Category — Galapagos

We loved our time in South America. This short video, set to Smitten’s “Todas Esas Cosas” (“All of These Things”), includes some of our favorite images from Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Conor takes us on a tour of the GAP Adventurer II (a.k.a. Cruz del Sur) in a way that only he can…

I recently read the story of a young man who was both a worry and a disappointment to his parents.

The father wanted his son to be a doctor, but the young man flunked out of medical school. The boy was considered by all to be rather average, and he had few prospects.

With medical school out of the question, the father pushed his son to become a clergyman, and the young man had resigned himself to the idea.

But then came the opportunity for the son to take a trip around the world.

The young man was very interested, but needed his father’s permission and financial support. His father objected to such a frivolous waste of his son’s time.

Fortunately, a kindly uncle intervened.

He convinced the boy’s father that his son had a unique opportunity to do something few would ever have the chance to do. And along the way, his son might just find his way in the world.

The father relented and allowed his son to travel around the world.

The boy, of course, was Charles Darwin. And the trip he took round the world – five years in all – was described in the book Voyage of the Beagle.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Darwin’s father didn’t live long enough to see the impact his “aimless” son had on our understanding of the natural world.

But one tribute to Darwin’s life work lives on at the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos.

The center has become an important advocate and advisor for protecting the Galapagos. One of their most important missions has been to help repopulate the islands with giant tortoises, which where well on their way to becoming extinct.

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[Special thanks for Brantley Tillis for the use of his terrific underwater footage.]

On the public pier in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristobal Island, we encountered a slight bump in the road.

At least a half dozen sea lions were blocking our way, lounging on the steps we needed to descend to board the dinghy that would take us to the Cruz del Sur, our home for the next week.

When it became apparent the sea lions weren’t quite ready to give up their resting spot, Hanzel, our naturalist guide, led us to another dock where we were able to board our dinghy.

To travel to the Galapagos is to travel to a alternate universe where sea lions, marine iguanas, giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies rule, and where they have found a way to live in harmony.

After centuries on islands with no natural predators, Galapagos wildlife is ridiculously tame.

Seventeenth and eighteenth century sailors were amused by the animals’ “stupidity.”  They never had to hunt for food on the Galapagos; they simply went ashore and grabbed what they wanted, as if visiting a precursor to the modern supermarket.

The animals never fought back or fled.  They knew no danger.

Today their main annoyance is hundreds of pesky humans constantly pointing a camera their way.  Paparazzi in Patagonia clothing.

Our friends, the Gugel-McPhersons (Gail, David, Cam & Meg) joined us on a nearly flawless GAP Adventures family cruise to these other-worldly islands.

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