The Unfolding of a Darwinian Adventure

Sunday, July 5th, The Unfolding of a Darwinian Adventure.-Quito to San Cristobal, Galapagos.

Our wake up call is at 5:30 A.M. I'm always the first in the bathroom, followed by Art and then John. We did most of our repacking last night so the morning is not stressful. We eat a light breakfast in the hotel and Antonio picks us up promptly at 7:00 A.M. I have allowed too much time for check in and Art and John let me know that they would have enjoyed an extra half hour in bed, but we are all in good spirits and board our AeroGal flight to San Cristobal Island precisely on time. We will be on the ship the Eric and the three of us are wearing sticky plastic Eric buttons. We discretely look at other passengers buttons to see who our future traveling companions might be, but it isn't until we land in Guayaquil and disembark so that the plane can be refueled, that we find others wearing Eric buttons. The first family that we meet is from Maryland; a couple with two daughters; 15 and 17. They are traveling with two other women and a 15 or 16 year old girl. All three of them are hearing impaired and are rapidly signing to each other. It looks as if an extra dimension has been added to our Galapagos adventure and I hope to learn some basic signing on this trip. We re board our plane after the refueling for the second leg of our flight. Before landing, the flight crew opens the overhead baggage area and sprays either a bug spray or disinfectant into each compartment. The compartments are quickly closed for the remainder of the flight, apparently so that the spray can do it's job. It is 11:15 when we land on San Cristobal and we are the first ones of our group to disembark. When we reach the bottom of the stairs descending from the plane, our hands are sprayed with a mild disinfectant and we notice that all the airport staff are wearing protective masks. We have prepaid the $100 per person entrance fee to the Galapagos and our entry cards are quickly stamped but we are required to wipe our hands with a provided, alcohol towelette and our carry on luggage is inspected. I surmise that these precautions are for the health of the airport staff, not for the protection of the wild life. Upon exiting the open air terminal, we are met by our two guides, Alexis and Delores. In spite of the stringent health precautions, there is a sense of informality and serenity at this airport. John and I look for lizards outside the terminal and immediacy spot three small green striped lava lizards doing push ups on sunny pink lava boulders,

When the rest of our group is through customs, we are herded onto a waiting bus for a short ride through town to the San Cristobal dock. Playful sea lions lounge on the walkway leading down to one of the landings. We don our life vests, climb into one of two waiting zodiacs and motor out to our waiting yacht, the Eric. We are helped aboard and ushered into the spacious, mid deck, lounge area. The 20 of us sink onto a u- shaped lounge seating area and await further instructions. The Eric is solar and wind powered and basic safety and conservation issues are explained to us. We are assigned cabins and descend one level to the Iguana deck; to cabin number 10. It is a triple and although not large, certainly adequate for the three of us. We spend the next hour unpacking and getting settled in our new nest. There are two bunks against one wall and John chooses the upper birth with portholes overlooking the surface of the water. I have the single birth on the other wall. There is a long shelf above my bed where we stow our empty suitcases, having placed our belongings in drawers underneath the lower beds and utilized the closet. Our efficient bathroom has plenty of shelving and a spacious shower. I'm anxious to get under way, but the boat remains anchored in the harbor and a considerable time elapses as we wait for the expected siren to practice the required emergency drill. Eventually we are informed that the P.A. system has shorted out and we practice the drill on the top deck, sans the siren and then set sail.

Our first excursion is to a sandy cove not far from the town of San Cristobal. We pre-ordered wet suits in our sizes, but when we try them on, the sizes are all wrong. We sort through the rack of wet suits at the aft of the boat until we are more or less suited up. We have brought our own masks and snorkels, but use the fins provided by the boat and stuff all of our gear into the provided mesh bags. It's just a short ride in the zodiacs to the sandy cove but there are already several boats anchored there and we must share the beach and the snorkeling area with close to 60 other visitors. Dozens of Galapagos sea lions lounge on the white sand beach, undisturbed by our presence. One nursing female scolds her two pups as they nuzzle her belly in search of a tit. The pups are hungry and persistent, but mom must be tender and she complains loudly when they nurse. Other sea lions bask in the afternoon sun; eyes mostly closed and a dusting of golden sand sticking to their chocolate colored skin. I awkwardly follow others of our group into the water, walking backwards wearing my fins and struggling to adjust my mask and snorkel. I feel the sudden flow of cold water into my wetsuit, inhale and put my mask into the water. The sandy bottom has been stirred up and the visibility is awful. I see little except for the floating orange filaments of sea lion excrement but I continue swimming towards the rocks in hopes of better visibility and an abundance of fish. I spot a few large parrot fish and the smaller fish gleam in the afternoon sunlight, but there is considerable surge and after a few minutes, I swim to shore to spend time with the sea lions and explore the area on foot.
When I turn my attentions inland, I see half of a rainbow suspended over the extra-terrestrial landscape beyond. The pangas return us to the ship; we rinse out our wet suits, take short showers and at 6:00 P.M. we meet in the lounge for a briefing of tomorrows schedule. We are ceremoniously served an overly sweet and very green welcome drink and are introduced to the crew of 11. Dinner is immediately following; a lovely white fish accompanied by many salads; nearly half the passengers are vegetarians.