Mark Twain autobiography, 100 years old, debuts Saturday

Mark Twain had a dying wish — that the public not see his complete autobiography for 100 years.
Time's up.
The first volume of the book will be released Saturday in Angels Camp, a tiny town that played a big part in Twain's emergence as a writer. The unveiling by the University of California Press has drawn international attention.
People involved with the book said Twain ordered the century long hold so as not to offend anyone living at the time of his death on April 21, 1910.
"This is his uncensored work that he wanted to hold back for 100 years," said Bob Rogers, an organizer of the Mark Twain Motherlode Festival, where the unveiling will take place. "He really didn't want his family embarrassed or his friends embarrassed."
Twain seemed to rarely shy from speaking his mind during a life that took him from Mississippi River steamboats to Mother Lode goldfields to the South Seas. But in the autobiography, dictated to his secretary starting in 1906, he was an especially fierce critic of the nation's political and religious culture.
In an excerpt from UC Press, Twain complained that financier Jay Gould "rotted the commercial morals of this nation and left them stinking when he died."
He believed the Christian faith of Americans had declined into "nothing but a shell, a sham, a hypocrisy."
Twain criticized U.S. intervention abroad, referring to its soldiers as "uniformed assassins" for their suppression of a native revolt in the Philippines.
'Quintessential American'
Gregg Camfield, a University of California at Merced literature professor and Twain scholar, said the author feared the United States was headed toward monarchy.
"People talk about Mark Twain being the quintessential American," Camfield said. "You will see that he is like most Americans, because he can be critical of America, too."
Parts of the autobiography have been published in various forms over the years, but this is the first time the public will see Twain's life story organized into a book.
Lead editor Harriet Elinor Smith and her colleagues combed through the vast collection of Twain papers at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library. The second and third volumes are expected within five years.
Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Missouri in 1835. His early travels included a winter 1864-65 stay near Angels Camp, where he heard a tavern tale that inspired him to write "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." This short story brought his first literary fame.
Twain went on to turn out a prodigious number of works — novels, short stories, newspaper pieces, travelogues — and drew crowds on the lecture circuit. This year is the 125th anniversary of his most famous book, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Camfield, who will take part in Saturday's event, read Twain's autobiographical material for his doctoral dissertation in 1989. He is among the chosen few who got an early look at the new book.
Camfield said Twain could express himself freely by dictating rather than writing his autobiography. And it shows that the author was not depressed late in life, contrary to the impression left by a 2002 Ken Burns documentary, he said.
"It reads so beautifully," Camfield said. "He was a master storyteller, and he was at the peak of his art."
The release of the book has been reported in The New York Times, the Independent of London and other media. Mass marketing will start next month, but the organizers of Saturday's festival will have about 70 copies for sale Saturday.
"They're at an undisclosed, secure place in Calaveras County," Executive Director Caroline Schirato said.


Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/13/101991/mark-twain-biography-100-years.html#ixzz12KYajopG

New buoy designed to gather information in changing Arctic

UPDATE

Arctic buoy presumed lost

Article published on Friday, October 15th, 2010

By SAM FRIEDMAN

Mirror Writer

Two days after a Kodiak-based U.S. Coast Guard C-130 crew dropped a new type of weather buoy into the Arctic Ocean the buoy is still not communicating with satellites and is presumed lost.

Due to the enormous cost of operating in the Arctic, no effort will be made to recover the buoy, especially because it is not transmitting its location and would be difficult to find.

The buoy was designed to transmit information about temperature, location and atmospheric pressure for its three-year battery life. The buoy cost about $18,000.

But that is part of the price of doing business in the Arctic, said University of Washington researcher and mathematician Roger Andersen.

“I’m afraid a cost of ($18,000) seems very large, but the logistics costs of a capable vessel or aircraft conducting such search would be far more,” he wrote in an e-mail.

“The takeaway point is the data is extremely valuable, and data from unmanned data buoys is a bargain, easily worth losing a few buoys in a failed deployment, crushed in a pressure ridge or chewed by a bear.”

The problem with the buoy is not yet known.

Tuesday’s drop was the first test of a new model of buoy designed to float on the open ocean and survive the Arctic Ocean’s freeze-up.

