South America 4

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A Week with the Sea Lions
I am off to my next destination early in the morning, and again will be off the grid, so I wanted to get one more entry / photo album out there for you before I did. This posting will, therefore, necessarily be short, but for the most part, the pictures and their captions tell the story anyway. I spent last week in the Galapagos Islands, and what a week it was!

Galapagos is legendary for two major reasons. The first is Darwin, and the second is the modern tourist experience. In short, the animals are not scared of people. And there are lots of them. You can go right next to just about any of them (the alpha male sea lion being one exception worth remembering, and not because he is scared of you). Needless to say, there is a horrid history of massacre and exploitation. However, the species have mostly recovered, and now Galapagos is a world model for conservationism. The one notable exception to the recovery is the land tortoises, which live over 200 years so the generations needed to replenish a population will take time. I visited the breeding program at the Darwin Center, and there are a lot of baby tortoises crawling around. There is one tortoise, though, that is actually the very last of his kind. They’ve named him Lonesome George, but the fact is that they do bring in females from similar species hoping they will be able to breed, so he really isn’t that lonesome.

I took a one week cruise, and it was a first class operation, undoubtedly the best room I’ve stayed in over the past almost two months. The food was great, and so was the company. It was a very young group considering that it was not a budget trip. Our days were wonderfully similar. The boat would sail at night to a new island. We woke for an early breakfast, then took a zodiac boat to the island for a hike. We snorkeled afterward, then have a break before a big lunch. We would visit a second island in the afternoon, and either stay for sunset or cruise into the evening - most of us on top of the boat, enjoying the sunset and or the company. Many afternoons we had a second snorkeling venture. Sounds simple, but as I mentioned, the pictures tell the story. One of the best weeks of my life.

Greg

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Comments

[Da]

Last sentence
Old saw: Life is not about how many moments you breath, but how many of those moments take your breath away. I remember weeks, moments, like that, and they generally involve travel to see new things. I see so few of us elite, wealthy Americans taking small risks for profound discovery and the pleasure of other's company and thoughts. Oh and on a more mudane note, that picture of bachlor seals and seagulls together cried out for the trite caption of 'boys and gulls together" Do not be afraid of making people groan grasshopper.