10/8/2014 Galapagos cruising on National Geographic science ship - CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/travel/galapagos-endeavour/ 1/5 Home U.S. World Politics Justice Entertainment Tech Health Living Travel Opinion iReport (CNN) -- My first foray into deep water brings me face to face with some of the islands' most ebullient locals. As shoals of slim surgeonfish, parrotfish and clownfish wind between the gray rocks and drift in the current, they suddenly appear -- six Galapagos sea lions -- fat sleek bullets that zoom right up to my mask, upside down and mouths open, before twisting away at the last minute. Clambering back into the Zodiac dinghy -- or panga, as they're known in the Galapagos -- for the short return trip to the National Geographic Endeavour, one fellow "explorer" quizzes our accompanying naturalist. "Oh, they won't bite you," he reassures us. Less reassuringly, he adds: "Maybe. But just a little." All the animals throughout the Galapagos National Park, more than 3,000 square miles of islands and islets 600 miles off Ecuador's mainland, are unperturbed by our presence. As there are no big predators -- or people -- on most of the islands the animals show no fear. More from CNN: CNN Money: Promoted Stories: Where science meets luxury: Cruising the Galapagos on National Geographic's ship By Gemma Price, for CNN updated 9:02 PM EDT, Thu September 18, 2014 SET EDITION: U.S. INTERNATIONAL MÉXICO ARABIC TV: CNN CNNi CNN en Español HLN Sign up Log in TV & Video Money Sports << < > >> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 HIDE CAPTION Like playful puppies, sea lions often fight each other. Probably best to leave them at it. Dueling sea lions STORY HIGHLIGHTS Blue-footed boobies, Galapagos penguins and marine iguanas are some of the species only found in the Galapagos The Galapagos National Park is over 3,000 square miles of islands and islets located 600 miles off Ecuador's mainland GNPS designs the itinerary and scheduled landings for every ship to reduce pressure on the islands Wildlife filmmaker gets close encounter. LeBron James and Steve Ballmer win big in NBA deal Source: '7th Heaven' actor's accuser waited too long Wal-Mart cuts health benefits for 30,000 part-timers 'NBA 2K15' face scans create mutant horrors Eiffel Tower gets dizzying glass floor Superkilen: Welcome to Europe's strangest public park Branson: Take as much vacation as you want! Sex Valley: Tech's booming prostitution trade 11 Things You Should Never Do Again After 50 A Giant 10-Acre Lagoon Full of Gators Makes for an SHARE THIS Print Email 297 Recommend More sharing You've selected the U.S. Edition. Would you like to make this your default edition? Yes | No Close Part of complete coverage on Elite Escapes
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10/8/2014 Galapagos cruising on National Geographic science ship - CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/travel/galapagos-endeavour/ 1/5
Home U.S. World Politics Justice Entertainment Tech Health Living Travel Opinion iReport
(CNN) -- My first foray into deep water brings me face to face withsome of the islands' most ebullient locals.
As shoals of slim surgeonfish, parrotfish and clownfish wind betweenthe gray rocks and drift in the current, they suddenly appear -- sixGalapagos sea lions -- fat sleek bullets that zoom right up to mymask, upside down and mouths open, before twisting away at thelast minute.
Clambering back into the Zodiac dinghy -- or panga, as they'reknown in the Galapagos -- for the short return trip to the NationalGeographic Endeavour, one fellow "explorer" quizzes ouraccompanying naturalist.
"Oh, they won't bite you," he reassures us. Less reassuringly, headds: "Maybe. But just a little."
All the animals throughout the Galapagos National Park,more than 3,000 square miles of islands and islets 600miles off Ecuador's mainland, are unperturbed by ourpresence.
As there are no big predators -- or people -- on most of theislands the animals show no fear.
