Thursday,
August 26, 2010
Ecuador is a beautiful coun-
try with numerous one of a
kind experience. My son and
I decided to visit the Islands
as our last big trip together
red ball caps. They were let
into the baggage area first and
it was quite a sight. After they
had boarded their buses, it was
time for us to get our luggage.
By Dr. B. Curtis Hamm
as his wife will be giving me
a grandchild in November.
This is the first time that I
have ever been on a trip where
there was a"difficulty" index.
The islands are rated "moder-
ately difficult" because of the
walking, climbing and just
generally getting around by
boat. We chose a First class
Catamaran which holds six-
teen passengers and a crew of
eight. One had a chef, guide,
crew and great captain. We
would anchor off shore in
the evenings
and take a
"pagny"
rubber boat
into shore
during the
day. This
made it pos-
sible to explore the islands
without hundreds of people
who are on the really large
ships.
We left Tulsa on our flight
to Atlanta. Unfortunately, a
passenger got sick and we
had to land in Memphis. We
did make our connection in
Atlanta to Quito, Ecuador so
all was well. I did not realize
that Quito was nine thousand
five hundred feet above sea
level. As soon as one departs
the plane, a large sign says:
"Walk slowly, high altitude."
One kind person walking
behind me said, "Take your
time, and take your time."
But, I made the walk with-
out difficulty. We stayed at
the Radisson Hotel for two
nights which gave us a chance
to discover this fabulous city.
More on Quito will be on our
next journal.
We flew from Quito to Santa
Cruz, a distance of about four
hundred fifty miles. We were
enchanted with the airpo The
buildings are mostly just roofs
covering concrete floors with
the inevitable tourist items. A
group of children where there
and each one of them had on
We brought very little as we
were told to bring only swim
suits, light jackets, shorts,
and personal items. It is great
seeing how little one really
needs in the islands. We took a
public bus to the dock and had
to take a ferry to the other side.
We then took a private small
bus to a private farm where
we easily found the Galapa-
gos turtles. The ones we saw,
and there were many, were
all males as the females had
returned home after the mating
season.
These turtles
weigh up to
six hundred
pounds and
walk along
eating the
grasses. They
are very photogenic and were
willing to pose for us. One of
our delights was to watch this
huge mrdes raise themselves
up so that the birds could go
under them to eat the insects
that infected them. They would
sinaply hold themselves up like
they were doing a push up until
the birds were finished. Nature
was at its best.
We walked along a trail in a
mist and savored the lush foli-
age as we came upon more and
more turtles. The males will
eventually he recuperated and
also head back to a new area to
eat until next season.
After a wonderful lunch of
chicken, vegetables, and turtle
soup under the roof of the res-
taurant. Our drink was a red
juice made from various filaits
in the area and really excellent.
We took the bus to Santa Cruz
to make the long walk to the
Charles Darwin Center. This is
mostly a place to do research on
turtles. However, it is also the
home of Lonesome George, a
gigantic turtle. Darwin toured
three of the thirteen islands and
make copious notes which he
many years later wrote his
book, "The Origin of the
Kevin Hamm (left) with his father, Bob Hamm.
Species." Actually, it seems
to me he should have entitled
it, "The Theory of Natural
Selection." It is indeed a place
where "survival of the fit-
test" is best seen. We walked
down the hill from the center
for over one and half hours to
the Waft and take a "Panga"
to Seaman II, a 2007 model
Catamaran. We met our other
14 passengers where were all
delightful people. There was
a couple from Germany, a
young couple from France,
a man from Sweden and his
Brazilian lady friend, and two
American couples and two
college age girls. Our group
included a woman with a
doctorate in nutrition, another
with a doctorate in astrophys-
ics, and me in business. The
two young couples were
traveling around the world
and seemed to be a real joy to
everyone they met. We found
everyone to be delightful. It
was an international group.