Andersen said if he had to try again he would try dropping it from a lower elevation, although Tuesday’s drop was within the recommendations given by the buoy’s manufacturer.

It is also not clear what caused a malfunction of an identical buoy on the same mission that was not dropped because an explosive that separates the buoy from its parachute fired too early.

While the University of Washington works on figuring out what went wrong with both buoys, the program will continue working with the Coast Guard as its makes its biweekly Arctic Domain Awareness flights over the Arctic Circle.

Andersen has some more types of probes and buoys for recording Arctic Ocean data and plans to return to Kodiak in two weeks for the next Arctic Domain Awareness flight.

Correction

Wednesday’s story “C.G. drops buoy into Artic Ocean” quotes Andersen saying that the buoy that dropped into the ocean may have had a problem with its explosive cutter or its elevation. The problems involved two different buoys. The first one was not dropped after the explosive cutter malfunctioned. The second was dropped and is now lost.

A new buoy designed to collect information both in ice floes and open ocean is being air dropped today (Oct. 12, 2010) into the Arctic Ocean by a U.S. Coast Guard C-130. The Airborne eXpandable Ice Beacon, or AXIB, passed stringent air-drop certification by the Coast Guard earlier this year and this is its first air drop as a fully operational research tool.
"The buoys can provide crucial data for weather and ice forecasting used for tracking the direction and intensity of storms, some of which affect Alaska," says Roger Anderson, a senior mathematician with the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory who is overseeing the airdrop. "The data also will be used by scientists in climate models and to try to understand the changes occurring in the Arctic and around the globe."
The state of the Arctic is of concern because Arctic sea ice has retreated extensively in the summer for the past decade, with the last four summers setting records for how little ice cover remained at the end of the melt season, according to Ignatius Rigor, senior research scientist at the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory. With these retreats, warmer ocean and air temperatures have been recorded, especially north of Alaska.
The Arctic Ocean now has less ice for parts of the year so a buoy was needed that can collect data while floating in open water as much as -- or perhaps more than -- when embedded in ice. The current mainstay in arctic monitoring, for instance, is the ICEX buoy, in use since the 1980s, but designed to be air dropped onto thick ice and spend its life there.
The new Airborne eXpendable Ice Beacon buoys were developed as a partnership between the Polar Science Center at the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory, U.S. Coast Guard and National Ice Center. Prototypes deployed in the last two years led to the manufacture of this new buoy. It measures such things as air pressure and temperature, winds, upper ocean temperature, ice and snow temperatures and movement of the ice. Each buoy costs about $18,000.
The buoys will be part of the International Arctic Buoy Program currently collecting and sharing data from more than 100 buoys deployed by 30 institutions from 10 individual countries and the European Union. The program, which originated at the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory in 1979, is currently coordinated by Rigor.

Provided by University of Washington Physics Lab

 - - - snip - - -

ARCTIC OCEAN, 74th PARALLEL — If you need to get a 350-pound buoy into the Arctic Ocean north of Barrow, it’s good to have help from the Coast Guard.

An oceanographic research project got a ride from a Kodiak-based C-130 Hercules Tuesday as the Coast Guard made its biweekly Arctic Domain Awareness patrol. The Kodiak Daily Mirror and a half dozen other media outlets came along to see the mission.

The buoy will collect data to forecast Arctic ice and weather, said Roger Andersen, a researcher with the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory who went to oversee the drop.

It’s part of a network of about 100 data-collecting buoys sent from 10 different nations and coordinated at the University of Washington. The drop area between 72 and 74 degrees north latitude was picked because there is not already an abundance of buoys in the region.

The expansion of the Arctic sea ice is difficult to predict, but from the experience of flying over the Arctic every two weeks the Coast Gurard crew had some idea where to look for it. The Arctic sea ice reached its minimum extent Sept. 15 this year.

It was about 300 miles north of Barrow when the same crew flew over the region two weeks ago. On Tuesday morning when the C-130 left Anchorage, Cmdr. Joe Deer said the ice should be visible within 150 miles of Barrow.

The flight ended up not making it far enough to see any sea ice, but it was visible on the plane’s radar.

