"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 found nowhere else in the world; we saw a great many birds, including the finch species observed by Darwin and the boobies with amusing, blue, flipper-like feet. We witnessed the amazingly noisy dance of the courting wave albatross, which congregate only on the island of Espanola; we were taken to see the frigate birds inflate their bright-red throat pouches to attract the females. I'm sure it's effective you can see them from miles away! I don't know how long it takes them to learn the steps, but it they certainly have a very complex dance routine Almost every site trail was a bird-watchers paradise, some of the birds so unfamiliar that we just had to believe the guide when he told us we were seeing whimbrels and turnstones
We went to watch sea turtles and land iguanas hatching, which was thrilling though I did feel a bit like a voyeur, watching such an intimate moment of new life. We didn't witness the birth of a giant tortoise, on Santa Cruz, but the great creatures are a staggering size and can weigh up to 250kg. Sadly, they are very endangered, some of the species, in particular. Apparently, they can make quite a noise, especially when they're mating but we couldn't get a word out of any of them.
The sea life is, perhaps, our favorite memory of the Galapagos. We swam with 300 different species of fish [ we didn't count them it's a "fact"] in the waters around the islands. Early,one morning, there were sea lions, turtles and penguins in the water near us, and on the beach, watching us with a scornful look, was a lovely marine iguana. I was quite glad that he didn't decide to join us for a frolic in the waves! A really amazing fact, that you quickly realize, is that these creatures are, none of them, at all scared of people. They just accept us as part of their environment and seem quite curious about US! We were utterly charmed by all the animals, land and sea, that we met in our all-too-brief stay in the Galapagos.
There is land area of about 8000 sq. kilometers, but you can't just go where you please. Only the sites designated are available for visiting and there is tight control of numbers of visitors, so as to protect the area. However, the sites certainly offer the sights
wildlife is all on show, all through the year.
Much of the flora is also unique to these islands, and each has evolved its own endemic species. The guides are walking encyclopedia of both flora and fauna, each visitor site we were taken to was different and each day brought wonderful discoveries.
Yes, we long to return, but I think that, before I visit the Galapagos again, I must read a lot about it so that I'll be more prepared to appreciate and understand the vast diversity of life that is there.