Galapagos

I slid out of the Zodiac into the water with full snorkel gear and instantly found myself swimming with reef sharks.  Having no time to prepare myself and to be scared I was strangely calm.  However, later when a playful sea lion grabbed my fin  I was not so calm.  The wildlife here has not learned to fear man so every encounter is very close and personal.  Sea lions will mimic your twists and spins underwater, often they will pretend to bite you and then swim away.  A group of turtles will swim past on one side of you as sting rays cruise past on the other. It makes you wonder if the whole world would have been like this if we had not killed and persecuted almost every living thing on this planet.

The male Boobies do mating dances on top of their mates in between multiple matings, while marine iguanas will try and bite a female into submission if they are not initially successful.  There are eradication programmes here to kill the non native invasive species like goats, rats and cats.  “Judas goats” are sterilised, radio tagged and then released back onto the islands. When they have joined a group of goats the helicopter flies low and shoots all the other goats.  The Judas will go off to find another group and the process continues until the island is goat free.  I think getting rid of rats may be a little harder…

Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species — man — acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world. (Rachel Carson)

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