Galapagos: A Trip through the Ages

Susannah and I met when we were students at Yale 29 years ago and became the best of friends. We have remained so over the years. But it still came as a complete bolt from the blue when she wrote to me asking if I would consider going with her to a trip to the Galapagos. She reminded me of a conversation we had at college, when she had asked me what my dream destination was and I had said The Galapagos, without a second thought.  Never did I believe that I would actually get there. I did say yes, but with some anxiety about the distance and the cost. Fortunately, I had a trip to the US coming up and if we planned well, I would be at least half way there. Susannah promised to look out for a reasonable and reliable tour company that would take us there. Several hundred emails back and forth… and it seemed like it was really going to happen!

The Naturalist’s Mecca

The Galapagos is an archipelago of three main islands, six smaller ones and several hundred rocky islets located about 1000 km west of Ecuador on the South American coastline; the archipelago straddles the equator, and lies at the confluence of four major ocean currents.  The islands are a product of some of the most active volcanic activity on the planet. Volcanic eruptions still continue; in the last 200 years over 60 eruptions have been recorded from the islands, the last one in 2005. The islands are in a state of constant flux, some continue to move, and some sink, while others are in the process of being formed. 

For a naturalist, the Galapagos Islands are the ultimate ‘mecca’-- the revered land and its inhabitants that helped Charles Darwin put forth the theory of evolution. For others, it is a mysterious location with exotic wildlife.

It is ironic that the islands, which inspired Charles Darwin to contemplate the theory of evolution, shaking the very foundation of Christianity, were actually discovered by the Church. This was an accidental occurrence when, in 1535, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain instructed the Bishop of Panama to sail to Peru and settle some disputes there. Unfortunately ocean currents led the ship to some islands that were not known before, and the Bishop wrote an account of these islands with great wonder. It is not clear if it was the Bishop who named these islands, but the name Galapagos emerged somewhere in his writings. Galapagos in Spanish means ‘saddle’ and the name seems to refer to the shape of the shells of the giant tortoises that inhabit these islands.

Nearly 250 years after their discovery, the islands came back into focus when word spread about the abundance of whales in these waters; the islands were then plundered by whalers. This was followed by decades of attempts to colonize these islands, more plunder of wildlife, and finally the Second World War. What prevented sustained human settlements on these islands for several hundreds of years until after they were discovered was the shortage of fresh water.

Young Charles Darwin got his first glimpse of the islands on September 15 1835 when his ship HMS Beagle dropped anchor on what is today called the island of San Cristobal. He spent five weeks on these islands; and was fascinated by their geology and the life these harboured. What he saw there, and collected, laid the foundation for his theory of evolution and the origin of species.

Contrary to popular belief, the bird that triggered his imagination about variation within a species was not the finch but the non-descript mocking bird that, as he recounted in his journal, came and sat on the rim of his teacup and dipped its beak in. As he traveled through the islands he noticed that this bird had beaks of different sizes and shapes on different islands. He wondered if this was somehow related to evolution.

182 Years On (After Darwin): Going to Galapagos

There are two ways of visiting the Galapagos. One is to take a cruise boat with stops at various islands. The high-end tourist cruises include first class guides and interesting interactions throughout the cruise. Susannah and I chose a relatively cheaper mode of ‘island hopping’ and designed our own itinerary along with our travel company, Sharksky Tours.

The first ‘hop’ involved flying to Guayaquil on mainland Ecuador, and then into Baltra (the island with the airport) in the Galapagos. Nothing quite prepares as you leave the airport, What meets the eye is very dry terrain with cliffs of black lava rock and bizarre looking cactus trees. We wonder where all the rich wildlife that we have read about is?

The Galapagos has indeed a very odd assortment of wildlife, more so because over hundreds of years, both the animals and plants found here have arrived from the mainland through various means of dispersal. And only those that could adapt to the harsh geographic conditions here survived.

Santa Cruz

A bus, ferry and Toyota truck taxi ride later, we are on the island of Santa Cruz.   Santa Cruz is the most central of the five inhabited islands, also with the largest population. For the last 25 years the town of Puerto Ayara on this island has become the main hub for tourists. The National Park headquarters as well as the Charles Darwin Research Centre are both located here.  We go straight to the hotel Posada Del Mar. This charming hotel located in the heart of the town is owned and managed by the very warm and efficient Cecilia. Her family also runs the café downstairs that undoubtedly serves one of the best breakfasts in town. We spent the afternoon and evening exploring the town.

