ZECO TRAVEL TALK

Just reporting in off the coast of Chile to tell you a bit about Le Diamant, since it’s our first time using the ship. Everyone—passengers, leader/lecturer team—have been loving the experience. While it’s luxurious and roomy, this ship lends itself perfectly to expedition cruising, and our West Coast of South America trip has been incredibly comfortable. Yesterday we sighted sperm whales and the captain was able to quickly slow us down to follow their direction. We were allowed to be on the bow of the ship to watch, which made us all feel like adventurers! My personal favorite spot on the ship is the fabulous observation lounge just above the bow. You can relax up there, surrounded by glass walls and ceilings, and watch everything going on in the open seas.

Le Diamant has a lovely lecture hall, the Grand Salon, and it’s perfect for our purposes—everyone can now hear the lectures and see the visuals/power point presentations, etc. by our onboard team, no matter where they sit. The other comment I have to share is about the ship staff: really professional and efficient. Two days into the trip, they threw together a last minute barbecue lunch on deck — just so we could enjoy the great weather! Tomorrow we head inland into the Andes and to Lauca National Park.

Our 2008 Rain Forests and Reefs expedition to Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama recently returned and we are excited to share with you some video footage of our transit through the Panama Canal onboard Le Levant. As you can see from the entry below, it was a truly memorable day. For more information on this trip’s daily adventures, see the Report From The Field.

Saturday, January 26
Our Panama Canal Transit

Sort the travel destinations of the world by any criteria you wish, but a transit of the Panama Canal will always remain on the list of things a world traveler must do in his or her lifetime. The canal represents an epic feat of engineering that changed the course of human events. When it opened in 1914, it was called the Eighth Wonder of the World. The narrow isthmus, so alluring, so suggestive of an easy connection between oceans, has drawn adventurers, dreamers, and builders for centuries. They came in droves and most squandered their lives and their countries’ resources in vain attempts to bridge that short gap. Along with everything else it represents, today’s great “Path Between the Seas” is a monument to their sacrifices.

The schedule we secured was ideal for a coveted daylight transit. We had picked up our pilot and our special canal interpreter, Patricia Holmes, the night before. Before 0600 Le Levant had weighed anchor and moved into the queue for Gatun Locks.

The massive iron doors, weighing 800 tons each, closed behind us, and there was no turning back. Small electric trains, called mules, helped stabilize the ship as we rose to the level of Gatun Lake, 87 feet above the sea. We crossed the Continental Divide through the narrow Gaillard Cut, which had proved the most fearsome portion of the Canal to build. We cruised under the soaring Bridge of the Americas and into Miraflores Locks. They lowered us gently to the level of Pacific tidewater, into which we sailed at 1630. We dropped anchor in the Bahia de Panama in company with many other, mostly much bigger, ships. The towers of Panama City gleamed surrealistically in the distance.

In the evening we all enjoyed a cocktail party hosted by Zegrahm and Stanford where we raised a toast to our great accomplishment: a passage through a continent from one ocean to another.

Yesterday we woke up to sunshine and blue skies off Belize’s Half Moon Caye, but because of windy conditions and waves that would make snorkeling and diving difficult, we decided to reposition Le Levant to the other side of the island. It was well worth it as it was calm and those who wanted to go ashore could. Half Moon Caye is beautiful with white sand beaches and green palm trees…your typical paradise island! Everyone got to see dozens of frigates and red-footed boobies—this island is a National Monument and the only place in the region where they nest.

The snorkelers’ report of the day was also wonderful… They saw schools of parrotfish and barracuda, a giant sea cucumber, and a wide variety of colorful fish. A diving contingent went off to follow in Jacques Cousteau’s flippers at the famous Blue Hole… It was a great day, and so nice to be out in the sunshine. We had a leisurely evening back on board and then Captain’s Welcome Cocktails and Dinner. The food was excellent as was the service and everyone was impressed with the pastry chef – uh oh, we’re all in trouble! Honduras here we come!

