March 25, 2004 -- Evolution takes so many different forms. Sometimes a species grows vibrant, colorful feathers to distinguish itself. Sometimes it develops tremendous speed. Sometimes it grows to giant size, and sometimes it does just the opposite, shrinking down to fighting weight to explore living in different parts of the ecosystem.
That last option is the story behind Celebrity Xpeditions (800/437-3111, www.celebrityxpeditions.com), Celebrity Cruises' new adventure-travel program featuring small expedition ships and unusual land add-ons. It's a far cry from Celebrity's normal ecological niche in the megaship world, but that's the point. "Celebrity Xpeditions is all about defining the brand and telling people who we are," says Steve Hancock, the line's senior VP of sales and marketing, noting that in the past Celebrity has had trouble defining itself in the public eye. The answer? Let travelers have it all -- both a luxurious, pampering experience and one that gives them a real sense of exploration. "If you're going to have the adventure of a lifetime," says Hancock, "why not do it in style?"
As the first offering in what's designed to be a much larger program, Xpeditions will soon begin offering weeklong sailings in the remarkable Galapagos Islands, the habitat that first sparked Charles Darwin's research into the origin of species. Located about 620 miles west of Ecuador, the archipelago is literally a living laboratory -- an isolated, protected environment where visitors get a close-up look at nature's amazing balancing act.
Let's set the scene: Some 3 million years ago, underwater volcanic activity and geological uplift on the equator began hoisting the first peaks of the Galapagos land mass up above sea level, creating a little grouping of islands spread over a 137-mile swath. They were anything but appealing at first, all volcanic rock and baked ash, but over the millennia winds and currents from South America brought seeds to these shores and a harsh, hardscrabble ecosystem began to develop. Credit natural selection with favoring the hardiest plants, not only to survive the weeks-long trip but to thrive on islands with little soil or water. Over time, the same rafts of drifting vegetable matter that brought plant life also began bringing iguanas, lizards, snakes, rats, and other hardy land animals, while birds and marine mammals began to arrive and stake claims to various corners of the food chain.
Everything was going along fine until 1535, when a ship bearing Fray Tomas de Berlanga, the bishop of Panama, drifted to the Galapagos after losing their wind off the South American coast. Ashore, the bishop's men found "seals, turtles, iguanas, tortoises, [and] many birds like those of Spain, but so silly that they do not know how to flee, and many were caught by the hand." That behavior on the part of the animals -- an instinctual fearlessness born from lack of contact with humans over many millennia -- led to terrible depredations over the next three centuries. Buccaneers and whalers regularly put in to the Galapagos to stock up on tortoises, which could stay alive in their ships holds for months without food or water, providing a constant source of fresh meat. It was this plenty that finally gave the islands their names, galapagos being the Spanish word for tortoise.
Exactly three hundred years after the islands' discovery, Charles Darwin arrived as naturalist on the British ship HMS Beagle, which was sailing as part of the British Admiralty's efforts to map the world. Earlier settlers had already remarked on some of the striking things about the islands' animal life -- including that you could tell which of the islands a tortoise came from by the shape of its shell -- but it took Darwin to synthesize this information and later develop his theories of evolution and adaptation. (And just so you're not wondering, turtles on islands with taller vegetation developed saddle-shaped shells that enable then to stretch their necks higher to eat; those on islands with low vegetation have more dome-shaped shells.)
Two trends -- colonization and scientific research -- competed for the islands over the next century, but in 1959 the Ecuadorian government declared all the islands, exclusive of some already-settled areas, to be national parkland. Today, more than 97% of the Galapagos' landmass and all of the surrounding waters are protected. Travelers to the islands are bound by strict rules designed to protect the ecosystem, and the Charles Darwin Foundation is leading efforts to protect, breed, and reintroduce tortoises and other threatened species.