More from CNN:
CNN Money:
Promoted Stories:
Where science meets luxury: Cruising theGalapagos on National Geographic's shipBy Gemma Price, for CNNupdated 9:02 PM EDT, Thu September 18, 2014
SET EDITION: U.S. INTERNATIONAL MÉXICO ARABIC
TV: CNN CNNi CNN en Español HLN
Sign up Log in
TV & Video Money Sports
<< < > >>1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
HIDE CAPTION
Like playful puppies, sea lions oftenfight each other. Probably best toleave them at it.
Dueling sea lions
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Blue-footed boobies, Galapagospenguins and marine iguanasare some of the species onlyfound in the Galapagos
The Galapagos National Park isover 3,000 square miles ofislands and islets located 600miles off Ecuador's mainland
GNPS designs the itinerary andscheduled landings for everyship to reduce pressure on theislands
Wildlife filmmaker gets close encounter.
LeBron James andSteve Ballmer win bigin NBA deal
Source: '7th Heaven'actor's accuserwaited too long
Wal-Mart cuts healthbenefits for 30,000part-timers
'NBA 2K15' facescans create mutanthorrors
Eiffel Tower getsdizzying glass floor
Superkilen: Welcometo Europe's strangestpublic park
Branson: Take asmuch vacation as youwant!
Sex Valley: Tech'sbooming prostitutiontrade
11 Things YouShould Never DoAgain After 50
A Giant 10-AcreLagoon Full of GatorsMakes for an
SHARE THISPrint
297RecommendMore sharing
You've selected the U.S. Edition. Would you like to make this your default edition? Yes | No Close
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10/8/2014 Galapagos cruising on National Geographic science ship - CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/travel/galapagos-endeavour/ 2/5
And because many species are endemic to the Galapagos or evenone of its 13 main islands, there's literally nowhere else in the worldthat you can have this kind of encounter.
MORE: 7 spots for prime wildlife viewing
Sailing for science
I'm aboard the conservation-focused, naturalist-ledLindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Endeavour, aship that lets passengers connect with life both above andbelow the waves through kayak and Zodiac excursions.
Unbelievably, the uninhabited islands are much as CharlesDarwin experienced them in 1885.
Floreana, the second island on which Darwin landed, still has a "postoffice" that dates back to whaling days when crews would leave mailin a rum barrel.
People still leave postcards here to be hand delivered by futurevisitors (those I addressed to the UK arrived within two weeks viahands unknown).
"It's a land left untamed ... One of the last parts of the world that'sreally wild," says fellow passenger Jim Calaway, an investmentsportfolio manager from Illinois.
Daily recaps and talks by eminent scientistsgive cruises their characteristic research-meets-education feel.
Voyages also have a strong photographyslant, with most on-board naturalists certifiedas photo instructors by National Geographic.
On Espanola, we boulder-hop along roughtrails to reach an albatross nesting site, oftenstepping over groups of inky charcoal blackmarine iguanas.
Genovesa's rough, lunar landscape seems inhospitable but teemswith seabirds, including half a million red footed boobies -- the largestpopulation in the world.
Walking through prickly pear trees along a sandy path to SantaCruz's aptly named "Cerro Dragon," (Dragon Hill) we spot 28 dusty-yellow-brown Galapagos land iguanas.
During that afternoon's ride to the eastern shore of Santa Cruz,dubbed "El Eden" for its scenic beauty, naturalist Giancarlo Totidoles out photo tips in time for us to snap a great blue heron feedingits gulping chick.
"I love these cruises because there's always one special thing foreverybody," says Toti. "This for me was the most special thing thistime -- the heron feeding its chick. I have never seen that before."
MORE: 5 stunning places to see penguins
Exploration highlights
Exploring the Galapagos Marine Reserve -- the second largest in theworld at more than 50 square miles -- is as integral to the expeditionexperience as the guided hikes across the islands.
On one of the daily snorkel expeditions I spot octopi, manta rays anda solitary Galapagos penguin, puffed up as if to officiate, on variousexcursions.
