You can’t talk about coral in the Galapagos without talking about the atmospheric phenomenon called El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Normally, west-blowing trade winds push warm waters into the western Pacific Ocean. Every four or five years on average, though,
After just one dive at San Cristobal Island, the team decided the water was too rough, so the Golden Shadow moved on. We woke Monday to overcast skies at Floreana, the southernmost of the five inhabited islands. Monday brought three dives
This weekend marked the halfway point of the Galapagos expedition, both in time and in territory. After a week at Marchena, Darwin and Wolf, the latter two far to the north of the main group of islands, the ship will
The story of how these not-incredibly-attractive islands in the middle of the Pacific became world famous starts on December 27, 1831, when the H.M.S. Beagle sailed from Plymouth, England on a five-year round-the-world voyage. On board was an unpaid naturalist
Why are the waters around the Galapagos Islands so rich with marine life? It’s because the islands are in a very special spot. Oceanographically speaking, they are at the intersection of five major ocean currents. Along with the equatorial surface weather, these
Our first coral reef research site was by the island of Marchena. Old black lava blankets the land and flows down beneath the waves. Underwater, the porous lava and a few species of branching coral create a complex habitat for
If you took a quick look on Google Earth at the northern San Andres Archipelago, specifically at the three banks the team visited on this latest mission, you’d think they looked pretty similar. But we found instead that each has
Happily, some minds were in fact blown on today’s first dive. The groundtruthing team had promised they found an incredible reef and they did not lie. We were on the farthest side of the bank from where the Golden Shadow
Late last night, as the research team slept, the Golden Shadow’s crew was moving the research vessel east. By dawn, we were back at Bajo Nuevo with weather conditions dramatically improved. Scuba diving might seem the most essential activity
Each day, as the bulk of the team’s divers head out to the reefs aboard the Calcutta, a group of four divers from Colombia hops in a smaller boat to go looking for queen conch. It’s a continuation of work
