After months of planning, we’ve finally boarded the Avianca flight from Quito to the Galapagos Islands for an adventure thirty years in the making. I can remember reading Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species in high school and being incredibly fascinated by his extraordinary journey on the HMS Beagle in the early 19th century. After decades of dreaming of this wildly foreign land replete with giant tortoises, boastful birds and playful sea creatures, I am finally getting the opportunity to explore The Galapagos on my own. With a well worn, dogeared copy of the book tucked into my backpack, I am giddy with excitement.
Craters & Tunnels
The Galapagos Islands were formed over millions of years by a series of violent volcanic eruptions, so it’s no surprise the landscape is riddled with lush, verdant hills and deep craters. We set out on foot for a closer look, hiking on dirt paths past giant ferns and towering trees. Here, the weather shifts on a dime. Clear and sunny one minute, windy, cold and cloudy the next. Our guide, Andres, is enthusiastic and friendly, a walking encyclopedia of everything Galapagos and we are shy about peppering him with questions. He tells us about the rigorous course of study and series of exams it takes to become a Galapagos guide and how preference is given first to Galapagos natives, then to those who marry Galapagos natives. Even if we see nothing else on the island, I am beyond thrilled with the knowledge he imparts on us. But then, he asks if we’d like to climb down into a complex series of volcanic tunnels. Yes, of course! It is in that very moment I realize we are on our very own epic adventure of Darwinian proportions.
Lonesome George
We venture into Puerto Ayoro to visit the famed Charles Darwin Research Station. Founded sixty years ago, the station is a leading scientific research hub dedicated to driving conservations efforts in the Galapagos. The center is home to many species of indigenous baby giant tortoises, all lovingly tagged and carefully observed. We walk into the only air-conditioned enclosed room at the research station and I catch my first glimpse of Lonesome George. Lonesome George was the very last giant tortoise from Pinta Island, passing away in 2012 at the tender old age of 100. He was carefully preserved in the US and then returned to his home at the center for all to enjoy.
Amazing Creatures
The Galapagos are full of amazing land and sea creatures, great and small, many of which exist only on these remote islands. Our travels take us to to a handful of border islands around Baltra. As we’re nearing one of the islands, I catch a glimpse of black volcanic rocks that appear to be covered with deep flamed hued moss. Moving closer, we realize they are crabs, thousands of bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs, scurrying across the rocks and sand. A little later in day, we happen upon a colony of playful sea lions, the proud fathers teaching their young pups to surf. They would swim out forty feet from the shore and wait for the right wave to carry them straight onto the beach. We learn first hand that the males were dominant and territorial when one of the larger males surfs onto the shore and chases us a few hundred feet up the beach. Nature at play.
Mating Season
The birds of the Galapagos prove to be one of the highlights of the trip. Our two personal favorites are the Blue Footed Boobies with their long beaks and cerulean-hued webbed feet and the Magnificent Frigate birds with their enormous ruby red air sacs. We are visiting in May, prime mating season, and we are thrilled to catch a glimpse of these rare birds and possibly bear witness to their obscure and animated rituals. Here we are, our tiny group of five, on nature’s stage surrounded by hundreds of birds in their indigenous habitat. It isn’t long before the show begins. The male Boobies invite a single suitor to dance, first stomping from foot to foot, then bowing their chests, and finally raising their heads and spanning their wings. If the female is interested, she follows suit and the two swoon together in a sweetly syncopated rhythm. The male Frigate birds offer up a slightly more aggressive show, flocking around a single female and competing for her eye by puffing out their red air sacs and making a raucous cacophony of shrill cackles and caws.
Our time in the Galapagos Islands proves to be so much more than we ever expected and my mind once again returns to Charles Darwin and his voyage on the HMS Beagle.
Nearly two hundred have passed, yet these remote islands still feel as though very little has changed.