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The beautiful wildlife of the Galapagos
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10/8/2014 Galapagos cruising on National Geographic science ship - CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/18/travel/galapagos-endeavour/ 3/5
Although the Endeavour -- named for CaptainCook's former command -- doesn't offerscuba diving, single-day excursions can bearranged with a local operator; it's also theonly ship cruising the park with anunderwater specialist and a remotelyoperated vehicle on board.
While tourism to the region has tripled in thelast 20 years -- just over 200,000 peoplevisited the Galapagos last year -- visitors
cruising the islands with responsible operators are helping to correctthe damage caused by over hunting and species introduced bysailors, whalers and pirates.
Sixty percent of each visitor's $100 entrance fee goes directly to theGalapagos National Park Service, funding rangers, naturalists andconservation work.
Expedition leader Paula Tagle says only 84ships have been allowed in the national parksince she began working there in 1997, ofwhich only four are similar in size to the 96-passenger Endeavour.
There are strictly enforced park rules -- allvisitors must be accompanied by a naturalistand vice versa, with no more than 16 peopleat any one time -- GNPS also schedulesitineraries and landings for every ship toreduce pressure on the islands.
The downside of such regimentation is there's no lingering. Theupshot is never seeing another ship or any other "explorers."
With an ever-growing influx of tourist dollars comes more domesticmigration to the Galapagos.
Tagle says poorly controlled growth in the inhabited areas and othertypes of non-cruise tourism are what need attention, rather than thenational park area.
"I think 55% of visitors now do the [island hopping] kind of tourismversus 45% that come to the ships to spend the night, like [on theEndeavour].
"But even more are going to the towns that have grown in adisorganized way," she adds.
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Tortoise breeding
Hearing the story of Lonesome George, the last known of the PintaIsland tortoises and the symbol of the Galapagos (he died at theCharles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz in 2012) bringshome the importance of the conservation controls.
Although George's caretakers are still watching his two femalecompanions in the hope that they might yet lay eggs -- femaletortoises can store viable sperm in their bodies for up to three yearsbefore fertilizing themselves -- the species is now believed to beextinct.
But many initiatives at the Darwin facility have been a success,including a project to revive Espanola's dwindling tortoise populationusing "Super" Diego, an especially virile Espanola tortoise returnedto the Galapagos from San Diego Zoo.
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"Eighty percent of the center's hatchlings -- so anywhere from 70 to150 hatchlings a year -- come from Diego and his five girlfriends,"naturalist Gilda Gonzalez tells me, with a wink.
Santa Cruz is also a great place to see gianttortoises in their natural habitat.
After a quick stop at a local sugar cane mill --and a warming tot of the local moonshine --we arrive at a highland farm, pull on rubberboots and stride off into orchards full of wildtortoises, flattening bushes and bulldozingsaplings as they move from one juicy clusterof leaves to the next.
Keen eyesight and hearing is not their strongsuit -- smell is a giant tortoise's best sense -- so we approach frombehind to pose for surreptitious photos as they continue theirmethodic chomping.
It's only when we pass a tortoise close to the path that he notices usand retreats into his shell with a long, deflationary hiss.
"Today we are very lucky to see 11 tortoises -- sometimes therearen't any up here," says naturalist Ximena Cordova.
"It takes them three months to come up to the highlands to mate andthree months to go back to the lowlands to give birth. These guys aresmart -- they're waiting up here for the females to come back."
For me, seeing these huge hulking carapaces thriving once again intheir natural habitat, is one of the most memorable encounters of thetrip.
"Conservation is a big theme and every day we talk about resultshere, results there ... I think it gives hope to people to restore otherplaces," says expedition leader Tagle.
"We have a saying -- if you can make it here, you can make itanywhere."
Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic operates 10-dayexpeditions (a seven-day cruise + transfers) aboard NationalGeographic Endeavour and National Geographic Islander departingSan Cristobal and Baltra, year-round.
Cruises are priced from $5,490 per person based on doubleoccupancy, exclusive of international flights and internal flights toGalapagos; +1 212 261 9000.
Gemma Price is a freelance travel writer and spent a week aboard National GeographicEndeavour on a trip to the Galapagos in August 2014.
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