Our next island was replete
with sea lions. One of them
seemed to have a serious
health problem. When I asked
the guide if they had a veteri-
narian, he responded, "no, we
let those who can survive do so
and the weak will die." Well,
that is one conclusion. I love
the sea lions and could watch
them all day. It is like watching
a group of children.
One sea lion was lying on a
large flat rock taking a siesta
when the play mate wanted to
swim. The sea lion in the water
kept yelling at the sleeping sea
lion to wake up and come play.
Eventually, the playful one
used his flippers to get up on
the rocks and yelled in the ear
of the sleeping lion. Nothing
happened. Eventually, the
playful one just went to the
side of the sleeping lion and
went to sleep. What a wonder-
ful life.
Our panga comes up to the
back of the catamaran and two
crew members help us onto the
ship. Our first instruction is to
take off our shoes which we
do not wear again until we
leave six days later. Most of
us just went bare foot dunng
our time on the ship. Our nat-
umlist guide gave us our first
short lecture on the islands and
what we should expect to see
on our next day's trip. Later,
we all joined at a table set for
sixteen which was to be our
dining table for the trip. We
had all of our meals at this
table and people just sat at
different seats so we all were
able to learn about everyone
on the trip. Our first dinner
consisted of noodles and an
excellent meat sauce. Desert
was always fresh fruit which
we died of earing. It was funny
listening to everyone tell their
travel stories as they had all
been on fantastic trips. It was
hard to beat some of their
stories about canoeing up
the Amazon River, climbing
Machu Picchu in Peru or even
the Great Wall of China.
After dinner, our ship takes
off for an eleven hour boat ride
to Point Moreno and Isabella
Island. Most of the islands
are named after royalty of
Spain since they conquered
Ecuador many years ago.
Fortunately, Ecuador is now
an independent country with
a democratic form of govern-
I love the sea lions and could watch them all day. It is like watching a group of children.
American currency as their
means of exchange.
We had taken the precaution
of having patches to avoid sea
sickness and that was a good
idea as the sea was rough on
our first night. We awoke at
six thirty and had a cup of
great tea and watched the
sun rise over the islands. Our
omelets were ready by seven
and everyone was present for
the big day. In addition to our
omelets, we always had an
Ecuadorian meal which con-
sisted of banana, raisins, meal,
butter and it was enclosed in
banana leaves. The agenda
for the day is to hike the lava
rock Wails
of Point
Moreno.
There
we saw
pelicans,
flamingo,
lava cra-
ters and
lizards
among
many
types of
birds,
especially
the blue
legged
boobie
birds.
Some of the lizards are endan-
gered but it is not from the tour-
ist. It is from oil spills in the
Amazon. After our walk, we
snorkeled in the ice cold water
and everyone's faces were red.
So, we returned to the ship on
our rafts a hot lunch.
After lunch we could have
a nap or participate in MLO
(Marine Life Observation) and
we all participated with cam-
eras in hand. We encountered
dolphins, whales, turtles and
what appeared to be schools
of fish in the thousands. Our
cameras were always at the
ready. We anxiously boarded
the panga for our ride around
Saint Isabella for our first
sightings of the Galapagos
Penguins. The story of the
penguins is most interesting.
These are the world's only
tropical penguin. They lay
their eggs and incubate them
in the shady crevices of the
volcano rocks. While they
walk in an ungainly fashion,
their swimming is totally like
an Olympic team. We watched
in awe as they stood on the lava
rocks and enjoyed the freezing
water. My son said that they
avoided swimmers in wet suits
as they think humans look like
sea lions which ate their natu-
ral predator. The famous E1
Nino in 1983 decimated the
penguin population but they
have recovered and now there
are over 15,000 on the islands.
We also saw the flightless cor-
morant and the Lava Herons.
black volcano rocks. It is said
that they evolved from the stri-
ated heron. Their food swategy
is to stand and blend in with the
lava rocks and eat lizards and
the light footed crabs. To avoid
the loss of their eggs, the lava
heron female lays their eggs
on a platform of sticks on
mangrove branches. These
trees can live in salt water
and open up lagoons where
beautiful turtles and other wild
life live. We were able to see
numerous sea lions resting on
the branches also. The herons
normally have two or three
chicks three times a year.
