The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands that straddle the equator far out in the Pacific Ocean. They are a Province of Ecuador and are some 600 miles off the Ecuador coast. People mostly speak Spanish and the islands have less than 30,000 people.

Probably the greatest fame comes from Charles Darwin during his Voyage of the Beagle which visited the Galapagos Islands. Darwin’s study of the island’s endemic species contributed to his theory of evolution by natural selection.

The Galapagos have about 3,000 square miles of land spread out over 17,000 miles of ocean. Isabela, the largest island, makes up almost three-fourths of the total land area of the islands. The Galapagos consist of 18 main islands, 3 smaller islands, and over 100 islets.

The main lure in the Galapagos is the animals. They have many animals that are found nowhere else on earth. One key is that most of the animals here have no predators and hence, no fear of humans or other animals. That means that you can walk right up to most of them.

We flew to the Galapagos and back from Quito, Ecuador with a stopover at the Taura military base for passengers and fuel. We were in the Galapagos Islands in November 2004.

Most of our time was spent hiking and watching animals. Most of the Galapagos Islands seem to be one big park.

We did manage to have some time to relax. This was our first night on board our 16 passenger boat, the Carina, with our friends Ron and Patty. Life is good.

The last photo is just to show that we did do things other than watch animals. This was a hike down into lava tubes.