Biology Reference
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rots. After seeing how common the land crabs were, I'm sure they may
have tried eating them too. However, this type of red land crab is re-
ported to store in its tissues the toxic alkaloids from the plants it eats.
Perhaps the color is a red flag that says, “Don't eat me.”
Every day since we'd arrived, the volcano at the highest point of the
island, Mt. Evermann (named after Barton W. Evermann, the former
director of the California Academy of Sciences), had been actively re-
leasing wisps of steam or smoke. From the boat, we judged the moun-
tain to be about two thousand feet high. One day two of the younger,
more adventurous—and maybe more foolhardy—members of the team,
Kym Murphy and “Muggs” Carlton, decided to climb to the top and
check it out. We dropped them ashore at six in the morning with some
food and their canteens of water. The plan was to pick them up at the
same place that afternoon. At the appointed time, however, there was
no sign of them. Only after a while did we spot two tiny figures quite
a way up the side of the island: they were still coming down.
Finally our two scratched-up, footsore climbers arrived at the shore
and exhaustedly clambered aboard the Zodiac. Their little outing turned
out to have been quite an ordeal. What from the boat looked like sparse,
low shrubbery was in fact tall, dense brush, which Murphy and Carlton
had had to force their way through both going up and coming down.
Our estimate of the mountain's height was also a serious misjudgment:
we found out later that the mountain is not 2,000 feet but actually 3,700
feet high. On reaching the volcano crater, they verified that the wisps
we'd noticed were, in fact, hot steam. Surrounding the steaming vent
were numerous land crabs that had ventured too close and been cooked
by a sudden blast of steam. All in all, the duo's adventure sounded a bit
much, and I was sure glad I hadn't gone with them.
HOMEWARD BOUND
The weather had been excellent at the start, which meant we were able
to anchor
El Navegante
close in to the island and collect much of the
time by diving right o¤ the big boat. Unfortunately, this didn't last.
Soon the wind picked up, to the point where the skipper didn't feel
safe anchored so close to the rocky shore. Wisely, he moved the boat
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