The revillagigedo islands - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 140

TIME ASHORE
With the live-well on El Navegante almost full, we decided to take a
little time o¤ from collecting to explore the island. On the west side
of Socorro there's a beautiful high rock archway, beyond which is a large
lagoon. This lagoon had the richest growth of coral we'd seen on So-
corro, with an abundance of happily grazing parrotfish.
Tr ue coral reefs don't occur on the western sides of continents but
are found only on eastern shores and around islands throughout the
central Pacific and Indian Oceans. The reason is simple: For healthy
growth of coral to occur, water temperatures must remain relatively
high and stable throughout the year. Yet along the western coasts of
continents, upwelling brings cold water up from the depths at peri-
odic intervals. This upwelling no doubt limits the profuse growth of
coral on these shores and adjacent islands like Socorro.
The lagoon behind the rocky arch, however, was shallow, and be-
cause of the narrow entrance there was limited exchange of seawater
with the outside ocean. It was therefore considerably warmer than the
waters outside, which perhaps explains why the coral growth there was
so abundant. The lagoon was ringed by a beautiful sandy beach, be-
yond which grew trees and brush. Everywhere we looked among the
trees were bright red land crabs ( Gecarcinus planatus ).
Hidden among the trees we found a long-abandoned cot made of
driftwood lashed together with strands of vine. Although it looked very
old, there was no way to tell when it was built; everything ages so rapidly
in the humid atmosphere of the tropics. Carved on one piece of the
wood cot was the name “José.” José may well have built this bed to
keep himself out of the reach of the nocturnal land crabs. We won-
dered what his story might have been. Was he a shipwrecked fisher-
man whose boat sank, or perhaps a deserter from the lonely military
garrison on the other end of the island? José's story remains a mystery.
Seeing this old cot brought to mind the account of the California
Academy of Sciences' research schooner, the Academy, that hit the rocks
of this island and went down in a storm in the 1920s. All on board sur-
vived, but they were marooned on Isla Socorro until they were rescued
by the U.S. Navy months later. They survived by eating fish and par-