the rocks and a lot of murk in the water, plankton looked like snow (a later lecture showed us many different types). We saw a Galapagos Penguin shoot past, zooming through the water with ease. Sea Turtles chased us down—appearing in our faces and lying in the sand and zooming up from below us. We spotted the green sea urchins that are a specialty of the Galapagos.

In the evening, we took a walk on Fernadina Island at Punta Espinoza, the site of the most recent lava flow (2007?). The area has many, many marine iguana, who lie facing the sun to keep their body temperature at a minimum and spit out salty water they’ve consumed. The eat off the green seaweeds exposed by the tides, nibbling them in a dainty manner. The sea lions and fur seals had a lot of fun in the area body surfing in moderate surf that sloshed into bays and pulled them out. We focused on photographic techniques for a second time. The sunset turned the area steamy and dreamy.

Birds: Galapagos Shearwater subspecies of Audubon Shearwater, White-vented or Elliot’s Storm Petrel, Southern Fulmar, Flightless or Galapagos Cormorant, Galapagos Penguin,  Magnificent Frigatebird, Greater Yellowlegs

Black or Pacific Green Sea Turtle, Galapagos Fur Seal, Green Sea Urchin

Bartolome and Rabida Islands, Galapagos, Ecuador

Energetic  day with so much to do. We started early, 6:00 am wake up call to go climb up a boardwalk to the top of a cinder cone on Bartolome Island. Along the way we saw many examples of volcanology at work—lava tubes, many varieties of lava, cones, fumaroles, and some recovery with several types of plants beginning to take root. Lots of lava lizards were spotted on our way up. The area features the famous rock that is used in many of the ads for the Galapagos.

Galapagos: Lava Heron

We followed the excursion with breakfast and then a briefing on what snorkeling equipment we would need, how to use it, how to signal for help, then we went up and was fitted with equipment: wet suit, snorkel tube for my prescription mask (we were offered the tip of using toothpaste to remove the oils they put onto them), and flippers—cool type that tightened on the ankle and slide up and down for easy fit.  Then we all went snorkeling off Bartolome, starting from a beach and following a coral reef along one side of the bay around the famous rock. It was excellent snorkeling with a good variety of fish and sea life like sea stars and sea urchins. We returned to the Islander for lunch.

After a traditional Ecuadorian lunch, we took a second snorkel at a deepwater site off of Rabida Island. At first I thought it would be punk because the site was shaded and cold but less than a minute later I was caught up in the iridescent underwater world with unique sea plants and creatures. I kept seeing new life while schools of fish swam around. I tried out a few videos and they turned out really well. The photographs are less good, its hard to get a fish before it moves.

Fish video

Later that evening we took a stroll along shore and saw a male sea lion fight off a competitor, a pelican argue with two young sea lions, two mockingbird packs face off against each other, and young pelicans in a nest gang up on another pelican trying to get back in. Everyone was crabby, I guess it was the waning of the full moon.

Crabby Sea Lion video

We checked the stars but it was overcast.

Birds: Lava Heron, Red-billed Tropicbird, Brown Noddy, American Oystercatcher, Galapagos Mockinbird, Lesser Yellowlegs, Galapagos Sea Lion

Galapagos, Transfer to the Islander at Baltra, Galapagos and Dry Landing at North Seymour Island

The flight to the Galapagos went easily—our boarding passes handed to us, our luggage carried through to the plane, all we had to do was get through a short line at security and climb aboard.

When we arrived, we exited through immigration and customs and was immediately met by National Geographic staff. A short bus ride took us to the boat and we gladly dumped everything for lunch. The food was great, promise of much goodness is the future.

After a nap, we had our first outing, a slow-paced walk through on an inlet at North Seymour Island. We spotted many, many frigatebirds, many with families or wanting to make families, plus land iguanas. We wandered through a treed realm, receiving many lectures on each species life and habits.

The highlight was all the nesting Magnificent Frigate Birds, here's mom and baby, although the first of Darwin's finches was exciting too.

Dinner was leisurely and we had the opportunity to meet our fellow travelers.

Birds: Blue-footed Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird, Galapagos Dove, Yellow Warbler, Medium Ground Finch, Ruddy Turnstone, Small Ground Finch, Swallowtailed Gull, Brown Pelican

Lava Lizard, Land Iguana, Marine Iguana

Flight from Orlando to Miami to Guayaquil, Ecuador

Pretty much a nothing of a day. We woke leisurely with a
3:00pm flight and a taxi pick up at 1:00. We chose Denny’s for lunch since I’m
on a get back to shape kick for the month. I did cheat at the airport in Miami
by visiting Au Bon Pain and buying a chocolate croissant, but I so seldom get
to have those that it went really well. Orlando airport is a nice place to
stand around a wait for an airplane to arrive. The tough part is getting
through security that fits into a little area where people funnel through long
winding routes, pretty much passing on any nasty bug they might have. One
gentleman talking on a headphone let me in front of him and talked loudly about
the President being excited about a project getting kicked off. I started
noticing shoes people wore and eventually down the road wrote a poem in honor.
It still needs polish.

Once through security at Orlando Airport, you take a train
to your gate. The airport is set up to have trains take people out to separate
small cross shaped facilities complete with stores, bathrooms, free WiFi, that
I didn’t try, and enough room to pace down each of three ends of the cross, the
fourth being the connection to the train. We bought drinks and I worked on the
answers to my questions about Atonement.

The flight to Miami was on Boeing 757, which was wonderful.
Lots of room in the overhead compartments although the seats were pretty
cramped together. We had an exit row so had a bit more foot room. They have two
exits side by side on the Boeing 757.