That's a lot of scientific and historical baggage to take with you on a cruise -- a whole lot more than you need when visiting, say, St. Thomas or the Bahamas -- but it all gets put in perspective the minute you step onto the islands' shores and find a sea lion pup making goo-goo eyes at you from just a few feet away.
Celebrity's operation in the Galapagos takes over from an existing Ecuadorian tourism operation, meaning it falls within capacity guidelines established by the Galapagos National Park. Those guidelines also means the line's Galapagos ship, straightforwardly named Celebrity Xpedition, is a fine little pipsqueak compared with its megaship fleetmates. Built in 2001 by the German shipyard Cassens Werft, the vessel carries just 100 passengers, and spent the past two summers sailing European itineraries under the name Sun Bay before being purchased by Celebrity in late 2003.
At 2,842 tons, Xpedition is Celebrity in a smaller package, with the same cuisine (overseen by executive chef Michel Roux), similar decor, and a 1.5 to 1 guest/staff ratio. Its size, of course, limits the number of onboard options: There are only two restaurants (a main dining room and an outdoor buffet), plus two bars/lounges (one inside, the other a cozy, covered outdoor nook on the top deck), a whirlpool tub rather than a pool, and a small gym with sauna and steam room. That said, the vessel does have considerably more style, public space, and amenities than the majority of other small ships, including the other mostly rough-and-tumble vessels that offer Galapagos tours. Service by the mostly Ecuadorian, Celebrity-trained crew is pampering and friendly, with attendants offering guests cold towels, lemonade, and fresh fruit juices the minute they return from their expeditions ashore, stepping right from their inflatable Zodiac craft onto Xpedition's stern launch platform.
When it comes right down to it, though, fine meals, an open bar (Xpedition's prices are all-inclusive, covering all excursions as well as booze), and plush surroundings are just icing on the cake. As with all small-ship cruising, the experience is about the destination, not the ship itself. Celebrity is currently fulfilling bookings made with its Ecuadorian predecessor prior to the takeover, but managed to squeeze a handful of travel writers onto one of these sailings for a special preview. This allows me now to use a lot of rare adjectives: startling, for instance, and also enchanting, and even life-changing.
Let's set another scene: You arrive in the Galapagos by standard passenger jet from mainland Ecuador, setting down on the island of Baltra and transferring to the nearby docks by motorcoach. On the bus you think, Hmm, this is the Galapagos, but I'm on a bus. I expected something more alien. Then you arrive at the docks, and while waiting for a Zodiac to ferry you out to Xpedition you happen to glance into the water, where two large sea lions are lolling around ogling the newcomers. You board your Zodiac, take a very hot, ecuatorial ride out to the ship, are greeted by the cold-towel man, and head for your cabin -- smallish but cozy unless you've booked one of the veranda suites. And you start getting excited. You go back out, meet the naturalists who will be your guides for the week, and prepare for your first adventure.
For us, landfall #1 was on North Seymour, a flat, rocky island formed when geologic forces lifted its base up whole from the ocean floor. Even though proximity to Baltra means North Seymour gets a lot of visitors, it's still like entering another world because those visitors are vastly, vastly outnumbered by sea lions, frigate birds, land and marine iguanas, and one of the islands' most iconic birds, the blue-footed boobie. Otherwise a normal, honorable bird, the blue-foots really do have blue feet -- swimming-pool blue, in fact, and large, googly eyes that make them a natural for tie-dyed psychedelic T-shirt caricatures in Ecuadorian gift shops. On North Seymour they're all around you, the males with voices like tiny steam whistles, the females honking like Model-T Fords, all engaged (in season) in their elaborate mating dance. Imagine these long-necked, google-eyed birds circling each other slowly, nonchalantly, pretending not to notice each other, all the while raising their feet up one at a time in a kind of slow-motion Frankenstein walk, revealing the alluring blue of their peds. Occasionally one will dip to the side, grab a twig in its beak, wave it for a moment, then put it down deliberately elsewhere, as if that were its job description: moving twigs. Once they're close, the birds will rub beaks and, if they hit it off, end up neck-to-neck, pointing their noses together toward the sky. Sky-pointing aside, it's all so human.
