Monthly Archives: January 2011

Darwin's Return: Landing Party

Over the eons of time, the shifting currents of the Galapagos made immigration to the islands a difficult and rare occurrence. Today, visitors from all over the world splash ashore hourly. Visits to unpopulated islands such as Bartolomé Island, however, are strictly regulated by the national park service of Ecuador, which manages 97.5 percent of the Galapagos Archipelago.

Bartolomé Island is one of the few places left in the Galapagos where penguins can still be found, and we saw just one lonely looking penguin standing on the edge of the bay beneath Pinnacle Point.

Darwin's Return: Sea Lion Pup

A sea lion pup spots Darwin coming ashore, and flops over to properly welcome him to South Plaza Island, a small, crescent shaped island that is less than 500 feet wide. Today about 1,000 sea lions make the island their home.

Darwin landed on just four islands during his visit to the Galapagos aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835.

Darwin Returns to the Galapagos

I’m back from an extraordinary holiday voyage around the Galapagos archipelago. My traveling companion on the journey was none other than Charles Darwin, who spoke to me from a shelf at Archie McPhee, expressing a keen desire to make a return trip to the islands he visited 175 years ago, to “see how things have evolved.”

We had many adventures together. During the rest of this month, I’ll be posting a new photo every day from our visit to the Enchanted Isles that rocked the world.

I’m also cutting a short film shot during the trip on my Canon 60D and lovely little Canon S95 with Ikelite underwater housing, which I’ll post later this month. Enjoy.