The Galaapagos Island : The Vacation Of The Galapagos Islands

If not for Charles Darwin, shown on the right, the world might not see the Galapagos Islands how we do today. The islands hold exotic and extraordinary plants and animals. Of these animals, some are going extinct or have already gone extinct. There are many varieties of natural and introduced plant life.

Thesis: The Galapagos Islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a beautiful and exotic place for your next vacation.

The Galapagos Islands consists of thirteen major islands and over a hundred smaller islands located along the Ecuadorian coast. The islands are home to a variety of unique species such as sea lions, sharks, rays, and 26 different species of native birds. Thirteen of these birds are Darwin’s finches. These finches are known to be the “world’s fastest-evolving vertebrates” due to their bodies quickly adapting to the rapidly changing environment (Robertson, N.D. , para.1). Their DNA chemical makeup causes these adaptations to occur. The finch’s most noticeable feature is their evolutionary adaptations, due to the briskly changing environments.

As I cruised to the islands of Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic and Aruba, I realized the beauty of traveling. Sailing across open waters, and stopping on white sand beaches was something I could never forget. Breathing in the fresh air was nothing short of amazing. Experiencing these crystal clear waters was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and something I could only get from exploring new parts of the world.

It's significant to me because when I went with my family to Cartagena, I was 7 years old. it was the first time I was going on a trip outside of the United States. when we got to Cartagena I was amazed by how beautiful everything is, and I was shocked with how different it was from back home. The differences I saw sparked a curiosity in me, that I never knew existed. from that moment I fell in love with learning about different places around the world and the culture that comes with that place. the trip to Cartagena was also the first time I got to see some of my family members. I have always lived in Florida and only knew about the family members I had in South America through what my parents would say about them. When we arrived to South

For this mission trip I will be traveling to Puerto Nuevo, Mexico with nine other people to help fill a small orphanage with the necessary supplies they will need. While doing this we want to spread the Word of God to the children and workers of the orphanage. We will be focusing on those are eighteen and younger, and will be making sure we give them an abundance of supplies, so the orphanage can use the supplies we give them for years. Once we fully supply the orphanage, we will be there for the children. We want to make them feel safe in an unsafe environment and introduce God into their lives to let them know that he will always be watching over them.

When Darwin was in the Galapagos he observed variation and adaptation. Where the animals on the island had a variation that will

From December 30, 2016 to January 6, 2016 I traveled to Punta Cana, this is located in a Caribbean country called Dominican Republic; it has beautiful beaches and clear waters. Traveling to Punta Cana was an amazing experience. As a result, I had the chance to enjoy the wonderful all inclusive hotel, relax at the Rock Spa and meet great people. I also had the opportunity to travel with my boyfriend and friends so this also made my experience in Punta Cana delightful.

With these words Darwin begins his apt description of the Galapagos Archipeligo, as based upon his own observations, which is as succinct a description one will find. As Darwin notes, the Galapagos Islands are located roughly on the Equator about 600 miles off the western coast of Ecuador, numbering thirteen to fifteen islands in all and situated on the Nazca Oceanic Plate. The islands represent the portion of submarine volcanoes, specifically shield volcanoes, that have broken the surface of the Pacific Ocean, to form highly basaltic land forms.

The Spanish sailors named the Islands the “Galapagos”- the Spanish name for Tortoise (“Tortoise (Galapagos)” 1). Ever since that expedition, the Galapagos Tortoise remains a symbol of the island and the research that took place there, including that of famed naturalist Charles Darwin (Kolbert 68). Darwin noted the human-caused extinction of the Chelonoidis elephantopus, a sub-species of the Galapagos Tortoise, in his renowned novel On the Origin of Species (Kolbert 68). Humans have compiled an array of threats, all of which still affect the Galapagos Tortoise to this day. When sailors first arrived on the island, they started to hunt and eat the tortoises in excess.

La Isla de Cozumel lies 12 miles off the coast of playa del carmen on the east coast of Mexico. The small island is only 30 miles long, but is home to some of the most beautiful flora, fauna, scenic landscapes, and beaches on the planet. Cozumel is a favorite tourist destination, but more specifically a favorite within the SCUBA diving community. Cozumel is famed for its vibrant reefs and long stretching drift dives. Drift diving consists of divers entering the water at one location and being pulled by underwater currents many miles from their original location. Apart from the allure of the beauty of the island, the island holds a special significance to me.

This trip to Ecuador is not meant as a vacation, but as a way to make a difference in the world and gain knowledge about a different culture. As I said before, I will be participating in significant amounts of service. My classmates and I will be working side by side with locals, We will gain insight into the challenges the community faces and will help build lasting solutions to help empower the community. Some examples of the projects we will be doing are: building and restoring

The country of Ecuador is the smallest places in South America and it is border by Peru, Colombia, and the Pacific Ocean. Even being a small country they are divide into 4 primary geographic areas or regions-the costa, the sierra, the Orienta, and the Galapagos Islands (Colleen 9). The 1st region is the costa is the plain along the coast and covers ¼ of the area and is west of the Andes with 3 types of ecosystems: the tropical rain forest, the dry deserts, and the tropical savannas (9, 11) The next one is the sierra where the Andes Mountains are home in the central highlands along with other volcanoes (9, 12). Also, the

There are so many islands that I wondered why this one was the one we chose. Sometimes I would think that it is a waste of time to go to Bermuda when we could go to Atlantis in the Bahamas (since people know it as a “paradise” island). However, going there and experiencing such an environment is a whole different story. This goes for everything in life, something or someone should never be excluded just from an idea or face impression. Many do this every day but do not realize it. It occurs subconsciously and it needs to be made conscious to fix. In this case the issue is not the worst in the slightest as it could be far worse. I did realize however that I made conclusions far too quickly, since I traveled to Bermuda and was so shocked, for it was nothing I could

While on the Galápagos Islands, Darwin kept notebooks about all the species there, and he noticed the variety of tortoises on the island who were essential in explaining his theory of evolution. There are several species of tortoise present on the Galápagos Islands that are all very closely related, but slightly different. There are eleven presently surviving subspecies of Galápagos tortoises; furthermore, six of the eleven are found on different islands in the archipelago, and the other five are all found on a single island on five separate volcanoes with their own mini-ecosystems (PNAS). Although all of the species of Galápagos tortoise is different, they each have small differences that can include maximum adult size, shell shape, and the length of the neck and limbs. The tortoises of the islands are most closely related to the Chaco tortoises along the western coast of South America, and they most likely came to the Galápagos by “rafting” across the water (PNAS). Similar to the tortoises, Darwin observed that the Finches on the islands also had changed to match the environment. Spread among the islands were fourteen subspecies of finch whose