Top tips on visiting the Galapagos Islands - BUCKETLIST

ECUADOR’S GALAPAGOS ISLANDS HAVE ALWAYS CONJURED IMAGES IN MY MIND OF STARK LAVA FORMATIONS, TURQUOISE BAYS, TEEMING WILDLIFE AND A FRAGILE, UNIQUE ECOSYSTEM THAT ALLOWS A COMMUNION WITH NATURE UNLIKE ANYWHERE ELSE ON EARTH. DAN TOOMEY, AVID EXPLORER AND THE MAN BEHIND DIGITAL MEDIA AGENCY STYLE HOUSE CREATIVE TALKS ABOUT MY RECENT TRIP TO DARWIN’S ‘ENCHANTED ISLES’, TO DISCOVER WHETHER THEY LIVE UP TO THE FANTASY.

Think extraordinary. Think out of this world. Think nature at it’s absolute purest. Being there felt like such a privilege. The unique thing about these islands is that they’re mostly devoid of vegetation and look more like a rugged lava moonscape, yet they’re such a lush showcase of biodiversity. Around 90,000 visitors make the journey each year with high expectations, yet on our 14-day journey we rarely saw any other tourists or locals so we truly felt at one with nature. Meeting nesting albatrosses one day (you could almost pat them), sun baking with marine iguanas in the thousands in the afternoon and later snorkeling and observing these ancient creatures dining underwater on seaweed was amazing.

We swam every day with a variety of friendly seals that would almost give your snorkel goggles a free chamois with their flippers, they swam that close. The list of activities and adventures we had was constant and very well planned, all on a luxury twin hulled boat with 12 other great international guests, my awesome mum and the entertaining and very knowledgeable crew. To top it off we ate three of the best meals per day prepared by the onboard chefs I have ever eaten in my life.

We visited seven islands; each of them offered completely different experiences in fauna, flora, land, sea and birdlife. Española Island was a highlight as it had amazing volcanic extrusions, colonies of iguanas, albatrosses, sea lions and much more. The marine life is so charged and abundant you feel quite safe when you’re snorkelling – the sharks are so well fed they wouldn’t give you a second thought. We spotted a few sunfish too, quite a rare sight so we all felt quite lucky to have shared the experience.

Since they’re located directly on the equator, the islands have a diverse arrangement of tectonic plates, oceanic currents and volcanic assemblies. The Humboldt Current carries cold water from the depths of Antarctica which clash with warm waters from the north, some bringing nutrients up to the surface from the ocean floor depths of over 4000 metres. We snorkeled over this area which was pretty eerie, sea lions would give a flick of their fins and dive vertically down never to be seen again. One of the most surprising animals that we encountered was penguins… on the equator?! The cold currents govern the climate on land and also bring sub-tropical conditions to the islands, adding to the diversity of the Galapagos.

The vast majority of Galapagos Islands’ reptiles and land birds are endemic to the islands. Even within the archipelago there are different species limited to one island, each evolving differently to each other yet they are located in such close proximity. It’s quite confusing at first as there’s so much biodiversity in one small location, but the guides truly brought it to life, and helped us understand and digest it all.

Our planet has few untouched enclaves of natural beauty. The Galapagos fortunately was protected from mass colonalisation and has remained untouched and unspoilt in many ways. It sits atop crashing and colliding tectonic plates and has regular volcanic activity. Each island has it’s own sets of endemic species that have solely evolved on that island and that can be found nowhere else on the planet.

Excerpt originally published by the amazing
http://travelswithnina.com/journal/galapagos-islands/

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