Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island
Today was going to be a bit different for me. As Expedition Leader, I stayed behind for the morning in order to welcome on board a very special group of people.
After our guests had departed for a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park’s giant tortoise rearing program, a couple of Zodiacs were sent to the main dock of town. Awaiting us here were thirty-one young eleven and twelve year-olds. They are in the seventh grade at the elementary school “San Fransisco de Asis”, finishing their last year before entering high school. What many do not realize is that the school year ends next week. Both along the coast of mainland Ecuador and in the Galapagos Islands the warm, wet season which has already begun, marks the end of the official school year. In the highland of Ecuador, schools keep a schedule aligned more with North America and Europe.
So off we went with our two Zodiacs full of excited seventh-graders and over calm swells (they would have preferred it a bit rougher I imagine) to the next bay over for a bit of exploration. Blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, brown noddy terns, spotted eagle rays, a sunken ship…it was all a lot of fun. These children do not get out onto the water very often. Perhaps for a cultural or social reason where the parents are not interested in the ocean; or perhaps for economical reasons: it is expensive to spend a day on the water in a boat!
Once on board the National Geographic Polaris, everyone was invited to the lounge where I gave a quick presentation on a famous individual who has left his name on all kinds of things here: Charles Darwin. Not many of the children really understood the significance of the man, and hopefully I left a slight impression on them in the few minutes available before the pizza smells started to distract the audience. The ice cream afterwards was even better!
A tour of the bridge with explanations of the equipment in use these days was captivating. Our Chief Mate Javier, by using careful wording and easy analogies probably opened the eyes of many of these young folks and sowed the seeds for potential future-officers to life on board a passenger vessel.
With reluctance, our young guests returned to life at school. They were our last group this school year. Next school year which starts in April, we will be inviting the new seventh-graders to experience a morning at sea on one of our ships…and so spread the word.
For lunch I was in the highlands once again reunited with everyone else from the National Geographic Polaris. The entire afternoon was spent in tortoise sightings as they wandered the fields, grazing, and visiting the unique forest of endemic vegetation around a pair of pit craters, sections of volcanic crust which have collapsed in perfect circles.
On our return to the ship anchored in Academy Bay, to our surprise and delight one of our mariners, Geovani, drove by with a marine iguana warming up on the bow of his Zodiac. It had climbed up for a rest and a snooze!
Today was going to be a bit different for me. As Expedition Leader, I stayed behind for the morning in order to welcome on board a very special group of people.
After our guests had departed for a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park’s giant tortoise rearing program, a couple of Zodiacs were sent to the main dock of town. Awaiting us here were thirty-one young eleven and twelve year-olds. They are in the seventh grade at the elementary school “San Fransisco de Asis”, finishing their last year before entering high school. What many do not realize is that the school year ends next week. Both along the coast of mainland Ecuador and in the Galapagos Islands the warm, wet season which has already begun, marks the end of the official school year. In the highland of Ecuador, schools keep a schedule aligned more with North America and Europe.
So off we went with our two Zodiacs full of excited seventh-graders and over calm swells (they would have preferred it a bit rougher I imagine) to the next bay over for a bit of exploration. Blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, brown noddy terns, spotted eagle rays, a sunken ship…it was all a lot of fun. These children do not get out onto the water very often. Perhaps for a cultural or social reason where the parents are not interested in the ocean; or perhaps for economical reasons: it is expensive to spend a day on the water in a boat!
Once on board the National Geographic Polaris, everyone was invited to the lounge where I gave a quick presentation on a famous individual who has left his name on all kinds of things here: Charles Darwin. Not many of the children really understood the significance of the man, and hopefully I left a slight impression on them in the few minutes available before the pizza smells started to distract the audience. The ice cream afterwards was even better!
A tour of the bridge with explanations of the equipment in use these days was captivating. Our Chief Mate Javier, by using careful wording and easy analogies probably opened the eyes of many of these young folks and sowed the seeds for potential future-officers to life on board a passenger vessel.
With reluctance, our young guests returned to life at school. They were our last group this school year. Next school year which starts in April, we will be inviting the new seventh-graders to experience a morning at sea on one of our ships…and so spread the word.
For lunch I was in the highlands once again reunited with everyone else from the National Geographic Polaris. The entire afternoon was spent in tortoise sightings as they wandered the fields, grazing, and visiting the unique forest of endemic vegetation around a pair of pit craters, sections of volcanic crust which have collapsed in perfect circles.
On our return to the ship anchored in Academy Bay, to our surprise and delight one of our mariners, Geovani, drove by with a marine iguana warming up on the bow of his Zodiac. It had climbed up for a rest and a snooze!
