by Anne Penny

Created on: February 15, 2009   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

"The Galapagos isn't that where Darwin ? Hey, perhaps we'll discover a new species!"

That's my daughter's response, when the trip was suggested, last year, and I suppose that's what everybody knows about the Galapagos islands that Charles Darwin, in 1835, visited them, observed and then wrote his, "Origin of the Species" with his theory about evolution
still disputed, and it's the 200th. anniversary of his birth! We didn't find any new ones, but we were utterly entranced by the amazing species of creatures and plants that are there already.

The Galapagos Islands belong to Ecuador
and are about 650 miles west of that country, in the Pacific. They straddle the equator, but aren't as sweaty as you might think. They have 2 distinct seasons: hot and wet [roughly January to May] and dry and cooler for the rest of the year. We visited in April and the green lushness of the vegetation was dazzling; the water was perfect for swimming and snorkeling and the rains were just about over and this was considered "low season!" Prices are more enticing in low season, accommodation on tour boats easier to come by, but the climate is always great, we were told just more tropical, sometimes High season prices and tourist crowds are from mid-June to mid-September and it's quite hard, then, to get a booking as the number of visitors allowed to the islands is strictly limited. Low season suits me!

There are only 4 inhabited islands [out of the 13 large ones that make up the archipelago], and they have hotels of varying degrees of luxury. From the islands, tourists can make day excursions to the various visitor sites, all teeming with the flora and fauna unique to the Galapagos.

We preferred accommodation on a cruise ship; my daughter, Cathy, thought the company would be livelier there. The "Galapagos Eclipse" was one of the smaller ships available, but we never felt at all squashed together and agreed that this was the best way to experience the islands. It wasn't as lively as Cathy envisioned, but we did meet interesting people, from all over the world. All the cruise ships have a number of naturalist guides on board and ours were amazingly knowledgeable and good- humored. They must hear the same questions and jokes on every trip!

What did we come here for? Where to begin my rave about what we saw, without the 1000 photos I took hard to know where to start to describe the huge array of plants and animals we saw close up! The trails from the visitor sites are all rich with fascinating wildlife

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