Yay - today is the first real day of the Galápagos tour. It looks like it's going to be sunny in Quito today. We took an early flight to the Galápagos Islands with a stopover in Guayaquil (pronounced Whyakeel) the second largest city in Ecuador. The flight was 35 minutes. We had a bit of a rocky start. For some reason, only the Brits were able to have their boarding passes printed so there was a bit of waiting around. We did finally get our boarding passes and in Guayaquil we didn't have to get off the plane. After 20 minutes we carried on to Baltra Island in the Galápagos. This is the only airport in the world that is 100% ecologically friendly. All power for the airport is from renewable energy such as turbines & solar panels. Pretty impressive!

Once we disembarked the heat and humidity hit us immediately. It was 31 degrees C in the Galápagos at 10:00 am. From there we took a bus (no ac) to catch a ferry to Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz island, to board our ship/ boat. On the way to the ferry we saw many concrete pads. These were used for US military buildings during WWII in order to protect the Panama Canal from 1941-1946. There were 6,000 American men here at that time. The airport we landed at was the US military airport. The Estrella del Mar, our ship, is really a boat, and is the newest vessel in G Adventures Galapagos fleet. There is room for 16 travellers on board.  Funnily enough, our group consists of 16 - 5 from Canada (us, 2 ladies from Manitoba, & a fellow from Vancouver), 2 from New Zealand (mother and grown son), 2 from Denmark (married couple) 6 from Britain (2 hilarious sisters and 2 couples) and 1 hunky guy from Switzerland (31 year old who just joined us today - a last minute edition). They all seem very nice, especially the Swiss guy! ;) Our CEO, Chief Entertainment Officer, Alberto Zambrona, is a Naturalist Guide, born in the Galápagos, and there is a crew of 7 others who are supposed to be well-versed in the local wildlife, vegetation, and geology of the islands, as well as knowing how to keep the boat afloat.  The boat is quite nice - it's a little crowded compared to a cruise ship but we'll make do. The only issue is that our room is a bit tiny and we will be sleeping in bunk beds.  It's literally 2 beds with a tiny cupboard at the foot and there are 3 drawers under the bottom bunk for our clothes. The bathroom is a decent size - I wouldn't say it's big but it's adequate. There is ac though! The floor space is about 2' wide by 8 ' long and the beds are twins. We flipped a coin to see who got the bottom bunk and I'm happy to say I won.  We've been assured that we will only be in them for sleeping after our days in the sun and water. 

While we were waiting on the dock for our dingy to take us to the boat we noticed 2 sea lions basking in the sun. They were right in our path and we had to step over one of them to get to the dingy. Once on board and settled we had lunch and then went to Puerto Ayora to catch a bus to spend the afternoon hiking in the highlands looking for giant tortoises (their real name here is galapago) in the wild. There are a lot of rules in the Galápagos concerning the wildlife. There is a rigorous screening to even get in but basically, the rules are: do not touch the animals, stay 2 meters away from them, make sure they have a clear exit, do not leave any garbage about, and leave what's in the Galápagos in the Galápagos. We saw about 8 tortoises of various sizes and were able to get close to them. They are gentle giants who eat only vegetation and travel about 500 meters in a day at top speed. They sometimes make a sound like cows mooing. Alberto said that's how they sound at happy hour. It was fascinating to watch and learn about them. We saw one that weighed about 500 pounds and was probably 150 years old. Alberto has never seen one that big before! Supposedly, ET from the movie of the same name was fashioned after the head of a tortoise - long neck, saggy skin, sunken eyes. We then explored a lava tunnel. These are tunnels underground that are formed when lava is flowing down and crystallizes/ hardens on the outside due to cooling from the wind. The lava inside continues to flow to the sea and the crystallized outside layer leaves a tunnel.

