Blue Footed Boobies and Darwin’s Finches: a Week in the Galapagos
On the long list of lifetime bucket-list adventures, a trip to the Galapagos always sat quite high and it was one that called to us sooner rather than later as we can’t help but wonder how much longer it will stay the magical, relatively raw place that it is in the face of rising ocean temperatures, increased Chinese fishing pressure and a rapidly expanding tourism industry. With our trip taking us into Ecuador for our volunteer week at La Hesperia, there was no way we could leave without at least a quick hop into the Galapagos! We also happen to have a Mimi who was quite excited to intercept us along the journey when possible, and being a Mimi who is adventuresome, game and loves birds and nature as much as she loves the two boys, it was quickly settled that the 5 of us would venture into the Galapagos together before all flying back to Colorado together for a little snow filled reset. Once that was decided, down the research rabbit hole I dove, trying to surmise the very best way to maximize this once in a lifetime trip. Somewhere between fate and Travel and Leisure, I discovered Quasar Expeditions, a company that specializes in more intimate adventures around South America. The boat we landed upon, the “Evolution”, was a yacht that offered an 8-day tour into the more remote reaches of the Galapagos, able to visit smaller anchorages than some of the larger ships we passed by, offering the ability to engage with the ocean, the animals and the islands in a quiet, more intimate and seemingly incredible way. Our week on the Evolution turned out to be even more awe inspiring than we could have imagined, a truly memorable ‘trip of a lifetime’ in itself.
To try and encapsulate the week into coherent, somewhat concise, story seems almost impossible. Each day was so packed with an intense diversity of experiences and encounters that a single morning walk could fill this entire post. When I take a step back and try to put it into perspective, the thing that stands out the most was the utterly shocking intimacy of the animal encounters. You would be standing feet from a baby sea lion, inches from a giant land iguana or directly in front of a blue footed booby and they were completely nonplussed. It was decidedly hard to keep enough physical distance between yourself and the animals as they would walk right up to you and you’d have to step aside to get out of their way, all the while watching your feet to make sure you didn’t accidentally tread on an indifferent iguana or baby bird. The boat was beautiful, beyond comfortable and utterly luxurious, especially in contrast to our prior week in the Cloud Forest. But what really took the week over-the-top were the crew and the naturalists, each one warm, welcoming and bursting with knowledge about the flora, fauna and history of these enchanted islands.
As with all of these more grown-up adventures we’ve taken so far, perhaps the most rewarding element of the entire trip was watching the boys fall in love with the crew and the crew with the boys, feeling a collective relax in apprehension from the other guests on the boat when they realized that the boys would not ruin their trip by being loud, obnoxious and annoying but would rather prove themselves to be some of the most engaged and curious members of the entire group. The days unfolded in a similar pattern; a wake-up announcement just before 7 for breakfast, followed by a panga ride to whichever island we were anchored alongside to explore the flora and fauna on land. You would look at the seemingly desolate, harsh, volcanic landscape from the boat and it was hard to imagine any life of interest could inhabit it at all, but then you’d spend 2 hours wandering maybe half a mile, completely engrossed and engaged by the veritable richness that each unique location would hold. There were of course Darwin’s finches (now up to 17 endemic species of them) to attempt to recognize as well as Blue and Red Footed Boobies to ogle, remarkably beautiful with their vibrant feet and water-colored beaks, with their silly, cute, bobble-headed waddle and curious gaze. There were 3 different species of land iguanas, each unique in color and pattern that would quite literally pose as you stood inches away taking photos of their mottled scales. There were marine iguanas that would swim in the ocean, tail whipping back and forth powering them through the crystal-clear waters. There were more sea lions than you could ever imagine, that loved playing with you on land and in the water, twirling and whirling and emanating pure joy and playfulness. We explored lava tubes and saw penguins, were dive-bombed while swimming by boobies and pelicans, and had pushup competitions (well, the boys at least) against the lava lizards. We stood feet from the giant tortoise and watched in absolute awe as they munched on grass and slowly lumbered their prehistoric bodies through the grass and trees.
