Tortuga Bay Beach
This Galapagos beach is a pristine location covered with beautiful white sand beach. It is considered to be as one of the most beautiful beaches in Galapagos. It is great for swimming, snorkeling and even surfing. The sunsets here are just stunning.
Gardner Bay Beach
From volcanoes that violently erupted out of the sea emerged this archipelago of volcanic islands. Galapagos Island is a wonderful example of “The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection” and “The Theory of Natural Selection” of Charles Darwin. At present, the island is beaming with visitors who want to experience its remote beauty while staying at a Galapagos Island hotel.
Tourists who want to see the extraordinary fare of Galapagos, travel first into Quito and from there, you can already arrange activities as well as tours to this mainland of Ecuador. While in this region, places you should see include the Avenue of the Volcanoes – Mindo; Banos and the city centers as well as the colonial haciendas of Quito and Cuenca. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the most notable features of Galapagos Islands are its unique flora and fauna. It remains a national park; province and biological marine reserve open to tourists who want to explore its insurmountable beauty.
Although the Galapagos remained untouched by man until fairly recently, the effects of man’s short presence in the islands have been disastrous upon their fragile ecosystem. First, the pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and then the whalers and sealers of the nineteenth, carried off hundreds of thousands of giant tortoises to store as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. At the same time they introduced various types of mammals that established themselves on a number of islands. Some, such as rats, disembarked involuntarily from the sailing ships, while others, like goats, were intentionally set free in order to provide these early sailors with meat.
In 1832 the islands were claimed by Ecuador, and with their annexation came the first permanent settlers. It was only natural that these colonists, as well as later settlers, would bring with them a thorough stock of domestic animals, as well as many other living organisms that they transported unknowingly. As a result, the majority of the islands today carry an assortment of these relics, including cattle, horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and many introduced insects and plants. In many places these have caused severe damage to the native flora and fauna. Most gravely affected by predation from pigs and dogs were the tortoises, land iguanas, and dark-rumped (or Hawaiian) petrels. Unable to resist pressure from the introduced black rats, four out of six species of endemic rice rats have become extinct. Also, on a number of islands goats and other herbivores have seriously altered the native vegetation. Among the major islands only Tower and Fernandina have completely escaped such introductions so far.
In general people from the Galapagos Islands are very warm, friendly and always willing to help visitors.
The population in Galapagos is of around 20,000 and their main activities are fishing and tourism.
Galapagos culture is a mixture between the people that came from the highlands, the Amazon Jungle and the coast of Ecuador.
The Galapagos Islands are largely famous because of the observations Charles Darwin made there in the 19th century. These observations helped him to formulate his theory of evolution by natural selection. It was a great place to make such observations because the variety of wildlife there is astonishing. Here are some of the animals you might expect to see if you ever visit the Galapagos Islands.
1. Galapagos Tortoises
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpuppy/2066709672/
Kicker Rock’s name in Spanish may be the Sleeping Lion, but jumping into the water of the canal is sure to make your adrenaline rise. That fact is not due to the friendly sea lions that come to greet you – it’s due to the Galapagos Sharks lurking just below the surface.
Espanola Island is the southeastern island of the Galapagos archipelago and is a favorite nesting place for many sea birds. The island lies in the path of the South Equatorial current. So, the surrounding waters are cool.
The island is home to the waved albatross, or the Phoebastria irrorata. Each year, at the end of March, this species of albatross returns to the island to nest and lay eggs. The bird lives on the island right till the end of December to ensure that its chicks are healthy enough to migrate in winter. The Espanola Island is home to approximately 34,000 waved albatrosses.
If you planning on visiting the Galapagos Islands, you might be wondering when is it the best time to do so. The first thing to understand is that you can visit the islands whenever you want and during any time of the year. The islands are just too wonderful to miss out immaterial of the season or month.
Nonetheless, like every place, there is a best time to visit the Galapagos Islands and that is the so-called transition months. In order to understand what the transition months are, you should first understand a little bit about the weather and climate of the islands.
