BURLINGTON — Charles Darwin anchored the Beagle off the Galapagos Islands and spent years on the archipelago. It was there he developed his theory of evolution.

Rick and Sheila Nelson of Burlington have walked the same shorelines and ventured upon the same volcanic landscape, visiting the Galapagos for two weeks in May of 2007.

Now folks in the Skagit Valley will have the opportunity to join the Nelsons as they return to the Galapagos via a slide presentation at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Mount Vernon City Library.

The Galapagos are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 604 miles off the west coast of South America. The closest land mass is Ecuador to the east.
Straddling the equator, islands in the chain are in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

The Galapagos archipelago consists of about 4,900 square miles of land over about 28,000 square miles. There are 16 main islands, six smaller islands and 10 rocks and islets.

The Nelsons have an extensive traveling résumé. For about 10 years, their home was a 50-foot sailboat on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

“We both have the traveling bug,” Rick said. “By 1998, we had traveled to all seven continents, and since then we’ve been in some 56 countries.”

And his favorite?

“I couldn’t tell you my favorite,” Rick added. “They’ve all been great.”

Sheila was more specific, saying she really enjoyed Antarctica.

“It’s so extreme,” she said. “It’s so tough to get to. Coming back, we got caught in a hurricane. I would have to say Antarctica and the Galapagos.”

Sheila is the couple’s official stenographer. She has binders full of journal entries documenting every trip.

“That really helps when it comes to these presentations,” said Sheila. “I’m the talker. Rick’s the technical guy. It’s a lot of fun (to give these types of presentations). It’s like going back all over again.”

Sheila is a retired physical therapist, while Rick is a retired Army officer, having served two tours in Vietnam. The military took Rick — and eventually Sheila — all over the world. Late in his career, Rick was assigned to NATO and stationed in Turkey.

“We spent more time in Turkey than any other place,” said Sheila. “Rick had two assignments of three years each in Turkey. While there, we lived aboard our boat full time.”

The two even published a book in 1995: “Black Sea Cruising Guide.” At that time, it was the only book of its kind.

While in Turkey, the pair discovered Elderhostel, the world’s largest educational travel organization for those over 55. The not-for-profit organization offers about 8,000 programs a year in about 90 countries.

Its mantra: “We believe learning is a lifelong pursuit that opens minds and enriches lives. We believe sharing new ideas, challenges and experiences is rewarding in every season of life. Our participants come from every walk of life to learn together, to exchange ideas and to explore the world.”

The Nelsons sing the praises of the company.

“They have put together our trips,” Rick said. “We completely concur with their belief that learning is a lifelong experience. We have been to some fantastic places and on every trip. We’ve never had a tour guide. What we’ve had is professors and even the town’s mayor.

“Almost every tour we’ve been on, we’ve been able to get behind the scenes. We’ve been able to see things that your average tourist almost never gets to see.”

The Nelsons have traveled all over the globe.

They have been to the Galapagos twice. They have been to the Amazon, China, Nepal, South Africa, Europe, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia. And they have by no means snubbed their own backyard, traveling extensively in the United States.

“We spent eight days rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon,” recalled Sheila. “There was plenty of whitewater and we camped on sand bars. No showers. Don’t get me wrong, I like my comforts, but I really enjoyed that trip.”

Then there was the trip to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kan. Yes, Kansas.

“It’s an amazing space museum,” said Rick. “And it’s out in the middle of nowhere. It’s an adjunct of the Smithsonian. We wore spacesuits, drove lunar landers and were able to participate in the simulated launching of a satellite. It has the largest collection of cosmonaut gear outside of Russia.”

Before making their way to the Galapagos, the Nelsons spent a week at Sacha Lodge, deep within the Amazon rain forest on the Napa River.

Getting to the lodge was a feat. After flying to Ecuador, the pair spent three hours traveling downriver in a powered canoe. They walked overland several miles, before climbing into a dugout canoe and traversing Pilchicocah Lake.

“It took us 45 minutes to cross this huge lake,” said Rick. “Everything at the lodge had to be carried in. It’s absolutely gorgeous. We saw all kinds of wonderful things while we were there. I even caught a piranha in the lake.”

From there, it was on to the Galapagos for the second time.

“The first time we visited (the Galapagos Islands) was in November,” said Sheila. “Then we went back in May of 2007. We saw completely different things. There were different plants blooming and different animals breeding.”

Being on the equator, the climate of the Galapagos doesn’t change much. However, what does fluctuate is the ocean currents that lap upon the shores.

“The weather is the same in May as it is in November,” said Rick. “What changes is the currents. With El Niño, the surface water is warm. That means the fish tend to be found much deeper. With less fish near the surface, there isn’t as many for the birds to feed on. In years like that, the seabirds don’t breed. They simply skip a generation.

“In a lot of instances, you watch the avians and they tell you what is going on.”

Traveling in the Galapagos is a little different.

For beginners, it’s a law that those visiting must have a naturalist with them at all times. Naturalists at the Galapagos have to possess masters degrees and must be native to the islands.

“No animals or birds show any fear of you,” said Sheila. “It’s the same in Antarctica. They don’t see humans as predators. That makes the experience very neat.”

There are flora and fauna aplenty in the Galapagos. Birds include such exotic species as red- and blue-footed boobies, frigates, swallowtail gulls and albatross. There are sea lions, sally lightfoot crabs, penguins, saddleback tortoises, sea turtles and iguanas.

The Galapagos themselves are constantly changing.

They are located atop a hot spot, where the earth’s crust is being melted from below, creating volcanic islands. The oldest island is thought to have formed five to 10 million years ago. The youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, are still being formed.

“Islands are always popping up,” said Sheila. “They are always expanding and changing. They do have a lot of history, from Darwin to pioneer people who tried to make a living on the islands.”

The lengths of the Nelsons adventures are as varied as the destinations. They run from a single-day trip to Seattle to about five weeks sightseeing mostly by train in Australia and New Zealand.

There have been few glitches on their trips.

However, they were in China during the SARS epidemic. Elderhostel offered to get everyone home, however, the Nelsons chose to don masks and stay, visiting the Three Gorges Dam before it was completed as well as traveling on the Yangtze River for three days.

“We traveled by train a lot,” said Sheila. “There were so many people, people were constantly cleaning everything.”

Each time the two returned to their hotel in China, they had to have their temperatures taken. If their temperatures were unchanged, they were given the keys to their room.

The Nelsons will be staying in the states for their next trip.

The two are headed to North Dakota later this month for a Elderhostel program that has them spending half their time digging for fossilized mammoth bones and the rest helping out in the lab.

Then in January, it’s off to Tahiti where they will board a 300-foot sailboat and spend 11 days cruising around French Polynesia.

In March, they fly to India, climb aboard a small cruise ship and sail the Red Sea, visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

“We thoroughly love to travel,” said Rick. “It’s what we want to do.”

“It’s exciting,” added Sheila. “Then again, we have never been somewhere boring.”

Vince Richardson can be reached at 360-416-2181 or by e-mail at