Our walk on the lava rocks
took us to
a lagoon
sur-
rounded
by the
greater
flamingo.
Their
pink color
is derived
from pig-
ments in
their food
which are
ingested
when they
eat. The
crooked
bill has
evolved to maintain a perfect
gap when open and to catch
fish for eating. We saw an
abundance of yellow warblers
and we heard the sounds ofthe
Galapagos Mockingbird.
Later, I sat on the beach and
just scanned the rocks with
my binoculars. I spotted sev-
eral kinds of finches including
hundreds of the Darwin Finch.
Their bill is differeflt from
any other finch and they are
so common. We also saw the
common cactus finch where
they like to nest and feed on
the cactus flowers.
As we slowly paddled
our way into the lagoons of
Isabella Island, we saw the
most beautiful turtle in the
world. The shell of these gold
colored turtles are sought after
by jewelry makers and tourist
are asked not to buy anything
made of turtle or coral, espe-
cially black coral.
These gold colored ttLrfles
swim with great ease in the
water and are striking to
watch as they glide through
well as marine Iguanas. Unlike
other animals, the females lay
up to twenty eggs at a time and
are yellow/orange with brown
spots. The marine iguanas
are the world's only, marine
lizard and only lives on the
Galapagos Islands. They can
stay on the ocean floor for an
hour before returning for air.
We had to he careful in our
walk as there were so many
just basking in the sun.
The rocks seemed full of the
Sally Lightfoot Crabs. They
are on every island and live
on rocky terrain. Their name
came from British sailors
because they are bright red
in color and contrast with the
dark black lava rocks.
For T-shirt lovers, they sell
shirts at Santa Cruz with the
inscription, "We love Boo-
bies." This is in difference
to the Boobie bird which is
in abundance on all of the
islands and come in several
families. They have a tear
drop shaped, a conical bill
and plunge down into the
water with their beaks open
to feed on the schools of fish.
There are four major types of
Boobies: Waza Boobie, Red
Footed Boobie, White Phased
Boobie and the Blue footed
Boobie. My personal favorite
is the light blue footed one. It
is also the least abundant but
we saw many of them.
Our group donned wet suits
to go into the water to see the
sea turtles and the large sting
rays. Of course, there were
also numerous Galapagos
sea lions in various states of
enjoyment: sleeping, play-
ing, swimming and talking.
There are approximately fifty
thousand of these lious on the
islands. While they are a bean-
tiful animal, they make lousy
husbands. The mother usually
only has one pup a year. She is
totally responsible for them for
about five months without any
help from the bull who sired
them. The buU sea lion appears
to be friendly but cannot also
be very angry if he perceives
that someone is invading his
territory. In the water, they joy-
fully play with the snorkelers.
They seem to enjoy fights
with other males for breeding
rights and can turn into a serf-
ous fighter if they so desire:
While the mother raises and
the water. This was one of feeds her pup, the old sealion
the greatest scenes of the jo'msagroupofbachelorbullsI
trip. The green sea turtles are
mostly found in lagoons and
inshore. They nest on sandy
beaches but only reach sexual
maturity at about twenty-five
years of age. Unfortunately,
the feral pigs dig up the eggs
and destroy whole nests.
and form a community after
mating and live a good life of
simply enjoying the sun and
just being lazy. We leave these
islands which a great feeling
of pleasure, no cell phones,
no emails, no twitter, but
great conversation, scenery
Another day we took our and fantastic animals. The
panga to Urbina Islandto walk people are gracious and the
around numerous kinds of trip met every expectation.
These hemus are totally black Iguanas. Ourlong walktook us But, I still have serious doubts
ment. They in fact use the in color and blend in with the to observe both land Iguanas as about Darwin's Theory.
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