Once back in town we had some free time to wander around and take in the sights. We saw gold cow-nose manta rays in the water, crabs on the rocks near shore, and various fish. We went to go back to the ship and the 2 sea lIons were still where we saw them last but now there was one lying on one of the benches on the dock like he owned it. It was funny to see. All of a sudden he started to get up on his flippers and made sounds like he was going to heave. I was happily taking pictures and, you guessed it, he retched and then shook his head back and forth and puked everywhere. He just managed to spray me a bit. Yuck!!! We got back on board and had a safety meeting, met the crew and then had dinner and many laughs. Lauren, one of the English sisters, can tell a story that makes you belly laugh and she has no filter. At 8:00 we went back to our room, showered and hit the pit. Remember, we were up at 3:00 this morning and the time is an hour behind Quito so we've been up a long time and have been busy. I'm afraid this group does not seem like a party group. In fact Vic & I were the only ones to have a drink when we got on the boat! Uh oh!!!

For those interested, here's a bit of info about the Galapagos Islands. The Galápagos Islands (Spanish name: Archipiélago de Colón) is an archipelago made up of 13 main volcanic islands, 6 smaller islands, and 107 rocks and islets. The very first island is thought to have formed between 5 and 10 million years ago as a result of tectonic activity. The youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, are still being formed, with the most recent volcanic eruption in 2005.The Galapagos archipelago is politically part of Ecuador.

The Galapagos Islands are distributed around the equator, 966 Kim's (about 600 miles) west of Ecuador (0° N 91° W). The Galapagos archipelago is world-renowned for its unique and fearless wildlife - much of which was inspiration for Charles Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection. The islands are therefore very popular amongst natural historians, both professional and amateur. Giant tortoises, sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas and different bird species can all be seen and approached. The landscape of the islands is relatively barren and volcanic, but beautiful nonetheless. The highest mountain, at 1707 m (5600ft), amongst the islands is Volcano Wolf on Isla Isabela. The Galapagos were claimed by newly-independent Ecuador in 1832; just three years before Darwin's visit on the Beagle. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the islands were inhabited by very few settlers and were used as a penal colony, the last closing in 1959 when the islands were declared a national park. The Galapagos were subsequently listed as a World Heritage Site in 1978. Controls on tourist access are maintained in an effort to protect the natural habitats and, as I said, all visitors must be accompanied by a National Park Certified Naturalist Tour Guide. The tour guide must now be from the Galápagos. The islands currently receive an average of 60,000 visitors per year. The World Wildlife Fund, which supported the construction of the Charles Darwin Research Station, asserts that "Illegal fishing, non-native species, and the demands of more than 160,000 tourists each year threaten this irreplaceable ecosystem and the people who depend on it for their food and livelihoods." Environmentalists warn that the islands, which were placed on the World Heritage Site Danger List from 2007 to 2010, aren't yet in the clear. Tourism continues to rise 12 percent year over year with the infrastructure alone threatening to forever alter the once isolated islands. This is one reason we wanted to visit (before they are altered forever or restrictions are enforced). 

The Galápagos were discovered by chance in March 10, 1535 when Dominican Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama, sailed to Peru to settle a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and his lieutenants after the conquest of the Incas, while performing an administrative mission for the Spanish Monarch Carlos V. The bishop's ship stalled when the winds died and strong currents carried him out to the Galápagos. In his account of the adventure, addressed to Emperor Carlos V. Berlanga, described the harsh, desert-like condition of the islands and their trademark giant tortoises. He wrote about the marine iguanas, the sea lions and the many types of birds. He also noted the remarkable tameness of the animals that continues to thrill and delight modern visitors.

The islands are believed to date back to six million years ago as a result of volcanic activity generated beneath the ocean's floor. They were uninhabited, although Thor Heyerdahl in 1963 reported findings of pottery of South American origin that suggested earlier contacts, a theory that appears to still be controversial. The archipelago was used as hiding place by the English pirates that pilfered the Spanish galleons carrying gold and silver from South America to Spain.

The islands first appeared on maps in about 1570 in those drawn by Abraham Ortelius and Mercator. The islands were called "Insulae de los Galopegos"  (Islands of the Tortoises).

