TREK TO GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AN OTHERWORDLY ADVENTURE.

Byline: Jay Clarke Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

The wonder of these remote islands is that the animals aren't afraid of you.

Walk up to a nesting bird and the creature just looks at you. You may be only an arm's reach away, but she doesn't budge. She hasn't learned to be afraid of man.

Sea lions snoozing on the sand roll their eyes lazily when you pass close by, then go back to sleep. Take a swim and they'll play with you, sticking their face close to yours, doing amazing underwater flips and swirls around you, obviously enjoying every moment. Iguanas and giant tortoises remain motionless when you approach, and they'll stay that way unless you make a sudden movement.

It's a topsy-turvy but incredibly fascinating world for most of us, who are used to animals fleeing as soon as they catch a glimpse - or a scent - of man.

This is not to say that the animals in the Galapagos Islands are perfectly docile. Get too close and they'll take action. The nesting blue-footed booby will snap at you, the sea lion will rear up, the iguanas will dart away.

But you really have to intrude upon their space before that happens.

That's why the guides here are adamant about visitors staying on the marked trails, not getting too close to any wildlife, and not visiting any single site too often.

Exploring the Galapagos Islands is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The landscapes are so different, the adventures so unlike those encountered in our normal lives, that the entire trip becomes an unworldly experience.

You expect the Galapagos Islands, which lie on the equator 600 miles west of Ecuador, to be hot and humid. They're not, because of the cold Humboldt Current that flows past them. During our visit in September, in fact, we often wore light jackets because of the cold wind.

You expect the islands to be uninhabited. Many of them are, but more than 12,000 people live on several islands that are not part of Galapagos National Park. And while the Galapagos Islands are remote, they're not frontier territory: the main town of Puerto Ayora has shops, markets and hotels.

And guess what? There are penguins here. Yes, penguins on the equator. Those we saw frolicking in the Galapagos are the only species of this cold-loving animal found outside the lower reaches of the Southern Hemisphere.

These were some of the adventures my wife and I experienced during a four-day Galapagos excursion aboard a 10-passenger motor sailer.

Our first shore visit was to the island of North Seymour, because it lies close to Baltra, the bleak island where our airliner from mainland Ecuador landed. And because it was the first island we explored, it made the greatest impression on us.

Here we got our first view of dozens of sea lions sunning on the shore, blue-footed boobies nesting among the rocks, frigate birds in the trees.

Being able to approach animals as closely as we did was such an unusual experience that every time our little group of 10 came upon a bird or a sea lion, we'd all gather around as if it were the last living specimen in the world. Even a poor little lava lizard, not much different from the kind we see all the time back home, got celebrity treatment from us.

As it was the start of the mating season, the male frigate birds on this island were building nests. First they construct their nests, then they stand beside them to attract a mate. Their main gambit is a huge red throat sac under their beaks, which they inflate when they're ready to boogie.

Iguanas are found on most of the islands, though on our particular trip we saw few of them. Many times we didn't spot them until we were almost on top of them, as they are almost the same color as the rocks they lie on. And then it was almost comical the way those of us with cameras - including me - would jockey for angles and snap photos. And the amount of film we shot was incredible; guidebook advice to bring two or three times the amount of film you think you'll use is right on target.

Here, too, we got our first glimpse of a Darwin finch, one of 14 species in the Galapagos, each specialized to the food-gathering potentials of its particular home island. It was this discovery on his visit here in 1835 that led Charles Darwin to formulate his famous theory of evolution.

Visitors can see some of the evolved differences Darwin found in Galapagos animals - notably in the giant tortoises after which the islands are named - at the Darwin Research Station at Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz.

On North Seymour, everything was very fresh to us. Later in our journey, we became more accustomed to the wildlife on the islands, just as they have been accustomed to humans in their midst. Indeed, there were so many sea lions on many island beaches that we had to take care not to step on them.

Each place we landed, though, offered experiences that were unique to that particular island.

On the large island of Santa Cruz, for instance, we rode in a well-worn bus into the highlands, up about 2,000 feet, to a place where the giant tortoises are found. These huge creatures, weighing several hundred pounds, look like boulders in a field.

On the island of Floreana, we not only saw interesting wildlife - including flamingos in a lagoon and huge sea turtles in the surf - but we also took part in a ritual that is unique to the Galapagos: a visit to Post Office Bay.

The post office consists of a barrel into which you put your mail - and you become the postman.

Visitors to Post Office Bay go through the postcards deposited in the barrel, and if there's one in their hometown, they take it and deliver it personally on their return. Most of us took a letter with us.

Perhaps the most thrilling moment of our trips came when we swam and snorkeled in the waters of a cove on the island of Bartoleme. The sea lions, I suppose, thought we were pretty funny-looking fish, so they would swim up to look at us and swim playful rings around us. It was a totally refreshing experience.

On Location

The Galapagos National Park collects an $80 entrance fee per person. On leaving Ecuador, visitors must pay a $25 departure tax.

For more information about the islands, contact: Ecuador Government Trade Office, 2600 Douglas Road, Suite 400-401, Coral Gables, Fla. 33134; [phone] or [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: A mother sea lion and her baby snooze on the sh ore as a panga skiff heads back to its anchored yacht in the Galapagos Islands.

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service

Box: On Location (See Text)