As regular readers know, I am a long-time attendee of the fantastic skeptical conference series, The Amaz!ng Meetings, put together by diehard (literally) skeptic James Randi and his organization, the James Randi Educational Foundation.
To supplement the meetings, Randi’s group also held a cruise last year to the Bermuda Triangle (which I had to miss because I had previously agreed to attend Dragon*Con). The cruise was such a success that they’re doing another one: to the Galapagos Islands! The cruise is from August 8-18, 2008, and leaves from Quito, Equador.
In Randi’s semi-infinite wisdom, he asked me to be one of the guest hosts. OK, I can’t be sarcastic about this. I’m gonna be a guest host on a cruise to the Galapagos! Woohoo!
An astronomer is necessary on such a cruise, as we’ll be away from almost all artificial lights for several days as we steam to and from the islands. The Galapagos are located almost right on the Equator, which means lots of views of both northern and southern objects. I’m not sure if I can sneak a big ’scope on board, but we’ll figure something out.
Official registration through the JREF has just opened. The total price is $5400 (for a deluxe stateroom — other cabins are more — and this does not include airfare to and from Equador), which is actually quite a bargain for a trip of this magnitude. You’d better hurry: as of this writing, only 43 cabins are left.
This whole thing is being discussed on Randi’s bulletin board. If you want a taste of what the cruise is like, try reading this diary from someone who made it on the same boat. Interestingly, he talks about staying in Quito, and has this to say about a tourist spot directly on the Equator:
The monument, which is located exactly on the Equator line, includes various experiments proving that you are at latitude O’0’0.
Hmmmmm. Sounds like they do some dubious tests with water spinning one way in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern. These tests are notoriously false! I can see I’ll be having some fun during our landfall…
Anyway, stay tuned to Randi’s cruise site to see the latest news.
Hmmm, I almost put this in the category Time Sink, but since it’s a cruise I thought better of it.
June 11th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
That DOES sound like fun!
June 11th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Indeed, I was recently on a cruise in the Galapagos, and two of my fellow passengers had been to the Mitad del Mundo, and described several “experiments” they had been shown. One involved balancing an egg, which I had only heard of as an equinox thing, but I correctly guessed the nature of the “explanation” of what it proves, and there was of course the water draining bit. I think I successfully disabused them of what they had been taught, and I later overheard another passenger who had listened to me explain the low strength of the Coriolis force to yet another passenger, so I guess I did a bit of good!
June 11th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I have also been to Mitad del Mundo just outside of quito. The rub here is this: it is not on the equator! The monument was erected in haste and with poor mathematics, apparently, and it was later figured out that the actual lat 0 is some 1.5 km away. This was many years ago that it all happend, negating fault being taken or accepted by any living person. So, anyone who claims that there is an ‘equator proof’ is automaticaly outted.
I have my picture there…more for the skepticality factor than the ‘look, ma!’ factor.
im off to raise $5400 selling cookies, or something…..
June 11th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Gee Phil, sounds like a tough job but I guess someone has to do it
The trip looks fantastic. My Father, who travelled much of the world in his life, claimed that his trip to the Galapagos was his best ever. I’m sure you’ll have an amazing time. I look forward to reading your exploits on your blog.
If you haven’t already seen it I recommend viewing “Master and Commander” as it has a segment that was filmed on one of the islands and was, I believe, the first non-documentary film done on the islands. Time for you to bone up on some biology for your trip. Maybe PZ Myers can help you
Enjoy
June 12th, 2007 at 2:44 am
1.5 km? That’s nothing. You can show that water drains in different directions either side of the equator with a ‘Pocket Equator’ that can be unfurled in any hall, virtually anywhere in the world. It doesn’t even matter if you align your ‘Pocket Equator’ north-south instead of east-west, you can still fool the forces of physics into thinking that it’s the real thing!
(not the same Rob as earlier, btw)
June 12th, 2007 at 4:10 am
Being poor sucks.
June 12th, 2007 at 5:53 am
The link to the diary page has the characters “boat” at the start of the url, and as such does not work.
J. D.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:31 am
A big scope on board? Even if the ship has great stabilizers, I think you would still have to go onto the land to be able to keep it pointed at a target object.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:26 am
boat + telescope = fail. however Galapagos + telescope = win!
