Galapagos
Nature at its Purest

Lying in the Pacific Ocean, one thousand kilometers or six hundred nautical miles off the coast of mainland Ecuador, to whom they belong, the Galapagos Islands constitute one of the world’s most important National Parks, and the first protected site to be declared by UNESCO, in 1979, as a World Natural Heritage Site.

The islands act as a natural laboratory whose isolation has converted them into the exclusive home of many unique and endemic animals and plants. Indeed, the profusion of endemic life on the Galapagos makes the islands one of the most extraordinary places on the earth for which word “unique” seems to have been especially designed.

The Archipelago is formed by 13 large islands, six smaller ones and dozens of islets and rocks of submarine volcanic origin. Dispersed over a huge extension of the Pacific Ocean, the total land area of the island extends some 8,000 square kilometers, of which 97% is protected under the special regulations of the National Park, Ecuador’s first and declared as such in 1959 before becoming one of the world’s most renowned and protected areas. The remaining 3% of land has been allocated for small human settlements, established since the 19th century but only on four of the larger islands.

The islands are typified by volcanic landscapes of rare beauty, with turquoise colored waters, sparkling white coralline beaches and other sandy beaches of volcanic nature, many of bizarre gray, brown, green, yellow or reddish colors.

But the Galapagos’ most outstanding feature is the unique animal species that inhabit them, such as the giant land tortoises, the marine iguanas, land iguanas, sea lions, blue-footed, red-footed and masked boobies, the majestic albatrosses (the eastern Pacific’s largest sea birds), as well as numerous frigate birds, penguins, flamingos and the small yet famous Darwin’s finches, all biologically unique and evidencing the effects of evolution. Plants are also represented by exclusive species such as the “Scalessias” and varieties of cacti especially adapted to the peculiar climatic, oceanographic and geologic conditions of the Archipelago.

SCUBA DIVING IN GALAPAGOS
Scuba diving can be undertaken either from especially equipped live-aboard vessels offering special itineraries, including a variety of islands and to some of the best diving sites on programs of several days, or else you can also choose from one-day diving outings, while based on land and staying in one of the inhabited settlements. While diving can be performed all year-round in Galapagos, the best season for the experts is between June and October when the sea temperature can descend to a chilly 16° Celsius, but the waters are clearer and richer in nutrients and marine life.

CRUISING OR LAND BASED TOURS
The most common means of visiting the Galapagos since the beginning of the tourism boom, in the late 1960’s is by cruising the Archipelago on live-aboard vessels which offer various pre-arranged itineraries, fixed and authorized by the National Park. These are provided by a host of boats with varying levels of comfort, accommodation and services, from luxurious to economic. These vessels range from smaller craft carrying between 12 and 20 passengers; medium-sized yachts for around 40 passengers and a few, larger cruise ships, which can carry a maximum of 100 guests. However, in the last decade, the land-based option of visiting the islands by staying at hotels in one of the inhabited towns and then taking day trips by boat to nearby islands and/or doing a variety of activities and tours on the same island has become increasingly popular. This alternative provides the visitor with more flexibility in managing his/her time and interests while at the same time providing more direct input to the local economy. Whichever the option, a visit to the Galapagos Islands is a once in a lifetime, never to be forgotten experience….

MARINE RESERVE
The oceanic surface which encompasses and surrounds the Archipelago is the Galapagos Marine Reserve, the second largest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In common with the terrestrial National Park, the Marine Reserve has also been declared by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site and is considered one of the seven underwater wonders of the world. It is recognized as one of the best diving places in the planet where unique, but frequent encounters are to be had with several species of whales, hammerhead and other species of sharks, the mighty whale sharks as well as sea turtles, manta rays, golden rays, hundreds of species of fishes of all colors, shapes and sizes, many of them unique or endemic to the islands. And, if that was not enough, there is the constant presence of playful sea lions and inquisitive penguins, frolicking with swimmers, snorklers or divers.

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES (1859)
The Galapagos Islands are forever linked to the visit of the English naturalist Charles Darwin in 1835. Even though he only spent five weeks in the Archipelago, the evidence he saw, documented and collected there, sparked and led to the publication, 24 years later, of his famous and controversial book: “The Origin of the Species”, published in 1859. The main elements of this theory, based to a large extent on his findings in Galapagos, are as follows: 1. Biological types or “species” do not have a fixed or immutable existence. Rather, they are in constant change; 2. Life is a permanent fight to secure the existence and survival of individuals and species alike; 3. The struggle for survival results in the disappearance of organisms unable to adapt to a specific natural environment, allowing the fitter to adapt, reproduce and survive. This process is called “natural selection”; 4. Natural selection, adaptation and evolution requires a long period of time, so long that it cannot be viewed nor appreciated in a normal human life span, and, 5. The genetic mutations and changes that these natural processes produce in order to ensure survival are random and are not the result of actions of God nor the organisms’ own tendency to seek perfection, according to Darwian thinking.