Here was also our first encounter with what are now called Darwin’s Finches. These birds are seen everywhere, and although not particularly attractive, still gave us a thrill to see what may have been responsible for defining and refining the theory of evolution once Darwin had researched them on his return. These finches are still evolving and this makes it very difficult to specifically identify them.

There are 13 species of Darwin’s Finches on these islands

Isabela

 After an early breakfast the next day we head to the island of Isabela. Boats are the only way to commute between islands.

A two-hour boat ride later as we stepped onto Isabela island, we perhaps experienced a fraction of what Charles Darwin may have witnessed almost 200 years ago. The sight on the beach and walkway was unbelievable. Hundreds of marine iguanas were sunbathing on the boardwalk. They simply would not move.

The endemic marine iguana, is quintessential Galapagos. These black iguanas feed exclusively on marine algae and can be found in lying in hundreds on the equally black lava rock, to absorb as much of the sun as they can.

The only marine lizard in the world

On the beach lay several sea lions, once again quite undeterred by human beings. They seek body contact and hence the large groups found on beaches. They can be quite endearing to watch, as they lie on the beaches and swim in the water, barring the smell these large congregations emanate!

Sea lions congregate in large numbers  on almost every island

We had been booked at the Isabela Beach House, an enchanting place  on our very own private beach, complete with a natural shallow sea pool to swim in. We settled in and set out for the Tortoise Breeding Centre. Each island has one of these, established by the Charles Darwin Research Centre and the national park authorities to ensure the survival of these incredible creatures. The walk to the Centre and back took us through mudflats with the most beautiful flamingos. These Greater flamingos may have come from the Caribbean over a period of time.

 There are less than 500 flamingos left on the archipelago today

The Galapagos have as much to offer under the ocean, as on the ground; for the water loving tourists, this is indeed a paradise for snorkeling, scuba diving, and kayaking There is an entire world in the depths of the ocean, and only those brave enough to venture underwater are fortunate to see this. However, for the not so brave as me, just standing at the pier gave me a ‘preview’ of the underwater show with white tipped sharks, green turtles and manta rays passing by and tempting me to brave the waters.

 Green Turtle

I did venture to go kayaking.; the primary motivation being to see the Galapagos penguins up close. Despite misgivings, I must confess that I found the experience of kayaking in the open ocean truly exhilarating. The idea of penguins at the equator sounds absurd, but they do exist. The Galapagos penguin is the third smallest penguin in the world and stands at about 30cm tall. Penguins usually make burrows in soft peat, but in the absence of this, on these islands they have taken to living in caves and crevices in the coastal lava.  These ‘pocket’ penguins are intriguing and kayaking gave us a close view of these birds.

This endemic penguin is the only one to nest in the tropics and is found primarily on Isabela island.

The rocks in the open sea are also home to the flamboyantly red, yellow and purple Sally light-foot crabs. They get their name from their ability to jump across pools of water.

The next day, we headed to the Volcan Sierra Negra (1490m), an active volcano that last erupted in 2005. We reach the base after a bone-rattling ride in an open truck (chiva) despite advice against it in the Lonely Planet Guide! We hiked to the rim of the six-mile wide crater and then walked across a landscape of lava fields and fumaroles.  This 5-6 hour walk is quite beautiful with changing scenarios. There are also some spectacular views from the sub crater, Volcan Chico.

Another half- day boat trip takes us to Los Tuneles, also known as Cabo Rosa. Geographically fascinating, it is formed by sections of lava platforms collapsing into the sea creating a series of lava arches and tunnels. The tunnels are home to a range of species such as sea horses, white tip sharks, sea turtles, giant mantas, eagle, sting and golden rays. Los Tunelas is protected from the sea and remains calm. The lava rocks provide the ideal habitat for the famous mascot of the islands, the blue-footed booby. This bird that decorates pretty much every souvenir on the islands, is famous not so much because it is rare but because it is entertaining. Its courtship where the male of the bird performs a dance is indeed worth a watch. It is also very dangerously tame.

A Celebrity Date

We head back to Santa Cruz for our date with one of the celebrity creatures of these islands, the Giant Tortoises.  To see the tortoises in the highlands, we were accompanied by our extremely knowledgeable guide Jimmy. As we climbed, Jimmy pointed out the Scalecia forests, unique to the islands.

Scalecias belong to the daisy family, and have adapted to different vegetation zones across different islands. 

As their name suggests, these giant reptiles weigh up to 270 kg, with the carapace length of 1.22m. Once there were estimated to be over 200,000 tortoises, with probably 14 sub species, distributed on the islands. Today less than 17,000 survive. Between the late 1500s and 1800s, as many as 100,000 were collected as food.