Rear Adm. Christopher Colvin, commander of the Coast Guard in Alaska, and Anchorage sector commander Capt. Jason Fosdick came along on the trip.

Colvin was on the last Arctic Domain Awareness trip and said he has found one flight every two weeks is a good size for the program, given the Coast Guard’s budget.

“If I lived in an ideal world with unlimited airplanes and flight hours it would be great to do it daily,” he said. “But we have to take a flight away from our normal fisheries patrol flights in the Bering Sea to go up to the Arctic. We made a value judgment that we can afford about one flight every other week. So it gives us pretty sketchy information, but it’s better than nothing.”

The Arctic Domain Program began Oct. 2007 with a memorable flight that got stuck in Barrow because of seals that froze while the plane was waiting outside.

Colvin said having a Coast Guard presence in the Arctic is important not only for scientific research but also to maintain America’s claims to Arctic waters.

“There’s not that much activity in the Arctic right now, but unless we maintain a persistent presence, there’s always the potential that someone else will come in and operate our waters,” he said.

Flying to Barrow in the C-130 took about two-and-a-half hours. Not long after leaving shore behind, loadmasters began preparing the buoy for deployment on the open-backed ramp of the plane.

The buoy is orange below the surface of the water and yellow above. It had a few messages written in a sharpie marker from the C-130’s flight crew. — apparently made up of fans of the New York Yankees, Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars.

When the buoy was pushed off the plane it could be seen gliding down 900 feet orange and white and splashing into the waves.

But after the flight Andersen said the drop had not gone as planned and he expressed concern that the buoy might have undergone damage on the drop.

He said the problem with the buoy likely had to do with premature firing of an explosive cutter that separates the parachute from the buoy.

He did not yet know if the buoy is sending its data to a satellite.

Andersen said the Coast Guard loadmasters did an excellent job with the drop.

“I can’t stay enough good stuff about the Coast Guard,” he said. “They’re so willing and so happy to undertake the ideas we come up with … Today I thought the two drop hands working on the back ramp were almost heroic.”

The buoy is the first in a line designed to float on the open ocean while also resisting being crushed when the sea freezes over.

Previous generations of Arctic buoys were designed to primarily sit on top of thick ice, but accelerating ice melt has created increased demand for an ocean-floating Arctic buoy.

In addition to the buoy deployment, the flight carried a couple of Kodiak-based technicians for ongoing data collection for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The study collects baseline air samples at different elevations, said subcontractor Jason Manthey. The air samples are tested for temperature, humidity and levels of gasses including carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, and are collected in an oversized suitcase for analysis by NOAA.

Mirror writer Sam Friedman can be reached via e-mail at sfriedman@kodiakdailymirror.com.

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Layoff leads to man's 'incredible journey'

Pilot helps count polar bears instead of flying executives
 
Manitowoc’s Greg Goins, center, is the co-captain on flights over the Arctic Ocean surveying marine mammal life.
Nancy Goins, left, knows her husband’s love of flying may prompt Greg to take jobs thousands of miles from their Manitowoc home.

