Faulkner Lifestyle Aug/Sept 2020

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travel Darwin Arch Galapagos—Land of Evolution BY MARY ETTA QUALLS SUBMITTED PHOTOS Hello Faulkner Lifestyle friends, hope you are all staying safe and healthy. It’s summertime in Arkansas and we are in the middle of a pandemic. The only traveling I’ve done for the past several months is from the inside to the outside of my house. So, I was more than excited about the opportunity to share my travel experiences from The Galápagos Islands. I hope you enjoy the pictures and like me dream of a day when we can travel again. We began our journey with a flight from Houston to Quito, Ecuador. The same time zone so no jet lag, which was great. From Quito, we boarded a smaller plane for our 600 mile flight out to the islands. We stayed on San Cristobal a couple of nights to rest while waiting on our boat to arrive. The only way to see the islands is by boat, and there are many options available. However, Galapagos is a national park, and a marine national park, so very protected and tourist travel is limited. We chose our cruise based on diving and also traveling to Darwin Arch, Darwin and Wolfe Islands 250 miles out in the open Pacific Ocean. There were 16 passengers from all over the world, so it was a very culturally enlightening trip as well. Considering the population of the Galapagos is approximately 25,000 people, this gives some idea as to how small the village is. A few restaurants, bars and gift shops all within walking distance and on the beautiful water. The Sea Lions were everywhere and definitely not afraid or shy of tourists. San Cristobal is also home to Charles Darwin’s famous Finches, where the beaks have evolved over time to adapt to eating the yellow flowers on the native cactus. We cruised overnight to North Seymour Island, where we were able to tour and 34 faulkner lifestyle | august/september 2020
Galápagos Tortoise taking a rest Iguana resting in the street Blue Footed Boobie with nestling Blue Footed Boobie get up close and personal with Blue Footed Boobies and Red Breasted Frigate Birds, Iguanas and Sea Lions just to name some of the wildlife we saw on this uninhabited island. The animals here have no fear of humans because they have evolved over thousands of years with little to no contact with humans. We had to be quiet while we were there and walk slowly, but we were able to take some amazing video and photos. Seeing these animals in their natural habitat, unchanged for thousands of years, was definitely a highlight for me. After our land excursion, we were back on the boat headed out to open ocean — destination Darwin Arch. On our overnight cruise we sailed past Isla Isabella where a large volcano was erupting into the ocean. We were miles out to sea, but could still see the light from the lava flowing into the ocean. The photos I’ve shared don’t do justice to just how large and massive this rock mass is, sticking up in the middle of the open ocean. This is one place in the world where the three currents meet, the Humboldt or Antarctic current, the Southern Equatorial current, and the Panamanian current. The weather there on the equator was temperate — definitely not a tropical island cruise. Jacques Cousteau said this was the coldest place on the equator. However, these large currents and upwellings of cold and warm currents bring in large schools of Hammerhead Sharks and Whale Sharks. Again, the pictures cannot do justice to the experience of being in the open ocean, with these strong currents amongst these fabulous creatures. Our dive master, a former Ecuadorian Navy diver said we were seeing thousands of Hammerhead Sharks during our multiple dives. This is one experience I will never forget, and one I will probably not experience again in my lifetime. After three days at Darwin Arch, Wolfe Island and Darwin Islands (no tourists allowed on the islands), we traveled back toward the main islands and stopped at faulknerlifestyle.com 35
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Faulkner Lifestyle Aug/Sept 2020

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