Voyage on The Beagle, Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos is nature’s playground. It’s a dreamy wildlife paradise with a giant natural aquarium, colourful coves and dramatic luna-landscapes where you can get up-close and personal with nature.
Just like Charles Darwin, I cruised the Galapagos Islands on the HMS Beagle. Although my Beagle experience may have been a tad more luxe than Darwin’s experience and I contributed zippo to the theory of evolution but plenty to the bar bill.
The most profoundly striking experience for me was witnessing the animals of the Galapagos Islands and how remarkably unaffected they are by human presence, despite the rise in tourism. They wade, waddle and soar around you with complete nonchalance to you being in their domain.
Over 8 magical days we sailed, snorkelled, hiked, darted about in a zodiac and marvelled at the abundance of wildlife around us. In the Galapagos, you’re never alone; a whales fin gliding past, a turtle popping up and birds soaring above. Often unnerving but always fascinating.
Every day my wildlife tally exceeded my expectations. And everyday I had an intimate encounter with a new animal friend that I will treasure forever.
The tick-list is extensive - in fact, it would be simpler to list the wildlife we didn’t see. But for my memory bank, I’ve captured the majority here.
Snorkelling under the sea
Galapagos Sea Lion
Galapagos Fur Seal
Pacific Green Turtles
Hammerhead Sharks
School of Manta Rays
Spotted Eagle Rays
Diamond Rays
Golden Rays
Sun Fish
Flightless Cormorants
Marine Iguanas
Galapagos shark over 2.5m
Galapagos Penguins
Star Fish (yellow and orange)
Sea Urchins (black and green)
Blue Octopus
Pyramid Sea Star (blue and yellow)
Panama Cshion Star Fish
Chocolate Chip Sea Star
Orange Sea Horse
On land
Open air museum (bones of whales, iguana and birds)
Marine Iguanas
Sally Lightfoot Crabs
Lava Lizards
Grottos with Sea Lions
Mangroves
Volcano crater lake
Finches
Galapagos snake
Land Iguanas
Hermit Crabs
Punta Moreno lava field
Galapagos Giant Tortoise
Flamingo lagoon
Hike Sierra Negra Volcano
Birdlife
Red Foot Boobies
Blue Foot Boobies
Nazca Boobie
Short-eared Owl
Frigatebird
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Crown Lava Hair
Great Blue Heron
Pelicans
Mocking Bird
Galapagos Albatros
Storm-Petrel
Lava Gull
Swallow-tailed Gull
Oystercatcher
Flamingo
Galapagos hawk
Smooth-billed Ani
So many of Darwin’s Finches!
From the boat
Dolphins
Fin Whale
Manta Rays 4m wing tip to tip
Totally wild moments:
Standing metres from a Sea Lion and her pup only a few hours old. The placenta still by her side, we watched the pup take its first suck of milk - once she finally found the teat.
Swimming with 3 playful Sea Lions
Watching an Short-Eared Owl devour its prey
Sitting on the shore watching a Penguin play in front of me, a Sea Lion roll around beside me, a Turtle float around and a pelican do a fly-by.
Swimming with Turtles everyday
Witnessing an endless feeding frenzy of Pelicans, Penguins and Blue Footed Boobies
Seeing the majestic Great Blue Heron catch and eat a Lava Lizard
Putting the sails up on The Beagle and cruising the islands
The baby Sea Lion who played around our zodiac
Kayaking with Sea Lions
All of the boobies!
Being amazed by the jumping Manta Rays
Frigets stealing fish from Blue Footed Boobies
Stumbling across a Sea Lion eating octopus
For me, the Galapagos Islands always seemed like a mystical, faraway place that I would be lucky to see. It is tainted by the ‘expensive brush’ but despite forking out a fair chunk of cash for this ocean adventure, I’d do it again in a heart beat. In fact, having disembarked positively beaming from 8 days of totally wild wandering, I’ll never give the money a second thought. The amount of activities, encounters and experiences I had was priceless .
Fact: The name Galapagos originates from the Spanish word for saddle. The Spanish were intrigued by the giant land tortoise whose shell reminded them of the saddle and so Galapagos Islands was gifted this name.
DO IT
Our journey took us through the west side of the Galapagos Islands. Starting in Baltra, sailing to sandy beach of Santiago, across to eery, bird-haven Genovesa Island then rounded Isabela Island, taking in Fernandina Island before disembarking on Santa Cruz. The Beagle is owned by a Galapagos family and there’s beautiful symbolism riding aboard this ship - even the wifi password was CharlesDarwin. The family has thought of every little detail to make this a trip of a lifetime. It’s simply unmissable.
Instagram: @thelisaphillips #somedaysherpa