MANITOWOC — With daylight fading fast, Greg Goins is almost finished flying over walruses, seals, whales and other animals living in or near the Arctic Ocean.
"I have the best seat in the plane … one day I saw three polar bears, one of them running across the ice floe looking up at the plane," said Goins, laid off in April 2009 as a corporate jet pilot for The Manitowoc Company.
Initially bitter at losing his job flying executives to different manufacturing plants and financial meetings, the Manitowoc resident said: "The world is an amazing place to see and losing a job can be a new beginning to an incredible journey."
This week, he is the co-captain of a DeHavilland Twin Otter turbo-prop as part of a seven-man crew performing marine mammal studies while flying at low altitude.
"Biologists and native Eskimos are on board documenting different species including bowhead, gray and beluga whales, as well as walruses, seals and polar bears," Goins said. "The sights are amazing and I get paid to do this."
Goins began flying for Bald Mountain Air Service earlier this year. It has several commercial, academic and foundation clients contracting for survey studies.
During much of June and July the sun never sets at Barrow, the Alaskan city that juts out into the Chukchi Sea, above the Arctic Circle.
However, in just one week in November, the sun will go from being up for three hours in the middle of the day to never rising above the horizon. It won't be seen again until late January.
Goins will return by the end of October to Manitowoc to be with his wife, Nancy, the younger of their two daughters, Mary, and her baby, and daughter, Veronica, a Lakeshore Technical College student. Mary's husband is a U.S. Marine scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan sometime in the next couple months.
Goins would like to return in spring to the state with the nickname "The Last Frontier" that Goins called "alluring."
"I'm not a thrill seeker but I like the challenge of Alaska flying … the weather can change on a dime," said Goins, who started flying as a Maryland teenager with his private pilot father.
For the mammal survey flights, Goins said they call into headquarters every 30 minutes. "They track us and we have a search-and-rescue helicopter dedicated to us," he said. "We wear (ocean) survival suits while flying."
Fuel reserves also are carefully monitored. "We have about 7½ hours of fuel and our flights are often about 6 hours," said Goins, 48, who said he has flown 125 different types of aircrafts.
Moved from Maryland
Goins came to Manitowoc from the East Coast in 2004 to fly for the manufacturer of cranes and food-service equipment with manufacturing and service sites on 26th and 30th streets, and 25 other locations across the U.S. and overseas.
Frequent destinations would be a crane plant near Hagerstown, Md., as well as O'Hare International Airport in Chicago for executives to catch international flights to China, Europe or the Middle East, and airports near Boston and New York City.
Goins was familiar with Manitowoc County before taking the corporate pilot job. "I like the area … I am an outdoorsy kind of guy and I like the climate," he said. He enjoys fishing, and canoeing with Nancy.
But The Manitowoc Company's recession cutback from two Citation jets to one left Goins looking for work.
He took a captain position flying for a large company in Pune, India, near Mumbai.
"I flew to every corner of India, as well as Oman and Dubai," Goins said. "They treated me like gold. I lived in a city about the size of Green Bay, but with 5.5 million people."
However, the paperwork necessary to clear Goins, as a non-Indian, for flights out of a joint military-civilian airfield became onerous.
"It was best for me to be replaced by an Indian pilot because of the red tape involved," said Goins, who trained his successor.
By November 2009, he was back in Manitowoc looking for another cockpit opportunity and, several months later, Alaska called.
"He's been a pilot since before we were married," Nancy said. "He leaves when he has to leave, comes back when he can. There's no point in complaining about it."
For, at least the near future, the couple will be together at their North Fourth Street home, along their two daughters and new grandson.
But Goins may not be grounded for long.
"I really like flying aircraft," he said. "There is nothing more I would rather do and I'll keep doing it as long my health stays good."

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As Ice Recedes, Interest Surges in Arctic Adventure Destinations - Nunavut, Greenland and Alaska - Global Warming is real

Lounging on the sun deck of a cruise ship as it navigates the warm waters of the Caribbean or Mediterranean, perhaps with a cooling cocktail in hand, is how many travelers envision spending a cruise. But others seem increasingly drawn to a vacation where the ice isn’t just in their drinks, but in the very waters that surround them.



Among the fastest growing trends in the cruise industry are itineraries that take passengers to the coldest parts of the world — not just Alaska, of course, which has long been a popular cruise destination, but places like the Baltic Sea, the northern reaches of Canadaand Greenland, and even Antarctica.
Indeed, more than 35,000 tourists are expected to visit Antarctica this spring and summer, compared with just 6,750 during 1992-93, according to the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat.
Among the cruise lines heading to Antarctica with new itineraries are Crystal Cruises (www.crystalcruises.com), whose Crystal Symphony will offer a Christmas and New Year’s trip around South America, Cape Horn and Antarctica, including a stop in Puerto Montt, Chile, and a cruise around Elephant Island, Antarctica (rates start at $7,995).
Hurtigruten (www.hurtigruten.us) is offering a 17-day round-trip cruise out of Buenos Aires aboard its newest expedition ship, the M.S. Fram. With the help of smaller PolarCirkel boats, the cruise will go farther south on the Antarctic Peninsula — all the way into the rarely visited Marguerite Bay — than it ever has in the past. Departures are next January and February, and rates start at $5,799. (The Fram will also head to Greenland this summer, with eight-day trips that include viewings of Jakobshavn Glacier — “the world’s most active glacier,” according to the company — and walking tours of several Inuit villages and towns.)


