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Galapagos cruise a study in evolution

Whales, sea lions, penguins, iguanas and sea turtles replace Internet and TV
sea lion
An aging male sea lion finds rest on a rock near Fernandina, in the Galapagos. photo Kevin Chong

The previous night on our eight-day cruise through the Galapagos had been like sleeping in a paint mixer. Around midnight, we received an eye-popping lesson in centrifugal forces when the Flamingo I, a 25-metre yacht owned by tour company Ecoventura, belly flopped over the equator.

For that reason, we were tired and pukey as we began what became a perfect day. Our group, three families and one young married couple, stepped aboard two pangas (Zodiacs) bound for Fernandina, just south of the earth’s latitudinal waistline.

Moments into the ride, our guides pointed into the distance.

“Killer whales,” they told us.

Straining to see the orcas, our eyes soon tracked two fins jutting in the water.

Our drivers set us on an intercept course. We began cruising alongside them. One head surfaced and we saw its Oreo-filling eyehole.

For a moment, the trail grew cold and one panga headed toward Fernandina. The guide on my boat noticed a cloud of frigate birds further into the sea. Someone in the drink was snacking and the airborne scavengers were waiting for table scraps.

Our Zodiac scooted toward the halo of birds. The whales emerged from the water and began to slap their tails. Try as I might with my point-and-shoot camera, I kept missing the money shot. That would be the cloudy lining of an otherwise sterling moment.

With this spontaneous detour behind us, we made a stop at Fernandina. Like the other 12 islands in the archipelago, the youngest and most westerly Galapagos island was formed by underwater volcanoes five million years ago. The isolated location, untouched by humans until the 16th century, still nurtures a bounty of wildlife.

Charles Darwin famously visited here in 1835, and used his specimens to help formulate his thoughts on evolution.

Darwin is venerated on these islands for making them a tourist destination as much as for his scientific thought. One woman in our group, a biology major in college, took her kids to the Galapagos as a response to the many Biblical literalists who inhabit her adopted Florida hometown.

With the vast majority of the island protected since 1959 as a National Park, the Galapagos are tightly regulated: the various tour companies are strictly scheduled so that there is never more than a dozen or so visitors in each viewing location.

Lavascape welcomed us on Fernandina. Iguanas, packed like subway commuters on black rock, sunbathed and gave off a salty, fishy smell. When they became overheated, they slipped into the water and darted through the clear shallows with their forearm-sized tails streaking behind them. Sea lions, the resident couch potatoes on these islands, rested their pudgy forms along the rocks.

Soon after we returned to the Flamingo I, my wife and stepson left on a deep-water snorkelling expedition, where they came within mere metres of giant sea turtles.

Meanwhile I contentedly gunned through a book that I had been slogging through back at home (where I was distracted by work email and Clash of Clans).

When they returned to the boat, we were served a lunch with Ecuadorian favourites like paella, llapnigachos (a potato and cheese pancake) and stewed beef. After a two-hour interlude filled with reading, sunbathing on the roof deck and snoozing, the Flamingo I made its afternoon stop at Urbina Bay.

Located on Isabela, the largest island of the archipelago, the bay is best known as a spot to look for sea turtles, finches and flightless cormorants. After a short walk, I briefly tried my hand at snorkelling. A poor swimmer, I splashed around, face down, near the beach before I stepped back ashore and struggled out.

I’ve written about the fourth day of our cruise, but almost every other could have been a candidate for perfection. At other points that week, we voyaged to see penguins, pilot whales, blue and red-footed boobies and flamingos. My wife, who was 13 weeks pregnant as we started our journey, had some uncomfortable moments and my stepson, by turns, played well and bickered with the other kids on the boat. I became stir crazy near the end of the trip and longed for a Wi-Fi connection. But those moments of shared wonder among our family overwhelmed the inconveniences.

Returning to the Flamingo I from Urbina that day, I looked forward to a snack, a shower, and then my book. Married less than six months, I realized that my definition of perfection had changed. In the past, a perfect day started after the sun fell. It involved cities, interesting adults and nights bled dry of any more potential excitement. That evening, I looked forward to being in bed by nine. In the Galapagos, I was witnessing my own evolution.

For more information about this cruise, visit ecoventura.com.