That´s not true, actually. The Galapagos are not really going any place any time soon (except perhaps by growing bigger as their volcanoes continue to erupt). But if the beleaguered and venerable Land Before Time cartoon series ever wants to make a live movie, these Ecuadorian islands are the perfect place for them! The scenery, animals, and remote locale feel Jurasic as much as they look even more so. Let me paint the scene for you... there are over a dozen different islands some of which are large enough for multiple active volcanoes and a 30,000 person town to inhabit and some are so small that the 500 meter dash would result in a splash ending if the island were hosting. To get to each island requires anywhere from 3 hours to two days on a boat. We stayed for 10 days on a boat exploring an island every morning and evening. Between island visits, we snorkeled in the crystal clear waters with sharks, rays, sea turtles, and tuna.
A ray underwater, there were sharks around here too (although rays are actually just sharks with enlarged fins).
What were on these islands that made us want to explore more than one? Each island either had one or two unique animals on them or a unique environment in which to watch the behavior of the animals up close. I do mean up close, often sea lions (the most abundant creature on the islands) would belly flop on our path or jump in the small boat that ferried us to islands while we were eating a meal on the main ship for an afternoon siesta.
Sea lion cubs are ADORABLE!
What are the animals like? Well, first there are the mini-godzillas. No, I am serious. Godzilla was modeled after the mug of the marine iguanas who tend to lie on each other´s backs and bob their heads up and down in jerky movements that turn each other on.
Japan is next for this one!
The iguanas are everywhere.
Fortunately, they are only about 1 foot long and when our presence bothered them, rather than destroy us with fire, they started sneezing in our general direction spraying us with the salty mucous that was emptied from their salt glands. Sometimes, beside the marine iguanas, slightly larger and often multi-colored (red, green, beige, black, and orange) land iguanas would wander by eating the yellow flowers of the cacti that dotted the islands. Birds were also a mainstay of the paths that we walked. Blue footed boobies performed their mating dance by lifting one of their audacious treads up in the air slowly and then the other. The only penguin in Northern Hemisphere made an appearance, bravely defying any traditional wisdom that penguins only live in the cold. Bright red crabs fought each other as they scurried over most rocks while 2 day old sea lions bellowed most pathetically to find their mothers and then proceeded to make the loudest suckling noises on record. As a side note, sea lion mothers were not always happy to feed their little tikes resulting in some very hilarious tumbling, biting, additional pathetic child bellowing, and even some face slaps with flippers.
SLAP!
Just be glad that your two year old is not able to crawl on your face while you are napping. And then there were the turtles. There were the sea turtles whose bedroom antics we were privy to (the mating process is done in the water and takes forever!
The poor female has to have her head underwater the whole time while the male clamps on top...enough said.) but they are common enough in the world. It is the Galapagos Tortoise whose slow movements, scaly old-man faces, and general out-of-time-and-place aura places them as extras in Jurassic Park (see the next entry).
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