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We recently experienced a very fantastic and rewarding Galapagos rescue moment. The Galapagos is a humble location that begs you to join; for all our visitors, it is a living laboratory of evolution. This location exudes a genuine sense of life, enabling you to observe its distinct flora and surreal scenery closely. Because we are in such proximity to nature, we can occasionally forget how delicate it is and take it for granted. This time, we had the chance to “give back” to the islands in appreciation for everything they had done for us. To sum up, we were able to return a massive favor to nature!
A Glorious Day in the Stunning Galapagos
On the second day of our Northern Galapagos Islands itinerary aboard the Santa Cruz II, we dropped anchor over at Buccaneer Cove (Santiago Island).
An extensive panga ride down the shoreline to search for several species of rare Galapagos birds and other creatures was the day’s first activity. There are many locations that we visit during this excursion on this specific itinerary where we typically manage to catch a glimpse of some brown noddies, the elusive but cute Galapagos fur seals, the graceful Nazca boobies, and even some frigatebirds. Overall, it’s a fantastic way to see a respectable number of the famous species on our BIG15 list. Our visitors started returning to the ship to prepare for the second activity, which was an exciting snorkeling excursion, after around two hours of exploration!
An Accidental Casualty of Carelessness
Our Naturalist Guide, supervising this final group, abruptly instructed the panga driver to stop the vessel because she had noticed something floating in the water. When the panga driver managed to get close to the immobile item, he saw that it was a Pacific green sea turtle that had become entangled in some fishing line. When the panga came alongside the turtle, it appeared to have given up entirely because it did not swim away.
Upon closer inspection, it was evident that the fishing line had been wrapped around its head and fin. We immediately understood that we had to take action to save this unfortunate turtle. Our panga driver, Xavier, discovered his secret strength and, in one quick move, lifted the trapped turtle out of the water and onto the panga! Working on the turtle while it was submerged was quite awkward and challenging. Get the file here.
When we realized we couldn’t release the turtle with only our heads, our Naturalist Guide radioed our stunning, nearby excursion vessel, the Santa Cruz II, for assistance. After we asked for a knife and some scissors, another panga showed up shortly after with the supplies to assist us in this incredible Galapagos Rescue Moment!
A Galapagos Rescue Moment: The Santa Cruz II Commits Fully
We utilized our new equipment to cut the line and free the turtle, assisted by our guests and now by the two panga drivers. It was a team effort; some visitors held the turtle down while others recorded and snapped images. Click here to download the file.
We struggled for ten minutes to liberate the poor sea turtle, wrangling it with fishing line, rope, and even steel wire before hurriedly putting it back in the ocean. Although sustaining a few injuries, the turtle made an incredible recovery and returned to swimming to the bottom of the sea almost immediately. We all came away from the experience feeling proud of ourselves and thankful that we had the opportunity to assist the natural Galapagos world in solving an issue that we humans had regretfully caused.
The entire Galapagos rescue incident was a depressing reminder of how mighty human acts are in modern times, particularly in a fragile environment like the Galapagos. Even if humans may be careless with the garbage we produce, we nevertheless have a responsibility to make amends when our actions negatively impact the environment and to exercise caution going forward.
