Our week in the Galapagos was spent on the Evolution, a comfortable boat with 18 crew, 31 passengers, 2 highly qualified guides - Jorge and Wilson, 2 Zodiac inflatable motor boats (the "Pangas"), and enough snorkeling equipment for all.  The days fell into a steady and active rhythm - up at 6:45am, hit the beaches for a nature walk by 8am, back to the boat for a 10am snorkel and then lunch and a siesta.  In the afternoons there were additional snorkel, hike and kayak activities, followed by a nature talk at 7pm and dinner at 7:30pm.  During the night we would pull up anchor and steam through the black seas to the next island, occasionally shadowed by nocturnal gulls or salty pelicans.   Our particular group was heavily focused on birding, and so the boat picked out a path stretching to the four edges of the Galapagos to see the rarest.  We covered 600 miles during the week! In the Galapogos you have an exceptional chance to see a huge number and variety of animals from a distance of inches.  Other people had sort of said this to me before, but I never quite grasped how amazing it would feel - even for nature newbies like us - to come that close.  The other blogs will cover the hiking, swimming and snorkeling but as this one is about the boat, I can say we did enjoy viewing quite a few animals from the Evolution itself.   We saw sharks swimming around the boat several times, mostly white-tip sharks about 6-10 feet long.  One day birds were circling an area of ocean near us.  We spotted two orcas - massive fins with curled tips sticking up out of the water - pursuing a herd of sea lions.  The sea lions were staying together as a pack and one or two of them would stop to peer around as they traveled.  When they saw us, they headed straight for our boat.  The orcas came a bit nearer and then left.

Later that day, we encountered a large pod of dolphins - at least 40  - crossing our path.  The first signal was a patch of white water churning in the distance and then black shapes bouncing out of the water.  As the boat drew nearer we could see many dolphins, leaping out of the air well over the height of a man's head, seemingly for sheer joy.  It is hard to describe the great happiness and lifting of the soul that came upon the faces of the passengers and crew when so many dolphins swam past.  Some deep pleasure drew all of us to stare longingly at them, a species with an intelligence approaching man's.  How feeble our gas-chugging boat and clumsy snorkeling gear when they could fly so easily through the waves.  As we mutually turned away, I wondered if they had taken any notice of us and gasped when I saw one pull aside, stop and wave before they finally faded out of view. Another day we saw a pilot whale in the distance, spouting water perhaps ten feet into the air.  I had always imagined a geyser of water but this spray was more fine - like a plant mister.  For a really BIG plant.  Late in the trip we were waiting for the Zodiacs to pick us up from the beach, when a flock of Galapagos penguins swam by.  These cute little guys are so fast that it is hard to get your camera onto one, but we managed a few pictures.  After many weeks on the road as a single family, we enjoyed meeting the fellow passengers and sharing the experience with them.  Many were tremendously knowledgeable about birds and biology, others were skilled at snorkeling, diving and boating - so we were eager students all week long.  Carter and Katherine were the only kids but they had no problems making friends.  Carter fell in with a crowd of adults playing cards each night!  By the last day he was challenging a German CEO to a friendly chess match.  Meanwhile Katherine learned how to catch crabs with chicken leg bait (this was theory not practice - no eating the sealife in the Galapagos).  Gina and I both enjoyed meeting lots of new couples and hearing about recent events in the States.  All in all, boating is an ideal way to see the Galapagos and a small boat like the Evolution is perfect for getting to know the fellow passengers, who all have a serious interest in wildlife and nature.