In a Seattle Times story—August 17, 2007—writer Craig Welch reported a fascinating sequence of events that spans 7,000 miles and two hemisphere, a sooty shearwater chick, a fish, and an electronic monitoring device… and the research scientist who was the catalyst for the story. We thought you’d enjoy a brief recap of a mystery with an amazing answer:

When Dale Whaitiri, a bird researcher, pulled a tiny monitoring tag from a dead baby sooty shearwater on an island off Southern New Zealand, he wanted to know where it came from and how it got there. That bird was about to be the dinner of local Maori tribesmen who “catch the delicious chicks for supper, but hand over the stomachs to Whaitiri and other researchers who monitor the birds’ diets.”

Some scientific sleuthing revealed that the tag was three years old and originated in a steelhead that was being monitored after it was released into Columbia River. Since steelhead migrate north, it was determined that a sooty shearwater must have been the carrier. These hardy seabirds fly thousands of miles to nest in warm weather and they are often seen in great numbers at the mouth of the Columbia feeding on steelhead as they make their way into the Pacific. The birds favor nesting spots in Japan and New Zealand and lay eggs in underground burrows.

Welsh reports that Jen Zamon, a seabird expert for the Northwest Fisheries Science Center feels the answer to the mystery then “…may be elementary. A sooty shearwater ate the steelhead on the Columbia, carried the indigestible glass tag in its belly for two years, then regurgitated it into the baby’s eager maw.”

The greater mystery, according to Welsh, ends up being: “How did the tag wind up in a fat, flightless bird about to be eaten by Maori tribesmen? And of the millions of …sooty shearwaters—called “titi” by the Maoris—how did Whaitiri manage to poke this one’s belly?”

“The odds are almost impossible to fathom,” said Zamon.

To read the story in its entirety: seattletimes.com

As part of the New England Aquarium Lecture series, Jack Grove, Zegrahm Cofounder and marine expert, will present Galapagos: A Laboratory for Global Marine Conservation on October 9, 2007 at the Harborside Learning Lab of the New England Aquarium in Boston. Marine ecosystems around the globe are currently threatened by an array of forces. Jack has spent 25 years visiting, studying, and photographing some of the world’s most breathtaking seascapes. Using a number of these ecosystems as background, he will share the unusual beauty and conservation challenges of the Galapagos and discuss the conservation and management programs in effect there, which may provide answers for other fragile island ecosystems. For more information about the lecture, go to www.neaq.org/lowellprograms.

During the 1982 - 1983 El Nino event, sea surface temperatures were exceptionally high in the entire eastern tropical Pacific. In the seas around the Galapagos, they reached levels as high as 86F. There were dramatic changes which took place in the Islands; waterfalls developed, plant life abounded and the impact of soild erosion was obvious. Beneath the surface of the sea, the population dynamics of many species of fish and invertebrates was also altered. One species of fish that seemed unable to cope with the unusual marine conditions was the Blackspot Damselfish, Azurina eupalama. First described by Edmund Heller and Robert Snodgrass (1903) their illustration of the Blackspot Damselfish, is included the Fishes of the Galapagos (Grove & Lavenberg, 1997).

It has now been twenty five years since the ENSO event of 82-83; there have been no photo or observation records of this damselfish since that time. Is it possible that this species disappeared as a result of an El Nino? Not likely, because it must have survived many similar events throughout it evolutionary history. But if that were the case it would be an important discovery. It sure is fun to look for this “Missing Damsel” during our Zegrahm Expeditions trips to the Islands. If it is the case, that the fish disappeared, it would be the first documented “natural extinction” of a fish caused by an El Nino. During the many, many hours I have spent in the waters leading snorkelers and divers in the Galapagos, in the wake of that historic El Nino, not one of these damsels has been seen. So, if you are going to snorkel or SCUBA in the Galapagos keep an eye out.

In May 2007, I represented Zegrahm Expeditions at an annual conference of the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association (IGTOA) in Guayaquil, Ecuador. “IGTOA is a nonprofit association of travel companies, conservation organizations, and other groups that seek a lasting protection of the Galápagos Islands. We lobby for conservation, fund projects, and promote and practice sustainable tourism.” http://www.igtoa.org

The conference involved several presentations, conservation workshops, and funding proposals for the Galápagos Islands (the islands are considered a living marvel of evolution and are located approximately 600 miles directly west of Ecuador following the Equator). Most importantly though, and preceding UNESCO’s recent World Heritage in Danger declaration, the meeting involved heated debates on what the travel industry can do to alleviate the surmounting threats towards the conservation of the “Enchanted Isles.” Read more