Now let me dispel some notions you may have about the Galapagos experience. First, you can't just scoop up a sea lion pup and hold it in your arms like a baby -- it's not allowed. You also cannot just ramble around the islands at will. Instead, you must follow delineated trails that assure you don't tramp through tortoise and boobie nests and other sensitive areas, and you must be accompanied by a licensed naturalist at all times. All this regimentation is both vital and helpful. The "no-touch" rule regarding wildlife is for their protection, not yours -- even though that sea lion pup would probably love a little snuzzle, its mother might end up rejecting it later because it's covered with human smell. The naturalist guides, for their part, are essential to understanding animal behavior and the intricate web of the islands' environment. For example, would you ever have guessed that blue-foot nests, which are just slight indentations in bare soil, get their distinctive, perfectly round white outlines from the birds' own guano, expelled throughout the day as they circle to keep the sun off their eggs?
The week held many similar revelations, both in the wild areas and at the Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, site of the tortoise-repopulation project and home to hundreds of tortoises of sometimes indeterminate age. One huge, several-hundred-pound saddleback was collected on a research expedition in 1906 -- before my grandmother was born, and he may already have been a hundred years old then. A few hundred yards away, young, palm-size tortoises scrambled over the rocky soil, waiting to grow large enough to be reintroduced to the wild.
What else was there that amazed? A land iguana as long as my arm sunning himself on a rock by the footpath, letting me get within a foot of his tongue for photos. Black marine iguanas baking in the sun, expelling little geysers of saltwater from their noses as they digested their seaweed dinner. Perfect, lawn-worthy flamingos trolling in a saltwater pond at Cerro Dragon, the landscape around dotted with tree-tall cacti. The towering peaks of Kicker Rock, an ancient eruption of volcanic ash petrified into two monoliths rising straight up from the sea, with a gap between large enough to sail through in a Zodiac. And of course there were the fur seals and sea lions, a lazy dog's nearest living relative, lazing around in great heaps on the beaches, in the rocks, under bushes, across paths -- basically anywhere they think might be a remotely comfortable place to turn their bellies toward the sun. It's startling to be in a place where you have to watch where you're walking so you don't step on a sea lion, or to stand on a beach, make eye contact with one, and have him stand up, walk over, and rub your ankle with his whiskers, just to say hi.
That's a life-changing experience, my friend.
Celebrity Xpedition will begin offering year-round 7-night Galapagos cruises on June 11, with each cruise visiting seven major islands in the 19-island chain. Cruise-only prices start at $2,000 per person, but I recommend the 10- or 11-night package, which start at $2,800 and $3,000, respectively, and include pre- and post-cruise hotel stays in Quito, Ecuador, and flights to and from the islands. The 11-night package also includes a daylong tour of Quito, a Spanish colonial city situated more than 9,000 feet up in the Andes, with gorgeous old architecture and a vibrant culture. While these prices may seem steep at first glance, remember that all excursions in the islands are included (two per day), as are all onboard liquor, all gratuities, and transfers. Aside from airfare to and from Ecuador, passengers booking one of these packages could get away without spending an extra nickel once they're onboard.
Xpedition's Galapagos cruises are just the first phase of Celebrity's Xpeditions program, which will roll out over the coming months. Plans call for the program to offer seasonal adventure cruises to both the Arctic and Antarctic aboard small, chartered icebreakers, and land adventures and enrichment opportunities will also be offered in regions where Celebrity's megaships currently sail. Expect sportfishing trips in British Columbia, race-car driving school in Florida, a Humvee safari in Alaska, and a behind-the-scenes exploration of KGB operations in Moscow, among others. According to Celebrity president Jack Williams, "our goal is to ultimately offer a Celebrity Xpedition on every cruise itinerary."
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