June 12th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Thanks JD. Some cut-n-paste got away from me. Fixed.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I wonder: If you’re spinning around in circles, like dancers at Dead shows, would you be more likely to fall over if you’re at the equator?
I never really understood how those dancers could DO that, for hours at a time.
Gary 7
June 12th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Hold it…how many tons of global-warming-inducing CO2 will be emitted by a cruise like this?
tsk tsk!!
Is there an Al Gore in all of us?
June 12th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
That’s so cool! Have lots of fun!
I wish I could go with you guys. Take many pretty pictures for us
June 12th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Good luck - on our honeymoon (Cruise to the Carribean) I was hoping to see some stars - but despite nice weather during the day at night the sky was almost pitch black with haze.
On the other hand, having the sky and ocean that dark made it feel like there was nothing in the universe except the ship, which was a pretty cool effect.
June 12th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
So Phil, the rocking of the boat aside, what WILL we be able to observe while there? Anything you are looking forward to in particular?
June 12th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Paul Clapham Says: “A big scope on board? Even if the ship has great stabilizers, I think you would still have to go onto the land to be able to keep it pointed at a target object.”
The big Mars mega-opposition in August ‘03 happened to coincide with my in-law’s 50th anniversary. They took everyone on a little cruise (Long Beach to Ensenada and back by way of Catalina). Since Mars was going to be “as big as the moon” I brought my little C90 Celestron and a few eyepieces, but had to make do with my camera tripod. For two nights I went up to the topmost deck available to passengers and set up. The results were better than I expected. The longest eyepiece I had gave me a field-of-view of just under 1°. With a little trial-and-error (mostly error) I managed to get Mars in the field. Yes, it was just a little orange blob, and yes it wandered all over the field, but it didn’t leave the field! A small group gathered, of course and I was able to give quite a few folks their first look through a ’scope, even under these bizarre circumstances.
After a while I was more interested in the amazing stability of the ship than the planet. Imagine 76,000 tons of steel pushing through the water at 12 knots, with a combined pitch and roll of less that +/- 1 degree!
- Jack
June 13th, 2007 at 12:40 am
A scope on a boat? Boats rock in the pacific swells. Not sure how you intend to do any stargazing that way. I lived on the islands for 4 years, and had a simple 6 inch newtonian - very nice views of the southern skies (never did find proxima centauri though!). Just bring a very nice pair of binoculars - great star fields, globular clusters….
Marc Patry, Paris
June 13th, 2007 at 3:48 am
What does a pendulum do at the equator?
June 13th, 2007 at 5:31 am
>In Randi’s semi-infinite wisdom, he asked me to be one of the guest hosts.
As an astronomer, surely you would have encountered enough math to know that “semi-infinite wisdom” is equivalent to “infinite wisdom”.
I’m not disputing the fact, I just think you should have reduced your terms.
June 13th, 2007 at 6:45 am
At 10:00 p.m., Sagittarius will be about 35 degrees above the horizon, far higher than it ever gets from the US. It’s loaded with amazing things to see via binocs, and I will definitely have a pair with me!
For people staying up very late (or getting up very early) just before sunrise, the Magellanic Clouds will be low on the horizon, too. It is a 100% solid dead certainty that i will see them if it’s clear, even if it means partying all night. That’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I put my deposit down last week (#12 on the list). This will be my first cruise and I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll also be my first trip anywhere south of Cabo (I’m in California).
I’ll be sure to bring my binoculars. And a camera. And sunscreen.
June 13th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Ever since the fiasco with the Bahia de Darwin I say no more cruises to the Galapagos. Nature cruise of the century my butt!
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
[…] little bird told me that there are only 8 cabins left on the Amaz!ng Cruise to the Galapagos! This is literally a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and time is running out to secure space on the […]
November 29th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I love to read the posts on this site, but please stop plugging James “The Amusing” Randi’s ventures. Being a skeptic is fine, since I am one as well, but not the for-profit type. Randi may be the market leader in debunking all sorts of paranormal stuff but it doesnt hurt to be a little skeptical towards theoretical scientists as well. In your world its okay to disgrace someone whom experienced something that cannot be explained by science, but if there is a scientist fantasizing about wormholes, suppermassives black holes and other theoretical stuff, then its cool.