Miami Airport is much larger than the Orlando Airport. We
arrived in Gate D and pretty much stayed there—the specific gates ranged from
1-60, while in Orlando there were only 20 at most. So we walked the length as
exercise and to keep the blood flowing to my legs. We stopped at Starbucks for
coffee for Bob and Venti Passion Unsweetened Ice Tea for me and later for my
sweet.

We met up with the National Geographic folks in Miami, but
they didn’t have us on their list since we came down a day early. Bob wanted
time to recover from the late arrival. On the flight we watched “Fast Break”, a
fairly plot simple movie about a courier who picks up a secured delivery
package and finds that a crazy police crook is after him. A bicycle police
officer also chases him. Eventually he wonders whether he should carry the item
or not or pass it to the police. He finds it’s a ticket so returns it to the
office. Meanwhile, the its revealed that the chick who wanted the ticket
delivered wants it sent so she can have her child back (she’s Chinese). Meanwhile,
the ticket is passed to another delivery person and sent to a new location and
so the race through traffic is on. All’s well that ends well. Afterward, they
showed a premiere of a show called Smash, about a Broadway Theatre purchased by
a woman who plans a new show and has lots of squabbles between the changing
priority of the cast.

We arrived at Guayaquil and disembarked quickly and the line
through immigration and customs went smoothly. When we came through, the
National Geographic people waved us over—we were on their list. We took their
bus to the Hotel Colon Hilton Guayaquil. Check in for us differed from the rest
since we had a coupon for an extra day. The offered us free drink coupons and
free breakfast coupons for the morning. We dumped our bags and went for drinks
in the lounge. The lounge had a band that played progressive jazz—Dave Brubeck
style (according to Bob). The bar waiter was kind and explained our free drink
options were local beer or pina coladas (I don’t like sweet coconut pineapple
drinks). I tried two of the local beers—Club amber and Club pilsner. I liked
the amber much better—its sweeter slightly and has a better kick. The pilsner
tasted like water afterwards. Bob had his usual gin, water and lime juice. We
tipped the waiter well since he brought lots of drinks and answered all our
questions about what the drink of Ecuador was—he said local beer, cerveza.

Meanwhile, the hotel was sponsor to a wedding (we think) and
a graduation party (for sure). There were lots of young women in formal gowns,
many quite tipsy wandering the halls and looking stunning. One elderly couple
were also dressed to the nines.

The bed felt really good when we finally crashed at 2 a.m.

Improving My Technology Skills--Movies on My Nikon D5100

Today my skill building involves using a previously untested feature of my Nikon D5100 camera. I bought the D5100 after I dropped my camera in Panama, smashing the lens and damaging the lens connection, sigh. I need to remember to go slowly while carrying expensive equipment.

The easy start guide from Nikon explained how to make the movie in a step by step fashion.

First step was to put the camera in live view mode (the same mode that the Coolpix automatically starts in).

The second step was to set the automated focus and other features for use when making movies.

The third step was to make the movie.

The fourth step was to post it on Youtube. When posting the movie, Youtube flagged the movie for having different length audio and video tracks and provided a helpful guide for editing it into shape. That's tomorrow's lesson.

What I learned about making a movie with my Nikon D5100 camera was:

1) you use up your EN-EL14 lithium batteries very quickly with continual autofocus and movie recording

2) I was introduced to BestBatt.com, where I found I could quickly buy 2 more batteries and a charger and get a free mini tripod delivered to me in two days--why go on vacation and not try a movie or two?

3) you should plan what you will say before you record

4) moving slowly helps keep the camera in focus

5) closed in areas complicate recording since it is hard to step back and bring items into focus

6) movies made with the Nikon D5100 can be stored in two formats,(I used the common one for the US)

7) movies made with the Nikon D5100 are stored as QuickTime movies

8) I can record up to twenty minutes with the Nikon D5100

9) It takes a long time to upload a long movie (I guess that's why people keep them short)

All in all, my experience recording a movie with the Nikon D5100 was much happier than the result with my Canon Camcorder since I had an easy start and stop and play and upload.

When my movie is finally uploaded, you can see it at:  

 

I made it about my trellis garden, showing the frame, the flowers, the hedgerow and other plants. I didn't remember all the names.

Improving My Technology Skills--Technical Illustrations

I was advised to produce illustrations for my haiku chapbook so I've taken this on as a challenge to re-remember my technical drawing class. I would do drawings of the visions I had while writing the haiku to offset the image that popped into mind. 

I worked with an illustrator Angela Powell when I worked at Boeing, and several others. But she produced the illustrations for our local newsletter. She'd often make the drawings on hand, then very carefully recreate them in electronic form using a drawing pad. I picked up the Wacom Bamboo Create which has 8.5 by 5.4 drawing surface and I can use Adobe Photoshop Elements as the software for using the input. At least one of the drawings I make, I'd like to join a drawing with a photograph--that may mean quite a bit of manipulations with the images.

My technical illustration class was very basic--mostly focused on how to build various views of objects and at various angles. I had to pick up a few tools at Staples--a flexible curve (it helps make your curves smooth, a variety of sketch pens (varying in sizes from .1mm to .8mm), sketch pencils (including a white pencil, eraser, and a template with small circles, and tracing paper.

To get the drawing pad to work, I have to connect it to my computer and install the software. Following that, I may need to try out a bunch of the tutorials they have provided. I'm not sure how much I will get done before I leave on vacation.