Meeting of Wednesday 22 May 2019 Speaker: Mrs Margaret Mitchell. Topic: “My Galapagos Trip”
[L – R] Carol Simpson, Margaret Mitchell, Oliver Loughran, Probus President.Margaret’s trip to the Galapagos Islands required four flights – Belfast to London – London to Madrid – Madrid to Quito and Quito to the Galapagos. In Quito, capital of Ecuador, she was joined by her daughter Suzanne, son-in-law, Dom and seven-year-old, Imogen. Together they spent some days sight-seeing in Quito before flying on to Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands. There they boarded a luxury yacht for a memorable cruise around the archipelago. Although they form a cluster in the Pacific Ocean the islands differ significantly one from the other in terms of geography and wildlife; some are covered in lush tropical vegetation while others are barren. This has given rise over millennia to the unique array of plants and animals, birds and marine life, which in 1835 inspired Charles Darwin to develop a theory about “The Origin of Species”. Since the wildlife has evolved in isolation animals and birds show little fear in the presence of people and Margaret had many wonderful close-up photos of sea lions, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, albatross and penguins – to name but a few. Snorkelling with green turtles and close encounters with giant tortoises which can grow to 1.8 m and weight 400 kg were among the highlights of this extraordinary trip of a lifetime. She was warmly thanked for her talk by Probus Vice-President, Michael Cooney
