The Galapagos Islands

Megan:
Where to begin? I think Amazing would be a good start. It truly is a place unlike any other - a wildlife paradise. Jon and I decided that if we were going to take the financial plunge to visit the Galapagos Islands then we wanted to do it right - on and eight-day cruise with an impressive itinerary to the islands with some of the best wildlife. After visiting a number of travel agents, we decided the Nemo II would be our vessel of choice. And what a good choice it was - a beautiful 14 passenger catamaran sailboat complete with a sun deck, three gourmet meals a day, bedrooms you could stand up and walk around in, each with a private bathroom. This yacht was leaps and bounds beyond anything we could have imagined based on our other two boating experiences this year. And yet again, we were lucky to be paired with a great group of international travelers.

Most days we would begin with a delicious breakfast and a briefing on the day's activities from our knowledgeable guide, Mauricio. Our mornings would typically consist of a casual guided hike on whichever amazing island we had woken up at that day, followed by some snorkeling. After lunch (and usually a nap) the crew would navigate to our next destination and we would explore a new island and a new snorkeling site in the afternoon. I know...pretty tough life.

Most of the islands are uninhabited and all of them have evolved independently from the other each with their own unique variations of cactus, mangrove, iguana, tortoise, or whatever species happened to evolve there. It's no wonder Darwin used the islands to develop his theories on evolution - adaptation is everywhere you look. The park service and the Darwin Research Center has been working for decades to cleanse each island of the influences of humans, which in most cases mean irradicating any introduced plants and animals so that only the original endemic species remain. Due to the reasearch work and vigorous protection programs, the animals in the Galapagos have developed a level of comfort with the presence of humans. They have not been given any reason to fear us, so we were able to get incredibly close to them. From just inches away we were able to watch blue footed boobies engaged in courting rituals, magnificent frigates sitting on a nest of newly hatched chicks, iguanas basking in the sun, and baby sea lions crawling across the beach probably on one of their first solo adventures.

Although our time on land was fascinating and quite beautiful, I think the highlight of this trip for both Jon and I was our time in the water. Unlike the corral reefs we became familiar with in the Caribbean, all of the islands in the Galapagos are formed by volcanic activity so most of what we saw underwater were hardened lava formations. This created a more subtle backdrop for the spectacular animal activity we were able to witness. Swimming with playful sea lions was an unbelievable sensation. We made a game out of imitating each other twisting and turning or blowing bubbles while coasting through the water. The sea lions seemed to be just as excited as we were to have new underwater playmates. We also got to watch Humboldt penguins soar through the water and blue footed boobies (a unique bird that is famous in the Galapagos) powerfully dive into the water for their next fish dinner. Colorful fish, eagle rays and sting rays were abundant as were white and black tip sharks, Galapagos sharks, and Jon had to opportunity to swim with some menacing 3-meter hammerhead sharks as well.

We both feel so grateful to have been able to experience such a magnificent and unique part of the world.