Among the other cold-water options:
Cruise North Expeditions (www.cruisenorthexpeditions.com), a company based in Kuujjuaq, in northern Quebec, and owned mostly by Inuits, will sail the Arctic in northern Canada this summer, including a trip stopping at Beechey Island to visit the remains — grave sites and all — of the famously ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition led by Sir John Franklin.
Hapag-Lloyd (www.hl-cruises.com) will offer two 14 and 15-day trips to Greenland in July and August aboard its 184-passenger expedition ship, the Hanseatic, above, that include stops at Disko Bay and some Inuit settlements
Princess Cruises (www.princess.com) will have eight ships, more than in any previous year, sailing to Alaska destinations in 2008. With first-time stops in Kodiak, Seward and Valdez, the line will offer 37 new options for shore excursions, including one that will take travelers to the Columbia Glacier in Valdez.
Abercrombie & Kent (www.abercrombiekent.com) is offering a two-week trip in July aboard its 118-passenger ship Clipper Odyssey that sails round trip out of Nome, Alaska and includes stops in Siberian Russia, including the Chukotka area, which is home to reindeer-herding nomadic tribes, and Kamchatka, a peninsula that has 29 active volcanic craters.

Journeying Through Arctic Lands

Staggering scenery, rich history and abundant wildlife define the Arctic region between western Greenland and eastern Canada. Left, tourists on an eco-adventure with Lindblad Expeditions sail through the Ilulissat Icefjord, the most active glacier in the Northern Hemisphere.

The harbor town of Sisimiut, Greenland, is a good base for hiking, sailing and kayaking. The local tourist office organizes a number of outings.

Fishing boats in Sisimiut, Greenland. The town used to be a major whaling port, but now its economy is centered on shrimping.

Coastal Greenland is lined with massive icebergs and walls of glacial ice.

A bottlenose whale in the Davis Strait, located between western Greenland and Baffin Island, Canada.

A polar bear on the remote rocks of Monumental Island, Canada. The region's polar bear population is at risk because warming temperatures are melting the sea ice they use as hunting platforms.

Lichens, mosses and hardy shrubs make up the plant life in Canada's wild Nunavut territory.

Remains of a Moravian mission in Hebron, established in 1830, off the coastline of Labrador, Canada. The area has been designated a national historic site.

The Church of St. James the Apostle at Battle Harbour National Historic Site off Labrador's south coast. Settled in the 1770s, the community was once the region's main fishing port and is now a living museum.

Visitors can stay overnight in restored buildings at Battle Harbour. The Isaac Smith House, left, has three bedrooms and is lit with oil lamps.

Walruses on Akpatok Island, Canada.

A mushroom peeks out through the boreal forest floor in Cape St. Charles.

A re-enactor at a replica of a Viking village called Norstead in Newfoundland, Canada. It's one mile from the archaeological site L'Anse aux Meadows, a Unesco World Heritage site where archaeologists found Norse artifacts dating back to the 11th century.

A scene from Norstead, which also has a boat-building course, ax-throwing arena and church.

Enduring cold in hopes for a hot dinner.

A fisherman in his glowing shelter preparing a hot dinner.

A BIG THAW The warming of many parts of the Arctic is already reducing the amount of perpetually frozen ground, or permafrost, and that trend will almost certainly continue, creating problems for oil companies, road networks and structures built on a thawing landscape. The frozen season has also been shrinking. The number of days in which oil companies can explore for oil on Alaska's North Slope has been cut in half in 30 years. The ecological impact of the trend is harder to predict. For example, while water may drain from existing tundra lakes through thawed ground, other ponds and lakes may form in thawed spots where the surface sinks, creating more aquatic habitat.





RISING SEAS One of the most important consequences of Arctic warming will be increased flows of meltwater and icebergs from glaciers and ice sheets, and thus an accelerated rise in sea levels. The zone of melting on the flanks of Greenland's two-mile-high ice sheet (at left) has already grown about 16 percent since 1979, with 2002 setting a record.





