Galapagos, Day 1 -- I´ve Died and Gone to Heaven

I just finished my first day in the Galapagos, and it has already been worth all of the time and money I am spending on this. Today was a dream come true. To those of you who know me, the picture below should say it all:


We spent the entire day observing various species of male and female Galapagos tortoises ranging in age from 2 to 200 years and in weight from a few ounces to 450 pounds. We were able to walk around with the turtles and even take close-up photos with them, such as the one posted above. What an experience! We also saw iguanas and various species of plants native to the island, but the turtles obviously stole the show. We learned that the Galapagos Islands once had 14 different species of turtles, but 3 of those are extinct, leaving 11 species today. One turtle, aptly named Lonesome George, is the only male turtle left of his species, which native to the island of Pinta in the Galapagos (see map below). He is in the same area as two females of his species, but so far, he has refused to mate with them. At 80 years old, he is only a teenager, so they are hoping that he will mate with one of them by the time he is 200 or so. In any event, they have several years to figure out how to clone him.

Here is a map of the Galapagos:

We are on the Southern part of the island of Santa Cruz, and this is where many of the Galapagos turtles can be found. In the coming days, we will be visiting other parts of the island, as well as other islands.

Tomorrow we will be swimming and snorkelling with sea lions. More on that then...