The Galapagos Islands are a crossroads in the Pacific where several features of nature came together to create an unusual sanctuary. Volcanoes erupted forming about a dozen main islands and numerous smaller ones. Water currents from the south and west brought unusual species and rich food supplies. And the islands’ location, 650 miles off the coast of South America, has kept them secluded.
As a result of this isolation, many of the creatures that call these islands home exist nowhere else in the world. A fact not lost on Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who visited these islands in 1835. His observations here fueled his theory of natural selection, which led many years later to his writings on the origin of species.
Like Darwin, we found something unexpected around nearly every corner. Marine iguanas — the only ones in the world — can hold their breath for an hour to feed on sea algae. The cormorant, the only flightless seabird in the world, dines on small fish that it swims out to capture. And the Galapagos tortoise — the name Galapagos is Spanish for tortoise — is the largest in the world, with some tipping the scales at more than 500 pounds. And whether bird, tortoise, iguana or sea lion they appear to be unafraid of us, allowing us to come within several feet.
We expected to see unusual animals, but even the landscape varies from island to island, offering carpet-soft beaches, moonscape-like cliffs and an island covered with blackened lava and hundreds of even blacker iguanas. And, depending on the island and the sky, the Pacific Ocean varies in shade from deep gray to blue and green, and even turquoise.
My husband, Gene and I, along with our 13-year-old grandson, Akio, recently spent a week here on the passenger ship Eclipse, having fun and learning from Darwin’s colorful classroom.
The Eclipse can accommodate 48 passengers and sails most of the year close to full capacity. About a third of the passengers on our trip were kids, several of them traveling with their grandparents. Most passengers were from the United States; a few were Brits and Canadians. The Eclipse has some of the roomiest cabins in the Galapagos, knowledgeable and friendly guides and bountiful food. All meals are served buffet style with open seating.
Onboard, we were introduced to the Galapagos pizza, which became an instant favorite. It has thin crusts, top and bottom, with tiny bits of ham and onions chopped up for a filling. The pork, whether chops or Ecuadorian “pig leg” was always tasty, as were the seafood ceviches, crunchy salad fixings and ice cream cakes, especially when the midday weather was hot. A cold drink and an appetizer were always waiting when we came back from excursions. The fruit juices were thirst quenching and the best snacks had to be the herbed-crusted chicken wings and tiny cheeseburgers.
Here are some of our favorite Galapagos moments:
CHASING WHALES. Akio’s favorite moment was chasing after whales in a speedboat one late afternoon. We were aboard four pangas — motorized rubber boats — off the pristine island of Fernandina. We were in whale-rich waters, so it didn’t take long before someone spotted a whale’s fin or a blowhole. Shouts rang out and the panga driver floored it, opening the engine’s throttle, the chase was on. According to some of the boys, this always made the girls scream louder. We saw a pair of Bryde’s whales, each the size of a giant dolphin, leap in unison in front of us.
DIVE-BOMBING BOOBIES. The blue-billed, red-footed boobies glide over the water near the beaches in what appears to be a carefree manner. That is, until they eye their prey. Like dive-bombers, the boobies shoot straight down to the water, hit the surface and ascend swallowing some unlucky fish. Theses and other Galapagos seabirds diving for dinner entertained us all.
FEEDING FRENZIES. While on the deck of the Eclipse for lunch, someone spotted a fast moving, silvery carpet shining in the midday sun. As we looked over the railings, we realized that there were more than a half dozen feeding frenzies in the sea all around us. Tens of thousands of foot-long pompano churned up the water and forced smaller fish to the top while seabirds dived overhead looking for a meal. In the sun, these 150-foot long glimmering masses looked like a boiling ocean. When we looked at the edges of the mass, we could see the jumping fish. According to the naturalists onboard, seeing a feeding frenzy in these waters is most unusual and a new sight to many of them.
FUN-LOVING SEA LIONS. The Galapagos Islands are home to some estimated 50,000 sea lions. We saw our first sea lions just hours after arriving on the Eclipse. We watched as two males bellowed at each other, trying to decide who was boss. But it’s difficult to look tough when sea lions move the way they do. They get around by pushing up with their back flippers — those appendages that make them look somewhat like awkward mermaids. Then they move forward by rolling on their stomachs across the sandy beaches. Only in the water, diving and barreling, do they suddenly have the grace of ballerinas.
NESTING FRIGATES AND FINCHES. We entered Genovesa Island from Darwin Bay’s brown beach to find hundreds of nesting birds. Some were a few feet from the ground on leaf-less, stubby bushes; others were earthbound. Many of these birds are not afraid of humans, allowing us to not only see them up close without binoculars, but to approach within a few feet for flash-less photos. This island is home to red-footed and masked boobies, as well as the frigate bird that puffs out a red pouch under his beak to impress the ladies at mating time. This bird paradise is also home to Darwin’s Finches, the birds that played a role in Darwin’s theory on the origin of species.
We booked our travel on the Eclipse with luxury tour company, Abercrombie & Kent. Our 11-day trip in Ecuador included before-and-after stays in Quito’s Swissotel, a Quito day tour, welcome and farewell dinners, and the much appreciated Ecuadorian A&K representative who stayed with our group from the time we met him at the airport on arrival until the time we flew back to the United States.
SIDEBAR: MANAGING A WORLD TREASURE
More than 100,000 visitors come to the Galapagos each year. The number of Ecuadorians who have moved to the islands to work in the tourism industry has increased as well. About 28,000 people now live on about 3 percent of the land. The Galapagos National Park comprises most of the rest. Ecuador has made Herculean efforts to restore, preserve and protect this place. Park service employees control tourism traffic, license guides and determine how many ships carry travelers. We were warned not to touch any animal, nor leave anything behind except footprints in the sand.
The Park Service works hand in hand with the privately funded Charles Darwin Foundation, located on Santa Cruz Island. Graham Watkins, Ph.D., the new executive director, says that the main challenge for the Galapagos today is creating cooperation among all the parties here — the locals, including fishermen who live here and the tourists, government officials, even scientists from around the world who visit. Although this haven in the Pacific is a conservation project still in progress, the islands have overcome obstacles in the past and Watkins is optimistic that this success will continue.
INCIDENTAL INTELLIGENCE:
GETTING THERE:
LAN ECUADOR, www.lan.com, 866-I-FLY-LAN or 866-435-9526. Lan Ecuador is an Ecuadorian company that is a member of the LAN Airline Alliance, which also includes Lan Chile and Lan Peru. It serves destinations in the United States and South America. We flew on Lan Ecuador from New York’s JFK airport to Quito via Quayaquil. The LAN Airline Alliance offers service to 49 cities in 18 countries, not including its numerous code-share agreements with oneworld, American Airlines and others.
ON THE “ECLIPSE”
Abercrombie & Kent, www.abercrombiekent.com, or write to 1520 Kensington Road, Suite 212, Oak Brook, Ill., 60523-2156, 800-554-7016 or 630-954-2944, Fax. 630-954-3324. We booked our trip on the Eclipse with A&K. They offer a variety of luxury travel packages to many destinations around the world, including several Galapagos itineraries for escorted tours, independent travel and tailor made trips.
Eclipse/Ocean Adventures. www.oceanadventures.com.ec, Tel. U.S./Canada Toll Free: 877-262-3496. In addition to booking the 48-passenger “Eclipse,” this company now also charters the “Rachel,” an 85-foot motor sailer, for eight passengers.
THE CHARLES DARWIN FOUNDATION, www.darwinfoundation.org, Puerto Avora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos and Ecuador.
