Santa Cruz Island
Today I woke up in high spirits. While we were getting ready to visit Santa Cruz Island, home of the Galápagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS).
I started to think that another great year has passed away in this wonderful paradise, a year that changed many lives, including mine. In a few hours we were entering 2009, a brand new year that will be filled with celebrations for Galápagos. We will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of both the CDRS and the GNP. We will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Naturalist Charles Darwin as well.
On our side, Lindblad Expeditions will bring the National Geographic Endeavour to the Galápagos to replace our beloved old friend the National Geographic Polaris. Next year we will have many expeditions around this magical archipelago in a new home. It is the last time we will celebrate the change of a year onboard the NG Polaris. I cannot avoid having a mix of feelings in my heart. I feel sad, for we will say goodbye in the next months to this wonderful ship, but at the same time, I cannot avoid but dreaming about all the great sightings and experiences that this upcoming year will bring to our lives on the NG Endeavour.
The greatest gift of all is that we have received the perennial appreciation of the importance to protect the natural wonders of our planet. Places as pristine and important as the Galápagos Islands are, unfortunately, so rare nowadays. The longer I am around this paradise the more passionate I feel about its well-being and its future. It is December the thirty first; we had the joy to live the last hours of this year two thousand and eight in intimate communion with Nature.
After dinner we celebrated New Year’s Eve the Ecuadorean way. We said goodbye to all the negative aspects of the past year burning an effigy that represented the ending year. Later on we danced and laughed to receive in a positive and optimistic way the New Year that is just beginning.
Happy New Year to all of you from all of us aboard the National Geographic Polaris! The Captain, Officers, Crew and Natural History Staff wish you the best in the upcoming year!
Today I woke up in high spirits. While we were getting ready to visit Santa Cruz Island, home of the Galápagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS).
I started to think that another great year has passed away in this wonderful paradise, a year that changed many lives, including mine. In a few hours we were entering 2009, a brand new year that will be filled with celebrations for Galápagos. We will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of both the CDRS and the GNP. We will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Naturalist Charles Darwin as well.
On our side, Lindblad Expeditions will bring the National Geographic Endeavour to the Galápagos to replace our beloved old friend the National Geographic Polaris. Next year we will have many expeditions around this magical archipelago in a new home. It is the last time we will celebrate the change of a year onboard the NG Polaris. I cannot avoid having a mix of feelings in my heart. I feel sad, for we will say goodbye in the next months to this wonderful ship, but at the same time, I cannot avoid but dreaming about all the great sightings and experiences that this upcoming year will bring to our lives on the NG Endeavour.
The greatest gift of all is that we have received the perennial appreciation of the importance to protect the natural wonders of our planet. Places as pristine and important as the Galápagos Islands are, unfortunately, so rare nowadays. The longer I am around this paradise the more passionate I feel about its well-being and its future. It is December the thirty first; we had the joy to live the last hours of this year two thousand and eight in intimate communion with Nature.
After dinner we celebrated New Year’s Eve the Ecuadorean way. We said goodbye to all the negative aspects of the past year burning an effigy that represented the ending year. Later on we danced and laughed to receive in a positive and optimistic way the New Year that is just beginning.
Happy New Year to all of you from all of us aboard the National Geographic Polaris! The Captain, Officers, Crew and Natural History Staff wish you the best in the upcoming year!
