Darwin and Wolf Islands in the Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago are the kinds of places scuba divers and marine biologists dream of visiting, myself included. I even wrote a children\u2019s book imagining a team of scientists exploring the underwater wonders of the Gal\u00e1pagos islands on a beautiful sailing ship.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I\u2019m still pinching myself that earlier this year I got to take part in a real expedition to Darwin and Wolf.<\/p>\n
More on my incredible journey and what I saw on these remote, uninhabited islands, after this week\u2019s most important reads.<\/p>\n
Essential readsIn focusThe Charles Darwin Foundation science team at work in Gala\u0301pagos. Photograph: Helen Scales\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Back in March, I was the first reporter to be invited to join a team from the Charles Darwin Foundation, who twice each year go to these special islands, the most northerly of the Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago, which sits about 1,000km (620 miles) off the coast of Ecuador. For two weeks, I lived at sea on a 22-metre (71ft) diving yacht with 12 scientists and crew. Every day, while we were scuba diving, freediving and working from inflatable boats, we were constantly surrounded by wildlife. Green sea turtles popped their bald heads above the waterline. Sea lions waved their flippers in the air as they lazed at the surface. Flocks of boobies flew alongside us while we zoomed around on boats and seemed determined to try to land on our heads.<\/p>\n
I had gone on this adventure to tell a story: that of the epic migrations of scalloped hammerhead sharks<\/a>, a critically endangered species that aggregates in huge numbers at Darwin and Wolf Islands. Pregnant females swim more than 1,000km from the Gal\u00e1pagos back to the mainland to give birth in the mangrove forests of Panama.<\/p>\n After more than 20 years of marine research and reporting around the world, this was my first time encountering a hammerhead shark. Seeing dozens at a time was an exhilarating reminder that there\u2019s still so much to care for and protect in our ocean.<\/p>\n The team I was accompanying weren\u2019t solely focused on scalloped hammerheads, but the wider marine ecosystem too. We spent long days motoring around the islands, lowering waterproof cameras into the sea then hauling them back up hours later. Scuba divers pushed cameras on horizontal paths underwater. The team does this work in the same places year after year.<\/p>\n One of the team is Katherine Rezabala, an Ecuadorian marine biologist. Back at the research station, she\u2019s in charge of analysing the video footage, counting, identifying and measuring every fish that swims by. She\u2019s been doing this for two years and has learned to recognise more than 50 species of teleosts, a bony fish. I saw proud tears in Katherine\u2019s eyes as she told me how she felt diving off Darwin and Wolf Islands knowing every single species around her. \u201cEveryone else is looking at the sharks,\u201d she told me. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the teleosts.\u201d<\/p>\n Long-term monitoring of this kind may not be as glamorous as tagging hammerhead sharks with satellite trackers, but Katherine\u2019s work is crucial for understanding how this region of the ocean is changing. The Gal\u00e1pagos are naturally turbulent, with mingling currents of cold and warm water. I experienced this while I was scuba diving. Sometimes, cooler pools of water shimmered in front of me like a mirage. I swam into them, shivered for a moment or two, then warmed up on the other side. But there are bigger forces at play, altering the conditions in the Gal\u00e1pagos above and below the waves.<\/p>\n You may have read that El Ni\u00f1o is likely returning this year, with far-reaching repercussions for global temperatures and rainfall patterns (for more, read Gabrielle Canon\u2019s explainer<\/a> in Down to Earth back in April). The Gal\u00e1pagos will be at its heart. Cold, upwelling currents that normally bring vital nutrients will diminish as warmer water sweeps in. Forecasts suggest it will be another big one \u2013 the fourth since the 1980s \u2013 and could kill off swathes of ocean life.<\/p>\n The team from the Charles Darwin Foundation will be back at Darwin and Wolf Islands in September to find out how the hammerhead sharks and all the other fish are getting on.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/p>\n Giving guitarfish a chance: one man\u2019s mission to persuade fishers to farm giant snails instead<\/a><\/p>\n Canada endorses embattled marine park\u2019s plan to relocate 30 beluga whales<\/a><\/p>\n