Destination: GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador

Call of the wild

People and animals face each other without fear on the Galapagos Islands

By SHARON LLOYD SPENCE -- Special to Sun Media

A blue-footed booby. -- Photos by Sharon Lloyd Spence

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador -- Wild animals have always intrigued me. At six, I relished long summer evenings capturing unlucky fireflies. Hundreds glowed inside my jelly jar, a thrilling nightlight.

 My next wild pal was the box turtle hissing underneath our Rose Of Sharon bush. We met secretly all summer over stolen salad leftovers. To prove my devotion, I never confined him to a shoebox. Of course, one fall day he vanished. A wild animal doesn't need a nerdy girl.

 Busy with work, marriage and adultisms, I forgot all about wild animals until my early thirties. One day, mysteriously drawn to the zoo, I fell in love with elephants, tigers and bears. I envied their beauty, their arrogance. Prisoners for life, yes, but still programmed to kill if I got too close. Their innate wildness was stronger than my pseudo bravura.

 By middle age, I, too, was a prisoner for life. Sixty hours a week in a windowless office, I slaved at dull work to pay my bills. Divorced, sharing a cramped city apartment with a girlfriend, there was little wildness in my days.

 Perusing a nature magazine, I was mesmerized by one photo. Dazzling blue feet. Beak and tail pointed skyward. Wings spread wide. Was this a bird angel?

 "Blue-footed booby birds, found only in the Galapagos Islands" the caption noted, "perform joyous courtship dances."

 Birds with intense blue feet so crazy in love they dance?

 I took leave from work, maxed my credit card and, a week later, was 600 miles west of Ecuador. I would dance with blue feet or die.

 The Galapagos Islands: The Spanish called them "Las Encantadas," Enchanted Islands. Last wild place on earth where people and animals can face each other without fear. Eye to eye with birds, sea lions, iguanas, crabs and tortoises, I admired their ability to lead joyful lives despite daily survival challenges. Animal parents created homes where they loved each other and their children.

 Inspired by what I saw, I returned home empowered. I quit my dull job to become a writer and teacher. I met and married my soulmate. A bit of wildness sneaks out unexpectedly everyday now.

 Ten happy years passed. Missing those bewitching blue feet, I returned again last month.

 SAN CRISTOBAL ISLAND: The sun has set on this volcanic island for three million years. Tonight, my beach companions are nine sea lions snuggled against each other like question marks. A baby opens one sleepy oval eye in a curious stare. Golden whiskers jut from a black nose. I'm tempted to caress her gleaming brown fur.

 Suddenly, an eight-foot bull charges out of the sea, barking ferociously. Rearing on front fins, he insists I move. No problem. Within seconds, Mr. Big sits on my towel, looking contentedly over his harem. Each lifts her nose for a kiss.

 "Asserting his manhood," laughs my guide Renato Perez. "Sea lions actually love playing with people. Their predators here are sharks, not humans."

 Out in the surf, snorkellers splash with a flirtatious sea lion. Laughing, they try to catch her, but she swims circles around them. Who is wilder, the snorkellers or the sea lion?

 Is this what our world was like before fear?

 SANTIAGO ISLAND: Along the crashing surf, hundreds of crimson crabs float half submerged in blue tidal pools. They scuttle into narrow lava crevices as I approach, but after a few seconds, they pop back out.

 "Sally Lightfoots are the most photographed crabs in the world," Renato smiles proudly. "Shy at first, but we call them Galapagos Islands' 'Welcoming Committee.' "

 I photograph a sea of waving claws.

 We scramble up the lunar-like landscape of sharp, black rocks where marine iguanas pose grandly like prehistoric dinosaurs. Monstrous faces, spiky crests and enormous claws create a fearsome image.

 "They mostly eat sea algae and crustaceans," Renato assures me. Slowly, I move closer, hoping to pose with a majestic four-footer. Right on cue, he fixes the camera with his unsmiling grimace.

 "Iguanas have a fascinating adaptation story," he continues. "We believe they originally lived inland, but because of food scarcity turned to the sea and learned to swim. Evolution took thousands of years, of course, but now they are master divers, feeding on algae at 50-foot depths."

 GENOVESA ISLAND: Soft flutey whistles waft across black lava rocks. Red-footed boobies with blue faces nest in trees, black and white-masked boobies feed chicks fluffy as cotton.

 Blue-footed boobies point to the sky, wings outstretched, singing in ecstasy. I have travelled so far to see them, and they are as adorable as I had remembered. One male approaches his beloved, offering her a carefully selected stick. She examines his engagement gift, then adds it to their nest.

 Waltzing on feet blue as a summer sky, they invite me to join their dance of love.

GETTING THERE: SAETA Airlines has daily flights from Miami, and five times weekly from New York to Quito, Ecuador. Flights to San Cristobal, Galapagos are serviced by SAN Airlines. TAME and SAN/SAETA also fly from Quito to Guayaquil in the islands. Prices start at US$280.

 Boat tours range in price depending on class of boat and length of stay. Expect to pay anywhere from US$350 to US$2,000. Prices include food, accommodation, transfers to/from boat, guides and shore visits.

 Flights and boat tours are often booked at the same time. More economical bookings can be arranged through Metropolitan Touring, Republica de El Salvador N 36-84, P.O. Box 17-17-1649, Quito, Ecuador; phone 011-593-2-464-780; fax 011-593-2-464-702.

 Ecoventura S.A. offers year-round Galapagos tours from a fleet of four luxury yachts. Rates for a seven-night cruise average US$2,000 per person, double occupancy, and include everything. Reservations: Galapagos Network, 7200 Corporate Center Dr., Suite 510, Miami, Fla. 33126; telephone 1-800-633-7972; fax 305-592-6394; e-mail gpsnet@aol.com.

MORE INFO:In 1959, the Ecuadorean government declared 97% of the Galapagos Islands as National Park, and in 1961, the Charles Darwin Research Station was established. The Park protects endangered species and manages tourism. The Darwin Station is an international non-profit organization conducting scientific research and training naturalist tour guides. Contact: Charles Darwin Foundation Inc., 100 N. Washington St., Suite 232, Falls Church, Va., 22046. Current Galapagos Island information can be found on the Web at www.naturalist.net.

(First featured: November 1999)