The tortoises are found on what used be farming land, and are now protected by the owners who allow tourists to view them. Truly a sight to behold, and almost unreal to observe these huge animals, peacefully grazing on the one-time farmlands. There are signboards warning tourists against going too close or disturbing the animals, but other than that one is free to follow these tranquil creatures around and take photographs. The tortoises are protected and the erstwhile farmers earn revenue from the tourists. It is a ‘win win’ situation for both.

These charismatic creatures, after whom the islands themselves have been named, are indeed the iconic species found on the islands. The only other place on earth where giant tortoises are found is the island of Aldabra in the Indian Ocean. 

Some of the farms serve special organic coffee while others offer lunch that can be enjoyed while viewing these prehistoric animals. After a sumptuous lunch at the farm, we leave these majestic and yet peaceful creatures rather reluctantly.

Seymour

There are many uninhabited islands in the Galapagos. Tourists are taken on day trips to some of the select ones on a rotational basis. This ensures minimal disturbance to the resident wildlife. A 45-minute boat ride from Santa Cruz takes us to one such island-Seymour Island. As we climbed up the cliff from where the boat dropped us, we saw our first swallow-tailed gull on the ground.

The world’s only nocturnal oceanic gull

Reaching the top and continuing to hike across this island we were greeted by the sight of the stunning prehistoric reptile, the land iguana. There are two endemic species of this iguana on the islands. This yellow orange iguana can reach up to 13 kg and more than 1m in length. It is indeed a sight to behold as the iguana actually holds on to the cactus and chomps on it.

These ferocious looking reptiles are vegetarian and feed primarily on the Opuntia cactus.

We are fortunate to be on Seymour during the mating and nesting season of yet another star, the frigate bird. Of the five species of frigate birds in the world, two are found on here. Frigates have the largest wingspan-to-body ratio of any bird making it extremely agile and acrobatic in flight. But what makes this bird truly magnificent is the male display during its breeding season. Once the male has found a suitable nesting site, over a period of 20 minutes   he pumps air into his bright red throat pouch until it is the size of a large inflated balloon. As a female bird approaches, the male breaks into a shrill cry, along with some vigorous headshaking and vibrating. If the female is suitably impressed she will alight onto the nesting sight and be bonded with the male.

Breeding display of the Frigate bird

  

San Cristobal

This was the end of our planned itinerary with the Sharksky Tours. Susannah and I had however decided to explore one more island on our own before heading back. We chose San Cristobal or Chatham Island. With the opening of the airstrip on San Cristobal, this island has now become another entry point by air to the archipelago. The town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is fast becoming a popular tourist destination. We checked into our quaint hotel, Casa de Nelly run by a local couple and set out to visit the El Junco Lagoon. A short taxi ride brought us to the base, after which we climbed for about 15 minutes or so to reach the rim of this rain-filled crater. The lake itself was shrouded in mist and clouds.

Punta Pitt

On our last day on San Cristobal, we took the trip to Punta Pitt an island that offers the sighting of all the three species of booby. Any tour taken on the islands cannot be done unaccompanied and one has to be part of a group to go anywhere. Tour agencies ensure that individuals, who are not part of a group, are attached to a particular group going on a particular day and time. En route to Punta Pitt, we passed the celebrated tall rocks of Leon Dormido.

 Leon Dormido: Named for the rock formation that resembles a sleeping lion 

We had a wet landing on Punta Pitt and were greeted by the usual groups of slumbering sea lions. To see the red-footed boobies, we embarked on a steep climb on a narrow path among the cliffs. During the hike we saw several pairs of blue-footed boobies nesting on the ground and finally, the red-footed booby perched on a tree.

The Red-footed Booby

View from the top Spectacular view from the top, made more so by the reddish carpet of sea purslane, a common perennial found across sea coasts

  Sailing past the imposing structure of Leon Dormidos against the setting sun we bid farewell to the islands themselves as we would head back to Santa Cruz the next day and fly back to mainland Ecuador from there.

The Galapagos are special and are capable of filling visitors with the same kind of awe that perhaps Charles Darwin and many before and after him felt when they visited.

The nature lover and wildlife enthusiast will not be disappointed as each day brings new and special surprises. Blue seas and spectacular lava formations add to the beauty of the place.  For me, nearly 200 hundred years after Darwin it was indeed a trip through the ages. This was indeed a ‘Once in a lifetime’ trip, and all I can say is, “Thank you Susannah, for making it happen’.