Floreana Island
I sit in the Polaris library with a booklet in my hand. There is a feeding frenzy of brown-noddy terns and Audubon shearwaters outside my window and the volcanoes on the northern shore of Floreana are in my view.
I read about the history of the National Geographic Society; I go through the pages and glance at the chapters: “The world and all that is in it”; “Bringing color to the world”; “The heart of adventure”; “Living with the planet…” I read the words of Jacques Cousteau about the sea, how we are just “beginning to learn her science, art, and philosophy and how to live in her embrace.” I leave the book aside, because an announcement has been made. Whales ahead! I get to the bridge right on time to see a tropical (or Bryde’s) whale breaking the water and blowing. So early in the morning and we get to share our time and space with such a mysterious marine mammal, a creature of our world, completely immersed in it.
Champion Islet is ahead of us. We gear up for the snorkeling outing, and off we go. Barracudas, king angel fish, rainbow wrasses, the guineafowl pufferfish featured in my picture… “bringing the color to the world” – our world.
We drift along on the current, floating over a huge drop off while sharks swim underneath. We are “in the heart of adventure.” The National Geographic chapters come back to my mind one after another; this is Galápagos, this is Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic combined! How fortunate we are, “living with the planet!”
I sit in the Polaris library with a booklet in my hand. There is a feeding frenzy of brown-noddy terns and Audubon shearwaters outside my window and the volcanoes on the northern shore of Floreana are in my view.
I read about the history of the National Geographic Society; I go through the pages and glance at the chapters: “The world and all that is in it”; “Bringing color to the world”; “The heart of adventure”; “Living with the planet…” I read the words of Jacques Cousteau about the sea, how we are just “beginning to learn her science, art, and philosophy and how to live in her embrace.” I leave the book aside, because an announcement has been made. Whales ahead! I get to the bridge right on time to see a tropical (or Bryde’s) whale breaking the water and blowing. So early in the morning and we get to share our time and space with such a mysterious marine mammal, a creature of our world, completely immersed in it.
Champion Islet is ahead of us. We gear up for the snorkeling outing, and off we go. Barracudas, king angel fish, rainbow wrasses, the guineafowl pufferfish featured in my picture… “bringing the color to the world” – our world.
We drift along on the current, floating over a huge drop off while sharks swim underneath. We are “in the heart of adventure.” The National Geographic chapters come back to my mind one after another; this is Galápagos, this is Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic combined! How fortunate we are, “living with the planet!”
