Monday October 2, 2006

John Dallas, our limo driver, stopped by Deborah’s house at 7:10 a.m., and husband Bob McWhirter and son Sam were there to see Deborah off. At 7:20 Deborah and John arrived at Chuck’s condo at King and Yonge where Nancy saw them off.

Our ‘trip of a lifetime’ was officially under way!

We took the Gardiner Expressway to the airport – Skyservice Esso Avitat is the private airport that celebrities like Mick Jagger use to park their private jets when visiting
Toronto. Upon arrival there we were greeted by Travel Guild Inc. representatives who organized our luggage and showed us into the waiting area. Everyone was upbeat. Many Deborah worked together on a project with Versus people had been on other Travel Guild excursions or similar group trips. This was the first occasion for Chuck and Deborah to travel ‘en masse’.

You normally don’t expect to run into people you know on a trip of this kind, but Deborah noticed Mare and Morgan McCague milling about in the crowd. Morgan and Deborah worked on a project together at Versus Technologies several years ago, so it was a happy surprise to see them again. Morgan retired earlier this year from his senior fund management position at Teacher’s Pension Plan.

We boarded the plane at around 10;00 a.m. and were bound for Baltra, an island which is part of the Galapagos island chain. For security and county flight regulation reasons, we had to first land in Ecuador, which added another couple of hours to our excursion. Any frustration felt by us and our travel companions was eased by our flight crew who were amazing. They are an attractive bunch from Air Iceland, and include a half dozen flight attendants, three pilots and a mechanic. We flew a 757 outfitted with Rolls Royce engines. The crew and sturdy aircraft made us feel safe, protected and happy.

Arriving in the Galapagos

The distance from Toronto to Galapagos is 3108 miles. The Islands are on Central Standard Time and the natives speak Spanish (native) and English. The Galapagos are an archipelago of several volcanic islands located in the Pacific Ocean about 650 miles west of Ecuador.

The ‘Ninfi Hotel’ where we stayed was, to put it politely, rustic. The tour group was divided into three groups, Red, Blue and Green – we were in the Blue Group, appropriately named because much of the time we spent at the Ninfi was in search of hot water. At least the warm climate meant taking a cold shower was bearable.

Fortunately, we didn’t spend a lot of time at the hotel and focused on enjoying the many amazing things the Galapagos offers.

October 3…the sightseeing begins…

After breakfast we headed to the Charles Darwin Research Center, a short walk from the Ninfi. The town is a mish-mash of mostly small, grim structures predominantly made from cement block, wood and plaster. It is not a pretty town, but the locals make up for the lack of physical attractiveness in their buildings. They are a friendly and hospitable people who take pride in their homeland and are devoted to protecting the environment.

We saw many species of animals at the Darwin Center, including several species of tortoise, iguana, crabs, and tropical birds. One tortoise we ‘met’ was ‘Lonesome Charlie’ who was born on Santa Cruz. He is the sole surviving tortoise of his species, which means that when Charlie buys the farm his species dies, unless the center can find others of his variety and can mate them. ‘Lonesome’ Charlie’s name is actually a misnomer, as he lives with two female tortoises, although not of his species. Charlie isn’t terribly romantic with his lady roommates and so no ‘new’ Charlies are expected to be born. It’s estimated that Charlie is about 80 years old, and he could live another 100+ years as tortoise have been widely documented to reach 200-250 years of age.

In the afternoon we took a bus to the higher land areas and saw many more varieties of tortoise, and an incredible array of vegetation. The island’s higher ground and rainier weather combines to create amazing plant life, including moss that grows high on the trees. We also visited ‘Los Gemelos’ (The Twins), the cinder cones of the island, which are massive holes in the shape of a cylinder. Millions of years ago as volcanic eruptions spewed blobs of lava, large pockets of air were formed. After the hot lava cooled, the air pockets remained, but were, in relative terms, fragile. As millenniums passed, the pockets finally collapsed under the weight of shifting land, which ultimately created the cinder cones. I tried to get Chuck to jump in as a human sacrifice but he wouldn’t comply – in keeping with his nature. This area is home to the Vermillion Flycatcher and the famous Darwin’s Finches (13 species). Throughout the day weather was overcast or rainy, although it never really poured for any extended time.


October 4…a sea voyage to remember…

The weather cooperated as we headed out for what would be a very memorable day. We traveled by bus then boat to North Seymour Island and Bachas Beach (Santa Cruz Island). This was truly an amazing day. We saw hammerhead sharks, seagulls, pelicans fishing, and frigate birds. Blue-footed boobies, the indigenous birds, known for their neon coloured blue feet greeted us, only to be outshined by the sea lions who took great pride in lolling along the shoreline’s hot rocks. One massive male sea lion commandeered the path from the boats to land – which prompted several dozen of us to start running like wildebeests chased by lions. Deborah decided that it would be prudent to stay away from the giant male as she didn’t want to end up being either 1) the sea lion’s lunch; or 2) join his harem. After an amazing tour of the ‘mini island’ and a fabulous lunch of local fish prepared by the boat crew, we headed to Bachas Beach, where Chuck met up with a bunch of pink flamingoes.



The beach was absolute perfection -- silky soft grains of sand that were so fine you could barely feel them underfoot. Similarly, the water was crystal clear in shades of turquoise, deep blue and moss green. No wonder Darwin couldn’t believe his eyes when he arrived in the Galapagos.


While Deborah snorkeled she nicked her eyebrow on coral as the undertow pushed her into it. Thankfully, the small amount of blood the cut produced didn’t attract any sharks.
Our guide had earlier brought us up to see the flamingos, all pink from their shrimp diet, and easily balancing on one foot as they rested.

We found leaving the island difficult because there was so much to take in. It is an amazing place few people get to experience, and we were the lucky few who got the chance.