Heading South
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 …
Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
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 …
Galapagos Ocean Currents
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 …
Seeing Pink Spots
When we entered the water for our first research dive at Wolf island, the first thing we saw were thousands upon thousands of fish. The fish were so numerous it made seeing the bottom difficult. Underneath the clouds of fish …
Marchena
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 …
Hola Galapagos!
Iconic Galapagos creatures greeted the Golden Shadow as she arrived in the archipelago this week. Sea lions, sharks, and countless birds came to inspect the new visitors, and the scientific team embarked under the robotic gaze of the Sally light …
June 8: World Oceans Day 2012 Event LIVE from the Galapagos!
The Living Oceans Foundation is pleased to present two live presentations from the Galápagos as part of World Oceans Day 2012! On the June 8, 2012 at 3:30PM EST, join the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the Ocean …
Colombia Wrap-up
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 …
Mind-Blowing Dive Site
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 …
The Golden Shadow’s Crew
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 …