The first Englishman to visit Galápagos was Richard Hawkins, in 1593. Admiral Richard Hawkins was a 17th-century English seaman, explorer and Elizabethan Pirate, and the son of an Admiral, Sir John Hawkins. From then until 1816 many famous pirates visited the archipelago.

Alexander Selkirk, whose adventures in Juan Fernández Islands inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, visited the Galápagos in 1708 after he was picked up from Juan Fernández by the privateer Woodes Rogers. Rogers was refitting his ships in the islands after sacking Guayaquil.

The first scientific mission to the Galápagos arrived in 1790 under the leadership of Alessandro Malaspina, a Sicilian captain whose expedition was sponsored by the King of Spain. However, the records of the expedition were lost.

In 1793, James Colnettan, an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a Maritime fur trader, who also served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration, made a description of the flora and fauna of Galápagos and suggested that the islands could be used as base for the whale hunting operation in the Pacific Ocean. He also drew the first accurate navigation charts of the islands. Whalers killed and captured thousands of the Galápagos tortoises to extract their fat. The tortoises could also be kept on board ship as a means of providing of fresh protein as these animals could survive for several months on board without any food or water. The hunting of the tortoises was responsible for greatly diminishing, and in some cases eliminating, certain species. Along with whalers came the fur-seal hunters who brought the population of this animal close to extinction.

Ecuador annexed the Galápagos Islands on February 12, 1832, naming it Archipelago of Ecuador. This was a new name that added to several names that had been, and are still, used to refer to the archipelago. The first governor of Galápagos, General José de Villamil, brought a group of convicts to populate the island of Floreana and in October 1832 some artisans and farmers joined.

The Voyage of the Beagle brought the survey ship HMS Beagle under captain Robert FitzRoy to the Galápagos on September 15, 1835 to survey approaches to harbors. The captain and others on board including his companion the young naturalist Charles Darwin made a scientific study of geology and biology on four of the thirteen islands before they left on October 20 to continue on their round-the-world expedition. The governor of the prison colony on Charles Island told Darwin that tortoises differed from island to island, and when specimens of birds were analysed on return to England it was found that many different kinds of birds were species of finches which were also unique to islands. These facts were crucial in Darwin's development of his evolution theory, which was presented in The Origin of Species.

José Valdizán and Manuel Julián Cobos tried a new colonization, beginning the exploitation of a type of lichen found in the islands (Roccella portentosa) used as a coloring agent. After the assassination of Valdizán by some of his workers, Cobos brought from the continent a group of more than a hundred workers to San Cristóbal island and tried his luck at planting sugar cane. He ruled in his plantation with an iron hand which lead to his assassination in 1904. Since 1897 Antonio Gil began another plantation in Isabela island.

Over the course of a whole year, from September 1904, an expedition of the Academy of Sciences of California, led by Rollo Beck, stayed in the Galápagos collecting scientific material on geology, entomology, ornithology, botany, zoology and herpetology. Another expedition from that Academy was done in 1932 (Templeton Crocker Expedition) to collect insects, fish, shells, fossils, birds and plants.

During WWII Ecuador authorized the United States to establish a naval base in Baltra island and radar stations in other strategic locations.

In 1946 a penal colony was established in Isabela Island, but was suspended in 1959.
The first laws protecting the islands were written into law during 1934. In 1959 the islands became a national park, and the Galapagos National Park was established in 1968 to preserve the biodiversity. A total of 97% of the land space of the islands was set aside for this purpose, with the remaining 3% for use by people.

UNESCO declared the Galápagos Islands Humanity Natural Heritage in 1979 and, six years later, a Biosphere Reserve (1985), which has resulted in an even greater interest at the international level. In 1990 the archipelago became a whale sanctuary, and in 1998 a marine reserve was created in the surrounding waters, totaling 133,000 sq kms The marine reserve became part of the UNESCO National Heritage site in 2001.