Galapagos Islands – Ecuador

These isolated islands, made famous by British Naturalist Charles Darwin, are the home of highly colorful and entertaining creatures. Soft sprays of salt water brush your cheek as your dinghy races from the cruise ship to Isla Santa Fe in the Galapagos Islands. Playful sea lion pups prance around like a marine welcoming committee. As you disembark, you become aware of stark volcanic landscapes filled with forests of prickly cactus plants, soaring tall as trees.

Each island harbors different natural treasures, and each day your ship transports you to another island. The journey is like Charles Darwin’s 1835 voyage on HMS Beagle, which inspired his theory of natural selection.

Exploring Oceans: Galapagos

The Galapagos was Darwin’s laboratory for the study of the origins of life. See the amazing creatures he studied in 1835 – giant tortoises, sea turtles, flightless cormorants, iguanas, and penguins.

Fearless, fantastic animals appear at every turn. A Galapagos mockingbird pecks at your shoelaces, oblivious to your size. On Espanola, the pungent scent of musk assails your nostrils as your guide leads you around a harem of female sea lions, jealously guarded by a muscular bull.

On Santiago, ancient black lava stones crackle underfoot as you hike to rocks where marine iguanas dive to nibble on green algae, while vibrant orange and red Sally Lightfoot crabs scuttle into crevices. As your cruise continues, blue-footed boobies plunge into the Pacific Ocean to pursue schools of fish, and red-billed tropic birds call out in rapid screeches. Flightless cormorants jackknife into the fertile waters, where sea turtles and manta rays gently glide.

Galapagos: The Islands That Changed the World

This book is the most wide-ranging and beautifully illustrated book available on the famous islands. Not since Darwin’s Naturalist’s Voyage has a book combined so much scientific and historic information with firsthand accounts that bring the Galápagos to life.

Darwin’s Finches

If the giant tortoise is the symbol of the Galapagos Islands, then Darwin’s finches must be the symbol of evolution in the Galapagos. It may seem curious that of all the animals in the Galapagos,this group of very drab and dull birds is most closely associated with Darwin’s name. He was neither the first to see them (they are mentioned in passing by Captain James Colnett in 1798) nor did they figure much in his writings subsequent to the “Voyage of the Beagle”. Despite the fact that they intrigued Darwin, they are far too complex a group of animals for Darwin to have understood. (See the rest of the article here)

Below are images of the 11 Darwin’s finches.

Galapagos Blu-ray

A beautifully filmed journey into “the islands of the tortoise.” Located due west of Ecuador, the Galapagos islands are full of gorgeous scenery and exotic wildlife. And this 150-minute documentary shows it all, thanks to stunning cinematography shot from all viewpoints – the air, sea and, of course, land. The collection is both soothing and exhilarating as it allows viewers to peek in on mating albatrosses (which are monogamous), penguins fishing, and surprisingly graceful giant tortoises swimming in the ocean. The filmmakers also manage to capture a ferocious volcanic eruption that is amazing in its clarity.

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