Don's Diary

Wednesday
Make four-hour trek to airport to meet parents on their first visit to the Galápagos Islands. Hear that a fuel tanker has been stranded on San Cristóbal island, 50km away. Decide to collect baseline data on shores near the tanker in the unlikely event a spill occurs and we need to document environmental impacts.

Thursday
Abandon everything. Travel by speedboat to San Cristóbal. Circle stricken tanker, which is listing on a bank with a small swell breaking on the side - no big problem. Lay shore transects nearby, count barnacles, seaweed and crabs in quadrats, and snorkel further offshore for counts of sea urchins and fishes. A large male sea lion overseeing a harem cruises the shore at the final site, roaring belligerently. We stand around discussing whether this site is really necessary, while listening to stories of sea lions shredding tourists' legs. My snorkelling companion, Scoresby, 65, declares that sea lions do not worry him and jumps in. After the one tonne behemoth has roared in his face and I see no bodily damage, I gingerly enter the water and start counting. Spend dinner listening to problems in our San Cristóbal branch that need fixing in a fund-free environment.

Friday
Count organisms at a control site 10km away with another bellicose sea lion. Circumnavigate the tanker again. This time it is listing badly, waves are breaking across the deck and oil is leaking - a big problem. Return to the Charles Darwin Research Station for crisis meetings with Galápagos National Parks.

Saturday
Our team collects more baseline data at the island of Santa Fe while I attend meetings about oil, sea cucumbers, fishermen, declining numbers of sharks and tourist operators.

Sunday
Early morning. Leave for Santa Fe to complete transects abandoned when our boat was requisitioned for San Cristóbal. Surprised by Galápagos National Parks boat spraying chemicals. Globs of oil start drifting past. All our "control" sample sites now have some oiling. Try not to think about the oil-sea-water mixture gurgling in my snorkel as I race to finish transects. Continuous meetings during the afternoon. Feel flattened by the press juggernaut.

Monday
Reprieved when tomorrow's meeting with fishermen to decide fishing quotas is postponed. Have breathing space for reports on lobsters and sea cucumbers. Make poor attempt to deal with journalists, including group who slipped in as sea lion scientists, and promised to crucify us for not sending them press permits. A colleague's emails reads: "Just wondered if you or the park service is going to be held responsible for the oil spill. You folks are complicit in this catastrophe. The whole world is watching now. We won't forget either." Sender thanked for support.

Tuesday
Lost day of meetings, emails, fishermen, cranky sea lions and crankier journalists.

Graham Edgar is head of marine science, Charles Darwin Research Station, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.