According to a recent nationwide survey, most people plan their vacations 3-6 months in advance… meaning, it’s time to make those reservations for your summer vacation now. Need some ideas? Maybe this Idaho whitewater rafting video will give you some ideas.
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It’s the "slow season" for commercial California whitewater rafting, so it’s a great time to run away from the office. Upon return from my recent escape, a co-worker asked, “Why would you want to visit the Galápagos Islands? Aren’t they a bunch of barren, volcanic islands and you see the same wildlife over and over again?”
Interesting, I’d never heard that response before.
I suspect if one tires easily of swimming and snorkeling with playful sea lions, turtles, rays, eels, sharks, iguanas and countless fish, or if the 29 endemic species of birds, such as the Galápagos penguin and hawk, flightless cormorant, and the gray lava gull aren’t intriguing, then the Galápagos Archipelago might not be a place of interest. (Did I mention fields of wandering giant tortoises and the native populations of blue footed boobies, Nazca (masked) boobies, waved albatrosses, magnificent frigatebirds and brown pelicans?)
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Many reports state that if Charles Darwin were alive today, he’d be excited by the acceptance of his theories, and he’d probably be a whiz in the online world. Personally, I think he would also be out enjoying whitewater rafting with O.A.R.S., since so many O.A.R.S. trips feature the beauty of the natural world, including intriguing wildlife, discussions about history, geology and the earth’s natural elements. Shoot, he probably would have been asked to be a guest lecturer on any number of their vacations!
Sally Lightfoot crabs.
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Did you know…
According to a recent AP story, Charles Darwin was the inventor of the modern office chair. He put wheels on the chair in his study so he could get to his specimens more quickly — and, bingo, the modern office chair was invented! (Don’t quote me on this, I can’t verify the fact.) The world celebrates the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birthday this week.
I say, get up out of your office chairs and visit the Galapagos Islands with O.A.R.S. and see for yourself some of the very wildlife that so inspired Charles Darwin.
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February 12th marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday. His most famous work, "Origin of the Species," will also celebrate an anniversary this year … 150 years old.
The man who was born 200 years ago Thursday did not stumble on his theory of natural selection in one blinding insight when he observed the varied finches and mockingbirds and tortoises of the Galapagos Islands during the HMS’ Beagle stopover there. His first insights on evolution came to him two years after the Beagle returned to England. It wasn’t until 1859, more than 20 years after his visit to the Galapagos Archipelago, that Darwin completed his first great work, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life."
The Galapagos Archipelago and the Darwin Research Station in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz remain an international monument to his achievement.
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