It’s almost impossible to capture the last three days. Three days of an expedition cruise in the Galapagos is unlike anything we have experienced before.

We left Quito early in the morning to head to the airport by bus before boarding our plane for the 90 minute charter flight to the single runway at the capitol of the Galapagos: St. Cristobal. After claiming our luggage and going through customers, we boarded the bus for a little seaside hotel to chill a bit while the crew worked hard to clean the Silver Origin. The previous passengers left earlier that morning and took our plane back to Quito. From one set of passengers to another, it’s quite a quick change over.

At the hotel we got tropical fruit drinks and acclimated to the heat while we waited for the 10-person zodiacs to take us to our ship, anchored about 1/2 mile away.

While the crew deposited our luggage in our rooms we had lunch and waited. The travel caught up with us. Jim unfortunately had a stomach issue, probably from some ice that was in his lunch drink on our last afternoon in Mexico City and I had a UTI (which is very rare for me). We heard from one of the other guests on board that the ship doctors are amazing so our first stop was a call to the Dr. With the right meds, pain pills, and a good night’s sleep we both felt much better the next day.

I attended our first excursion briefing that first night while Jim rested and boy was it something! The list of the first full day’s activities included two hikes (easy and advanced) and two snorkels (easy and advanced) and a lecture. I’m not easily overwhelmed, but it was seriously overwhelming!

Fortunately, we both got a good night’s sleep and I was raring to go in the morning. I did the easy beach hike and the advanced afternoon hike and Jim joined me for the deep water snorkel. It’s a project getting everyone their wet suits with masks & snorkels, all organized by room number. But the crew does an amazing job. We are split into Green and Blue group to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to experience everything.

It’s not survival of the fittest, it’s adaptation: That is the key to the flora and fauna of the Galapagos and of course a great mantra for life in general. One never knows what life will throw at you, whether extreme hot, cold, drought, flood, illness, health, success or failure.

Before heading on the cruise I had read two books: The Beak of the Finch and Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos. The Beak of the Finch is the seminal modern telling of the scientists who documented the evidence of finch adaptation to drought and floods by observing, tagging and tracking all the finches on one desolate Island over 20 years. Interestingly the big breakthrough occurred before and after the last “super El Niño”. Some animals and plants thrive during the super El Niño, while others struggle.

We are thriving in the warm waters. Because of the El Niño, the water here is much warmer than usual for this time of year. We were expecting water temperatures in the 60’s, instead it’s 84! So far we have not observed a steep decline in the animal populations, but that’s expected by the end of the Equitorial summer.

The perspective of our team of nature guide scientists is to focus on adaptation. Their love for the area and the animal life is infectious. All the guides live in the Galapagos, many were born here. They make classroom presentations every night to share a little of their scientific knowledge about the flora, fauna and geology of this amazing equatorial archipelago.

The Wildlife:

Wow. Volcanic action, currents and winds formed the Galápagos Islands and its isolation from humans has created the environment that is home to some of the most interesting animals on Earth. In the last three days we’ve seen so many birds, many of which are only found here. All of which have no fear of humans. We’ve swam and kayaked with Galapagos penguins, marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, sea lions, fur seals, sea turtles and lots of tropical fish similar to those found in Hawaii and elsewhere. Darwin never saw a Galapagos penguin, but if we did, he would have been blown away. No other penguin can live in the warm waters of the Galapagos for more than a few hours, let alone make a home here. We were lucky to see several today.

Next Stop:

The cruise is now underway from Fernandina (the youngest and most active volcanic island, erupting every 2 years or so) to Santa Cruise Island (also volcanic, but less active, and the largest island but less protected and pristine). The crew is feeding us again, then we get a Darwin lecture before the next feature: the Galapagos Giant Tortoise.

The Adventure Continues,

Fawn (writer photographer) & Jim (editor)

“Standing in the present, on the highest part of the curve, you can look back and see the past, or forward and see the future”, M. Wylie Blanchet

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