Discovering New Worlds

Imagine visiting an exotic zoo coupled with a tropical aquarium. Except with no cages or tanks: each exhibit is its own island. And you get to wander and snorkel freely throughout, with the animals looking upon you with a reciprocal curiosity. That was our week in the Galápagos.

Our trip over both land and sea covered only ~one degree of latitude and longitude, an area smaller than 5,000 square-miles (half the size of Vermont). Yet the diversity of rock formations, landscapes, flora and fauna, and ecosystems often couldn’t be more different from one nearby island to the next. This juxtaposition of uniqueness despite such close proximity is some of what makes the Galápagos so special.

A volcanic hot spot exists under the earth’s crust in this spot, which creates the entire geography. As the tectonic plates move, magma is released to the surface to form new islands or shape existing ones. These plates are moving more rapidly here than say Hawaii, which makes the Galápagos Islands smaller and quicker to change on a geologic scale. With their nearness to one another, species are able to migrate and adapt to the unique characteristics and biomes of each island. Evolution literally happens faster here, which makes these places ideal locations to observe, study, test, and refine. (Five days with our tour guide now makes me really sound smart…)

This trip inspired the joy of childlike curiosity for our entire family as we were consistently amazed by so many surprising—and unforgettable—sights and sounds. So what better way to share these experiences than through the eyes of our own children? (At least until I figure out how to link the corresponding videos to each of the photos shared below.) A combined retelling using excerpts from Connor & Keegan’s travels journals:

“First when we arrived we went to our hotel and it had four beds and a pull out couch. Next we went to the town to explore. In the town it was hot and it has a lot of restaurants and hotels. The coolest thing of all was seeing, right now the middle of town, there were sea lions, crabs, iguanas, but one sea lion was laying on a bench sleeping. Our second day there we went on a cruise. On the cruise we went snorkeling.  Once I got into the water there rocks surrounding us. It was deep and narrow. I saw fish that were a foot long and they were all different colors. I love Puerto Ayora, it’s so cool to see everything, especially the animals.

After we drove in a taxi, water taxi, and bus we made it to the airport in Baltra. Now we had to meet our tour guide. We looked and looked for our tour guide and then eventually found him. His name was Javier. Once we met him we headed to the boat. Then when Javier arrived we went for a hike. When the hike ended we could take a nap or chill until debriefing. The first day was great.

Day 2 in the boat was okay even though I was a little sea sick. But what was fun was snorkeling. We saw a water snake. I also saw a spotted puffer fish. Our tour guide Javier also saw a shark and a sting ray. It was as me, Keegan, and my dad. My mom was sick. In the afternoon we went on a hike in dried lava. After that we went snorkeling. Under water is like a new world. We saw a water snake, lobsters, and a shark.  The snake was 3 feet long, it was red with stripes of black. The coolest thing were the lobsters that were 2 feet! Also I am the one that spotted the sea snake. Later that night at about 9 we went looking for sharks off the back of the boat. We didn’t see sharks but we saw the biggest sea lion of my life! It was swimming under the boat trying to catch fish. One of the times it smashed the boat trying to catch a fish. Day 2 was awesome. We saw a lot of animals on land and in the sea. I can’t wait for day three.

Wednesday was a calm day on the boat. First in the morning we went for a quick hike. Passengers got off and on and we also got a new tour guide. His name was Martin.  After that we took a hike. Then we had more chill time. After that it was debriefing and dinner and then bed. The day was calm but still amazing.

On Thursday we went for a hike in the morning, and in the afternoon we went snorkeling and on a hike. We saw sting rays, sea turtles, and fish. Snorkeling was amazing. We saw sea lions right when we got into the water. Also one sea lion hit my dad with its flipper, it was funny. Also there was a huge school of razor fish, also puffer fish. We also saw green sea turtles and leather back turtles. We also saw rays. When we ended our snorkel we went for a hike. We saw giant land iguanas. Santa Fe was my favorite island of all. It was great there and I can’t wait until tomorrow.

Friday morning we had breakfast and then went on a speed boat for about 2 hours. When we got to Santa Cruz we returned our snorkeling gear and then we ate soup and ice cream for lunch. After lunch we went to the airport for our first plane to Quito and our second plane to Guayaquil. Galápagos was so fun no matter what island we were on!”