Just another day, another beastly reception, on another of the Galapagos Islands. The revolutionary volume details the animal and plant life that evolved independently of the rest of the world on this isolated group of active volcanic islands - 13 major ones, six minor ones and dozens of islets. Some 80,000 humans flock to the Galapagos each year to bond with the few creatures that don't instinctively fear us. The Galapagos were proclaimed a national park in 1959, with 97 percent of the land placed under the protection of Ecuador's Forestry Service. Although it's no longer possible to visit the natural sites without an authorized guide, there are still lots of options for exploring.
Many visitors choose tour packages that include all meals and accommodations on a boat.
Sometimes we had breakfast en route to the islands, but generally lunch was our only movable feast. Of the four populated Galapagos islands, Santa Cruz has the most tourist lodgings and restaurants. We'd take a motorboat to the 302-ton Delfin II yacht, cruise a few hours, put on orange life vests, take a little boat to an island, explore, climb back in the little boat to the big boat to another island to the big boat to the hotel. Almost tripping over a napping blue-footed booby while backing up to snap a couple of land iguanas brings home how unafraid of people the islands' inhabitants really are. Which is not to suggest that all is entirely peaceable in this kingdom.