3.15.2013
Back to El Rancho Chato today to clean up leads. A couple of our team took a rest day to visit the beach and do a bit of snorkeling. The rest of the team arrived at the ranch and split in to two teams. Bob, Rick T., and Eli returned to Chato Uno and Chato Dos to finish the survey there. Aaron, Theo and Rick H. returned to Tuneles de los Piratas to finish surveying the tourist section of the cave for the owners.
The day started normal enough for both teams. Bob's team finished up Chato Uno while Aaron's team finished up Piratas before noon. Rick and Aaron spent about 45min taking photos in the cave, while Theo exited and arranged for us to visit other caves on the same ranch. When the teams exited, the rains had returned.
Bob's team hiked up slope to Chato Dos and picked up the survey from the day before. They were able to add about 200m to the 216m Batgirl's team surveyed the day before. This added to the 130m they surveyed in Chato Uno made for a full day;s work. Both of these caves have some vertical areas, requiring additional time to navigate and survey.
After my team finished Piratas, we met with the son of the ranch owner and he drove us to some nearby tubes on the other side of his ranch. The ride in his truck could warrant it's own blog post, or maybe even a feature length movie. All that said, we did arrive safely and he pointed us in the direction of the caves. We walked along a path with giant tortoises grazing and found the cave entrances with no difficulty. The up flow cave was said to be only 20m long, so we started the survey there. That's when the sky opened up. I literally watched the water flow in to the entrance of this 4m tall lava tube increase 5x while I stood there and sketched. The rain continued to pour. We made a dash across the floor of the sinkhole to the second entrance only to find it was taking water as well. Rick tried twice to get a GPS reading on the entrance, but it was raining so hard that he could not see the screen.
We continued the survey in to the down flow cave and the water increased another 3 fold by the time we reached the bottom of the entrance, I had a suspicion that something was not right. I could tell that the water was starting to pool around the bottom, but I also knew that there was another entrance to the tube some 120m ahead. I decided to go take a look.... I made it about 30m when I was stopped by a rapidly flooding passage. Yes, lava tubes can flood. and it can happen quickly. When I arrived, I began timing the rise with my watch and determined that the water was rising about 1cm/minute. Add to that the fact that substandard electrical wiring was now submerged, and it was an easy call to end the survey.
We backtracked to find that the entrance we had come from was now contributing enough water to flood a short section of the passage between us and the entrance. We were easily able to skirt this pool, but decided that we should call it a day and retreat to the building to dry off. By this time everyone was soaked through. Still it rained. We hiked back in along trails that had become rivers of muddy water. All of it pouring in to the cave in various places.
Once we were back at the building, we began trying to dry off and wait for our ride, still 2hrs away. We had made arrangements to be picked up at 4pm thinking we would finish the survey of these lava tubes. Once the ranch owner arrived, he told us that part of the road had washed out and that he had never seen this much rain at once in his 40yrs of living on the ranch. A historic rain event for Galapagos, and we got to be a part of it. Lucky us!
Overall the teams did finish the survey of three caves today, bringing the expedition total to just over 6.5km
Back to El Rancho Chato today to clean up leads. A couple of our team took a rest day to visit the beach and do a bit of snorkeling. The rest of the team arrived at the ranch and split in to two teams. Bob, Rick T., and Eli returned to Chato Uno and Chato Dos to finish the survey there. Aaron, Theo and Rick H. returned to Tuneles de los Piratas to finish surveying the tourist section of the cave for the owners.
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| The view from El Rancho Chato (Isla Pinzon in the background) |
The day started normal enough for both teams. Bob's team finished up Chato Uno while Aaron's team finished up Piratas before noon. Rick and Aaron spent about 45min taking photos in the cave, while Theo exited and arranged for us to visit other caves on the same ranch. When the teams exited, the rains had returned.
 |
| Rick Haley in the non-tourist section of Piratas |
 |
| Braided tube in the tourist section of Piratas |
Bob's team hiked up slope to Chato Dos and picked up the survey from the day before. They were able to add about 200m to the 216m Batgirl's team surveyed the day before. This added to the 130m they surveyed in Chato Uno made for a full day;s work. Both of these caves have some vertical areas, requiring additional time to navigate and survey.
After my team finished Piratas, we met with the son of the ranch owner and he drove us to some nearby tubes on the other side of his ranch. The ride in his truck could warrant it's own blog post, or maybe even a feature length movie. All that said, we did arrive safely and he pointed us in the direction of the caves. We walked along a path with giant tortoises grazing and found the cave entrances with no difficulty. The up flow cave was said to be only 20m long, so we started the survey there. That's when the sky opened up. I literally watched the water flow in to the entrance of this 4m tall lava tube increase 5x while I stood there and sketched. The rain continued to pour. We made a dash across the floor of the sinkhole to the second entrance only to find it was taking water as well. Rick tried twice to get a GPS reading on the entrance, but it was raining so hard that he could not see the screen.
We continued the survey in to the down flow cave and the water increased another 3 fold by the time we reached the bottom of the entrance, I had a suspicion that something was not right. I could tell that the water was starting to pool around the bottom, but I also knew that there was another entrance to the tube some 120m ahead. I decided to go take a look.... I made it about 30m when I was stopped by a rapidly flooding passage. Yes, lava tubes can flood. and it can happen quickly. When I arrived, I began timing the rise with my watch and determined that the water was rising about 1cm/minute. Add to that the fact that substandard electrical wiring was now submerged, and it was an easy call to end the survey.
 |
| Rapid flooding in 2m tall lava tube. (Note electric lights becoming submerged) |
We backtracked to find that the entrance we had come from was now contributing enough water to flood a short section of the passage between us and the entrance. We were easily able to skirt this pool, but decided that we should call it a day and retreat to the building to dry off. By this time everyone was soaked through. Still it rained. We hiked back in along trails that had become rivers of muddy water. All of it pouring in to the cave in various places.
 |
| Rainwater entering lava tube. |
Once we were back at the building, we began trying to dry off and wait for our ride, still 2hrs away. We had made arrangements to be picked up at 4pm thinking we would finish the survey of these lava tubes. Once the ranch owner arrived, he told us that part of the road had washed out and that he had never seen this much rain at once in his 40yrs of living on the ranch. A historic rain event for Galapagos, and we got to be a part of it. Lucky us!
 |
| 1/2 meter of water covering the road heading out. |
Overall the teams did finish the survey of three caves today, bringing the expedition total to just over 6.5km
Stay safe! Remember that some of the team are not willing swimmers (and you all have to breathe).
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