What a special place!
We had heard or read many accounts that the Galapagos Islands were
overrun by tourists and the environment was degraded. In our experience, that simply isn’t
true. It is probably the most pristine
area we have ever visited, to the point where it’s impossible to find litter or
to see tourists out of your group.
Nearly all of the islands, excluding a couple of towns
within them, are in a highly-regulated national park system. Only 5% if populated or in agriculture.
The Baltra Island airport and immigration employees commute
1.5 hours each way every day to and from, Guayaquil, Ecuador on the
mainland. The park authorities strictly
control the timing of the boats so that there that any given island, cove, or bay
there are just a few visitors at any one time.
All island landings are either ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ by Zodiac rafts, and all
visitors must be accompanied by a naturalist, all of whom are excellent. No food or ‘nature calls’ to the bushes are
allowed. It’s impossible to find a scrap
of litter on the ground or to hear the drone of a helicopter tour above.
About the size of Nevada, the islands straddle the
equator. They are the result of volcanic
activity, the most recent major flow was only five years ago, and we got to
walk over its beautiful blackness and designs. Except for the highlands, most
areas get three inches of rain per year.
The variety and contrasts of each island and the parts of them are
beautiful and stunning. We get the sense that we are in the midst of a living
geologic, ecological, and natural selection laboratory.
Our days consist of a hike and snorkeling each morning and
afternoon. Each day gets better than the last and the
animals we see get bigger. The main
attraction is the unique animals, who aren’t afraid of us. Some people really go nuts over the unique
vegetation, the geology, or the 13 species of Darwin Finches, but we most loved
the big critters, like the giant tortoises, seals, iguanas, sea lions, marine
iguanas, pelicans, and Ron’s favorite—the boobies (as in blue-footed
seagull-like birds).
 |
| Boobies! |
The snorkeling isn’t all that spectacular as far as
beautiful coral and colorful fish go.
However, it’s quite a thrill to see sharks, colossal sting rays, marine
iguanas, penguins zooming by or to swim with sea lions and within a herd of giant
turtles with shells three-feet across, soaring gracefully in the water like a
bird flies through air. Some of them
even touched us.
Our ship, The
Galapagos Legend, is the largest in the islands, with 84 passengers aboard,
and with no casinos, professional live entertainment, or typical cruise
formalities. We’ve met some interesting
people from all over the world, and we’ve particularly enjoyed the Aussies in
our 14-person raft all five days. The
food is good and overly-plentiful, the bar is always open, and conversation and
eating are the main shipboard activities.
And there is always a lecture of some sort or the ever-popular siesta
option.
And as far as the entire trip went, it was a great group of people. We've made new friends and enjoyed each other's very interesting and jovial company. Vantage, the tour company, and Leyles Gutierrez the on-the-ground program manager, really went out of the way to remove a lot of the friction of traveling in this part of the world and to find ways for us to connect culturally and to know what really goes on beneath the surface.
Machu Picchu had an instant WOW factor. But the Galapagos did as well, over a five-day period. The Galapagos Islands have been on our bucket list for
nearly two decades, and we’re grateful that we finally got the wonderful
opportunity to experience them. They
exceeded our expectations, and it was worth the wait!
Now we re-enter the fast-paced technological and wired world
we left behind. Home Tuesday evening.
