The Galapagos Islands have been a dream destination for me since I was a young adult. I was drawn to the remoteness, and the thought of animals you can’t see anywhere else being found at this location. I romanticized a bit about Darwin making landfall here and building his theory of evolution and natural selection off his discoveries. I dreamed of walking on volcanic mounds, directly up to animals, and swimming with beings in the remote Pacific. Volcanoes have been on the islands for over 20 million years!
What I didn’t know was that Darwin only spent five weeks here before moving on in his adventures. John and I were lucky enough to experience the rawness of the land, the remoteness of the space, very few humans, and the brevity of wildlife that just don’t care too much at all about mankind. It was a dream come true for John and I!
We had a land-based trip – staying at hotels or air b and bs on islands and taking guided tours daily to nearby islands and dive/snorkel sites. This was the most economical in our opinion, and we were concerned about how we would do on a boat full time. It took us 18 hours to get here, and there are lengthy ferries between the islands. The rough seas are not for the weak. We spent our time snorkeling, kayaking, and hiking.
We flew into Baltra from Quito Ecuador and were able to explore three islands:
- Santa Cruz – the largest island, most populated, and home to the Charles Darwin research center and the wild roaming tortoises that are over 150 years old and enormous. There are about 5,000 living on the island. Here we were able to see the giant tortoises everywhere, as well as some unique marine life. We also explored Bartholome Island. This is also home to the baby tortoise breeding center.
- San Cristobel – the capital island, less populated than Santa Cruz, full of friendly sea lions and sea turtles with tons of snorkeling all around the island Kicker Rock. We were able to swim freely and play in the ocean with the sea lions and sea turtles. There were also baby sharks, octopus, crabs, manta rays, and giant star fish. We saw both blue and red footed boobies here.
- Isabela – the largest island, in a seahorse shape, full of active volcanoes. The island is full of penguins and Blue Boobies unique to the Galapagos, as well iguanas. You can see them all up close and personal. Very few people live on this island, and the roads are all dirt and sand. We were able to see large concentrations of penguins, boobies, giant sea turtles, and sea horses.
About 30,000 live on 5 of the 13 islands. Santa Cruz has 17,000, San Cristobal has 8,000, and Isabela has 2500.
97% of the land is protected by the National Park, which was started in 1959, and you must always travel with a certified park guide. All the islands were crazy beautiful. All the animals were so unique and welcoming to humans, as it felt like we were coming to their home turf…being with them as equals as they freely and kindly showed us their world.
The Galapagos Islands have had their challenges. They have had to eradicate animals that were brought to the island that damaged the terrain and origin species. And they are now dealing with El Nino, causing significant increases in the water temperature which threatens to eradicate the unique Galapagos penguins, as only 600 of them remain in the world. It also has the potential to harm other forms of marine life – iguanas, sea lions, boobies – due to lack of food..
The Galapagos is a place where you explore for the sake of learning, where you watch and listen. A place where you slow down, take it all in, and realize how fragile this ecosystem is.
It is a place that many are fighting to protect, preventing humans from moving to and taking the land of the animals, and everyone that lives here seems at total peace and harmony with this focus. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and be in a place for a short while where it felt like time stood still.
