FIFTEENTH CENTURY Inca oral chronicles refer to some mysterious or “enchanted” islands to the west of what is now Ecuador, but the first Europeans came with the bishop of Panama in the 16th century. Blown off course, they landed, looked at the volcanic terrain and the strange creatures, decided it reminded them of hell, said Mass on the beach and promptly left. In the following years the islands became the refuge of pirates and renegades.
       During the 19th century whalers made the Galapagos a way station where they provisioned themselves with water and giant tortoises which they carried as a meat supply.
       In 1830 the newly independent government of Ecuador took possession of the Archipelago and in 1832 a young Englishman by the name of Darwin came calling.

     Through the early years, Ecuador tried all sorts of colonization schemes. When they failed, the settlers left behind domestic animals which became feral and to this day threaten the endemic species.
     Among the more colorful characters in the Galapagos saga stands the legendary Manuel Cobos who planted sugar cane and ran a sugar mill and a railroad in San Cristobal Island with convict labor. He was killed during an uprising.

    My parents lived in a wooden house facing "Shipwreck Bay". The front porch had a view of the site where the "Jessica" ran aground. That's where I was born and spent the first two years of my life.Although I was never more than a toddler there, I know that we spent most of the days at the then pristine beach. There were sea lions and iguanas on the nearby rocks and we watched the blue-footed boobies as they dove in swarms to catch fish for their dinner. It pains me to think that the oil spill has befouled my beach.
       In the summer of 1996, I returned to Galapagos with a group of friends. As we approached San Cristobal a group of dolphins rode the bow wave. They are magnificent creatures in their natural habitat: powerful and playful, enjoying an afternoon romp in the turquoise waters. Our squeals of delight seemed to encourage them to do even more elaborate somersaults, to flip over and then to look up at us to check our reactions. I wonder as I read about the leaking oil, is it harming my dolphin reception committee?

The Galapagos were declared a national park in 1959, but the fragile environment is under constant attack by 60,000 annual visitors — including myself — and by the local population which now numbers 16,000. My birthplace, Baquerizo Moreno, is a small town of 4,000 now, with a concrete pier, paved streets, cars, cement houses. The house where I was born was swallowed by the new Ecuadorean Navy base. There are still animals in this most populated island of the archipelago, but one has to travel a distance to the eastern end to see the red-footed boobies which nest here. It is hard for humans to coexist with endangered species.
       Take the fishermen. They don’t want to accept governmental regulations as to the time and amount of fish and crustaceans they can take. Just a couple of months ago they staged an uprising to protest the end of the lobster season. They attacked Galapagos National Park property and people. They resent what they perceive as a policy that favor animals over people. I want to say to them: ‘Don’t you realize that if the animals go, so will the tourists and with them, their dollars?’
       And yet, even though the tourists come here because they love the animals and the habitat, it is ironic that the fuel that is leaking out of the ancient tanker “Jessica” was intended for a tourist boat. Are we loving the Galapagos to death?
       When my father was here he built the first school in the islands. It still exists and bears his name “Escuela Fiscal No. 1 Alejandro Alvear.” There are 450 students in grades K-8. These children are the future of Galapagos and they need to understand that they are the guardians of a natural treasure. I go back every year and visit with them. I have brought them computers and I am trying to connect them to the Internet. Perhaps when they grow up they will find a way of achieving the proper balance of peaceful co-existence. Perhaps.
       
       Cecilia Alvear, an NBC News producer based in Burbank, Cal., is a native of the Galapagos Islands.

Eleven of 14 subspecies survive, although one is down to a sole surviving male. They live to between 150-200 years.

These are the only lizards to swim and feed in the sea. They eat seaweed and marine algae, growing to over three-feet long.

They are able to live here because two of the three major ocean currents bring in cold, nutrient rich waters. Although the El Niño phenomenon of 1997-1998 decimated their populations, some have survived and have been observed mating.

They live in large colonies on beaches, feeding on fish and squid. But their playful nature brings them in close contact with human-created waste, particularly nets and hooks, which can kill or injure them.

Nesting in rocks near the shore on most islands, they look cross-eyed but the feature actually gives them stereo vision. They are spectacular hunters, diving at high speed into the water after fish.