After our morning adventures we would return to the boat for a juice and snack, slather on some more sunscreen and head out for a snorkel. The snorkeling was far and away our favorite part of each day and the thing that surprised us the most. Having recently explored the Great Barrier Reef, we didn’t really think it could get any better. And while the GBR was still much more vibrant in terms of colors and types of coral, the sheer diversity and abundance of life in the Galapagos was astounding. At one point our guide Christine described it as jumping into an aquarium; you couldn’t have put it better. The water was crystal clear with visibility stretching sometimes hundreds of feet and in a one-hour snorkel you would encounter thousands of fish. Whole schools of yellow and grey razor surgeon fish would surround you, or you’d be lost in a swirl of iridescent purple as a school of parrot fish swam by, not taking the time to swim around you but simple swarming you instead as they moved by. We swam with eagle rays and spotted rays, then golden rays and manta rays. There were reef sharks everywhere you looked, some up to 8 feet long, silently gliding past along the bottom. At one snorkel stop the Galapagos Penguins, the only warm water penguins on the planet, were in a fishing frenzy and would dart past with mind blowing speed, twisting and twirling and spinning and playing with one another, and us it felt. At one point Huxley was literally dive bombed by 5 different penguins and was laughing and sputtering and wildly swirling trying to see which would come next. We swam with hammerhead sharks and Galapagos sharks which were unnervingly majestic and magical. One day, after loading back into the panga after our snorkel, the captain radioed that a pod of dolphins were up ahead and our panga raced to catch them, finding ourselves in a pod of at least 500 dolphins, all jumping and spinning, flying through the air and surfing the wake off our panga, playing with us for nearly an hour as we whooped and squealed, pointed and laughed, completely transported to an utter childhood joy that only dolphins can induce. Even compared to all the other incredible experiences we had with these special animals since we left Colorado, this one will forever stand out above the rest.
We would then return to the boat for a multi-course lunch, often with dessert and a beer or glass of wine daily, before embracing the Ecuadorian tradition of siesta during the hottest part of the day. The summertime sun at the equator is no joke and even though we weren’t ‘exercising’ at all and eating three giant indulgent meals a day, we were all thoroughly exhausted from the sun and the excitement of each morning. The afternoons would then frequently bring us back to land for another walk. These became another favorite part of each day, with the quality of the light shifting and softening as we wandered the wild landscape, entranced in tiny minute details, staring at the brown-black expanse trying to spot perfectly camouflaged owls or watching the waves and tide roil and boil in giant swimming holes eroded into the lava over thousands of years. We saw neon-pink flamingos and came across several sea turtles mating in the shore break, cheering them on as they tried to use their flippers to grasp one another and stay together despite the ruckus shore break. One afternoon we jumped onto kayaks and slowly cruised around a bay, encountering maybe 50 different sea turtles and a huge family of playful sea lions that would swim up and steal the bow lines to play a game of tug-a-war, dragging us along the shore. Another sea lion hid underneath our kayak and played peek-a-boo with Holden for maybe 5 minutes, disappearing under the kayak then popping its head out and blowing a bubble before tucking back under again. We would return to the boat for sunset and happy hour before another massive dinner, then stare up at the stars or down into ocean before collapsing back in bed, again tired out from another surreal day. On our last night the crew called us out after dinner and as we looked over the edge we saw at least a hundred Galapagos sharks, maybe more, silently swimming against the current beside the boat. Suddenly there would be a flash through the air, which turned out to be a flying fish attracted by the light of the boat, and the sharks would go crazy, thrashing, chasing and often catching the poor little fish. We watched, completely transfixed for well over an hour, mesmerized by the events happening all around us, with one hand firmly on the back of each boy’s shirt, making sure they didn’t accidentally become part of the feeding frenzy below.
The eight days disappeared quickly and while I think we all agree we could have happily moved on board the Evolution and joined Christine, Bolo and Hernan, the incredible naturalists, on their daily explorations, we left the Galapagos feeling every so grateful, fully satiated by the experience, and truly inspired by the depth and breadth of our animal encounters. It was without-a-doubt a trip of a lifetime and we feel so grateful to have shared it with Mimi and the boys, whose expectations for snorkeling will never be the same.
