Another National Park: Galápagos, Part I

I have harbored a lifelong love of national parks. Now I have a new perspective on them after a week in Galápagos National Park. Situated just south of the equator and about six hundred miles west of the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, this archipelago and marine reserve has been protected and administered by the Ecuador National Park Service since 1959. It is now visited by some 150,000 people a year.

One hundred seventy-three years ago Charles Darwin landed on several of those islands, collected specimens, and began to ponder the uniqueness of what he had seen. The same sense of wonder pervades my memories today. The number of species that are endemic only to the Galápagos is truly amazing.

Tour by Boat

Being too "mature" for a do-it-yourself travel experience in an unknown country where we don't speak the language, my husband Bruno and I and four of our close friends used a travel service. I can highly recommend Jen Hamar of Untamed Path for all she arranged for us, from landing in Guayaquil on February 9, 2008, to departure ten days later. I estimate that our boat visited somewhat more than half of the landing spots the national park service allows on the islands.

On our visits to nine of the islands, we were led by two different national park naturalist-guides: Lobo, a veteran of some fifteen years in the islands who is an American originally from New York City, and Galo, a Galápagos native from San Cristóbal. Both were knowledgeable, helpful in every way, and solicitous of our comfort and safety.

We flew from Guayaquil to San Cristóbal airport, where we were met by Lobo and escorted to the boat, our home for seven nights. The brand-new catamaran, Seaman II, had only fourteen passengers (of a possible sixteen). The crew of ten proved to be a group of extremely kind, efficient, and helpful young men, both on and off the boat.

Highlights of Our Trip

Most of the guests enjoyed snorkeling (not my thing) in addition to all the hikes and short walks we took. Without enumerating all the places we went—and it was a very full seven days—I will share the highlights. Since this was the wet season, my pictures are not as bright as those you see in professional books and videos of the area. It was warm but not the oppressive heat you would expect at the equator, probably due to the sea breezes and the cool ocean currents.

Sailing first around tall Kicker Rock, the party landed at Isla Lobos for a rugged introductory hike, where sea lions, frigate birds, pelicans, and bright-red Sally lightfoot crabs (right) abound.

Only one person aboard was truly seasick due to the rough sea the first night out—that was Bruno, who had a truly miserable night. We soon had him set up with a scopolamine patch behind the ear, but too late for that night. Wristbands kept me from seasickness, except for mild queasiness that first night. Others got along okay with bonine pills.

As we cruised between islands during the trip, we alternated between wet and dry landings. A wet landing meant we slid over the inflated side of the dinghy (or Zodiac) into shallow water; a dry landing put us onto a jetty or pier. One of the first wet landings was on Isla Española at beautiful Gardner Bay, dotted with volcanic outcrops in its multihued water, frigate birds, and amazing diving boobies to watch, and lots of sea lions—more even than tourists. It was a different sort of beach time from anywhere else I've been.

I was particularly interested to see part of Isla Floreana, since I had just finished reading the book Floreana by Margret Wittmer, one of the island's few settlers, who lived there from 1931 until her death in her nineties. The sea lions were completely willing to let us walk among them, in fact, we were just more of those boring two-legged creatures that keep showing up in their territory. A morning's excursion took us from Green Beach, covered in sand partly made of crystals of bright green olivine, to Flour Beach (with sand almost as fine as flour). On the way we got acquainted with three plants: an endemic daisy, the palo santo or torchwood tree (see below left for a picture of the flower), and mesquite.

At Flour Beach we just missed seeing the Pacific green turtles returning to the sea after laying their eggs—missed them despite starting our day at 5:45! We did see turtles mating out in the water and tracks (below right) that the females had made when returning to the sea perhaps an hour before. Between these beaches there's a lagoon with a few pink flamingos (at right).

Also on Floreana we visited Post Office Bay, where Lobo was obliged to read through all the addresses on postcards left in a barrel there. A decades-long tradition mandates that everyone look through to find any cards that they can promise to hand deliver to addresses they recognize. Our Italian, English, and Swedish co-passengers were able to take a few.

At the Charles Darwin Research Center in the town of Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz we saw all sizes of tortoises from hatchlings to enormous adults, including Lonesome George, the last of his species, who may be 80 or 90 years old. Here, too, were opportunities for souvenir shopping and for Internet access. This was the port where our new guide, Galo, joined us and where four passengers left us and were replaced with a family of four from Massachusetts. Surprisingly, these were the only other American passengers on our boat besides the four of us from California.

Continued in Another National Park: Galápagos, Part II

CREDITS: All photos on this page are by Janet Chapple and Bruno Giletti.

Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.