GALAPAGOS 2021- Following in the Footsteps of Charles Darwin
Welcome to the 2021 Galapagos STEM/Science Educators’ Expedition Blog
Eleven curious, adventurous, and COVID vaccinated science educators and nature enthusiasts traveled to the Galapagos in July 2021. Led by Page Keeley (her 9th trip as a science education trip leader for the Citizen Ambassadors Program and Holbrook Travel) and her co-leader, Joyce Tugel. Our STEM Expedition was originally scheduled for July 2020 but due…
Days 1 & 2, July 23-24, 2021: Galapagos Here We Come Via Guayaquil, Ecuador!
We arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador from five different U.S. airports, late at night or in the wee hours after midnight. Our first day was scheduled on the mainland in case there were any travel delays. After catching a few hours of sleep and breakfast at the Unipark Hotel, we met our wonderful, local guide, Fernando…
Day 3, July 25, 2021: Arrival to the Galapagos Islands! Baltra and Santa Cruz
We boarded a LATAM flight in Guayaquil for the 1 hour 55 minute flight to the Galapagos, 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Excitement grew as we gazed out the window and spotted the islands appearing in the vast Pacific Ocean. We exited on the tarmac on the island of Baltra to enter immigration…
Day 4, July 26, 2021: Santiago Island, Espumilla Beach, Bucanero Cove, and Egas Point
The morning began as we met in the lounge for coffee and suddenly, Lynn spotted a pod of dolphins! LuLu yelled, “get in the pangas”, – we grabbed our life jackets and were off to follow the dolphins. They “played with us” coming right up alongside the pangas, surfacing and going under us- it was…
Day 5, July 27, 2021: Isabella and Fernandina Islands, Vincente Roca Point and Espinoza Point
After sleeping with the hum of the engine through the night as the Bonita cruised past the eastern side of Isabella Island, largest island in the Galapagos, we awoke at Vincente Roca Point. Vincente Roca Point is located on the chin of the “sea horse” which makes up the shape of Isabella Island. After breakfast,…
Day 6, July 28, 2021: Isabella Island, Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove
This morning we explored the central part of the west coast of Isabella with a wet landing at Urbina Bay. Urbina Bay was formed on the year of my birthday when the land suddenly uplifted and raised the sea bed by over 5 meters, exposing the heads of the coral reef to the air which…
Day 7, July 29th, Isabella Island- Elizabeth Bay and Moreno Point
This morning we woke up in the calm waters of Elizabeth Bay ready to take off in the pangas after breakfast to see the large colonies of blue-footed boobies and other nesting birds. The rock croppings rising from the bay were covered with blue-footed boobies. All around us the boobies were diving for fish, like…
Day 8, July 30, 2021: Isabella Island, Bay of Puerto Villamil
During the night, which was quite a rocking and rolling cruise through rough seas that kept some of us awake, the Bonita cruised to the southeastern end of Isabella Island, anchoring in Puerto Villamil, a small quaint port village where most of the inhabitants of Isabella Island live. The morning was a bit grey and…
Day 9, July 31, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island
We woke up to our final breakfast on beautiful Santa Cruz Island, home of our guide, Lulu. Puerto Ayora is the largest town in the Galapagos and Santa Cruz Island is the most populated island with a variety of vegetative zones, including lush tropical vegetation which we didn’t see on the other islands which were…
This and That and Final Reflection
Adaptation, natural selection, diversity of species, evolution were always on our minds. Take the iguanas for example. We saw marine iguanas, Galapagos land iguanas, and the mainland iguanas. Unfortunately we did not see the rare Galapagos pink iguana. It is thought that the Galapagos iguanas had a common ancestor, much like the ones in the…
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Galapagos 2021- Science/STEM Expedition Blog 