FOREST VS. TUNDRA In a trend already measured in Arctic portions of Alaska, shrubs and small trees will likely thrive and grow farther north in a warming world, according to the new report. Caught between rising seas on one side and expanding shrub-filled zones to the south, tundra ecosystems around the Arctic (as in eastern Russia, above) will likely shrink to their smallest extent in at least 21,000 years, the scientists concluded. This could reduce breeding areas for many tundra-dwelling bird species and grazing lands for caribou and other mammals.

Galápagos Unbound - camping and kayaking on the Galapagos Islands

http://knews.em.nytimes.com/packages/html/travel/20060108_GALAPAGOS_FEATURE/blocker.html



WE nudge the kayaks through the waves off a remote cove in the Galápagos when a pair of mating sea turtles bob to the surface, drifting close enough to reveal gray tongues hanging languidly from green knuckle-like heads. Just a few hours ago, an eight-foot-long shark ducked beneath the bow in a fizz of purple bubbles. And a few hours before that, curious sea lions popped up next to my paddle strokes to flash such sweet faces that I almost jumped in to play. Almost.



It can be tough deciding which wildlife encounters are worthy of pause after only a few days in the Galápagos - those South American islands of evolution cauterized by sun and magma. Nearly any tour that cruises this isolated yet popular chain, 600 miles west of Ecuador, comes packaged with extreme closeups of washer-size tortoises, swimming lizards and crabs the color of rainbows. But this is not one of those tours.
It's late November, and Peter Grubb, a sunburned rafting guide from Idaho, is leading a small group of guides, naturalists and reporters on a weeklong "exploratory" sea kayaking trip - a test run that commercial outfitters often organize to fine-tune a new itinerary. It's a new adventure for all: No one, including Mr. Grubb, has done what we're doing.



When Mr. Grubb's Galápagos sea kayaking trips open to the public for the first time in February, a dozen adventurous clients at a time will experience these islands and wildlife in an enticing new way: by paddling to deserted beaches and camping overnight in sand that bears few five-toe footprints.
Trips to the Galápagos archipelago - nearly all of which is a national park - typically unfold aboard one of about 80 commercial yachts that ply the waters here. From 4 to 100 passengers at a time are whisked around on tightly choreographed schedules between islands. While convenient and comfortable, wildlife encounters are often limited, since passengers must sleep on the boats and disembark only at strictly controlled wildlife viewing sites for short periods.

Unlike yacht-based trips that may offer some kayaking, Mr. Grubb's excursion is all about melding into the sea and letting the landscape slide by under blue-footed-booby skies. Come evening, paddlers run the kayaks into the sand, pitch tents on the beach and wait for birds to scream in the dawn. The combination is spectacular. Not only do paddlers have the thrill of being among the first tourists to camp in these locations, but along the way, they also nuzzle bow to beak with so much kooky wildlife that stumbling upon sea turtles in the act becomes, well, normal.

"It's such a different experience from being on a yacht," said Julian Smith, author of the Moon Handbooks guide to Ecuador, who has made three trips to the islands since 1997. He said kayaking at your own pace and camping on the scene was like visiting Versailles and being able to "play on the beds or put on the armor."
Not everyone thinks that's best for an island chain already showing warts from relatively recent human interaction. Tourism is big business in the Galápagos, pouring at least $100 million into the Ecuadorean economy each year, and drawing increasing numbers of workers from the mainland, according to Micki Stewart, an economist at the University of California, Davis, who is studying the islands.

By some estimates, the tourist town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island has nearly doubled in population to 15,000 people in about five years. In 1973, 14 years after the creation of the Galápagos National Park, officials estimated that 12,000 people a year could tour the Galápagos with little impact. About 109,000 visited in 2004, but authorities had already increased the allowed capacity to 150,000 tourists a year, said Ramiro Tomalá, a naturalist with the park.

It might not be long before they reach that number. In April, Discovery World Cruises plans to dock a ship with 500 passengers off San Cristóbal Island. That's five times the capacity of the largest ship currently allowed to operate in the archipelago. About 97 percent of the land is protected by the park, but less than 1 percent of that land is open to tourists. (Most of the land not in the park is urban. About 28,000 people live on the islands.)

Companies seek ways to maximize what areas they can use by offering new activities like sport fishing, mountain biking and surfing. Dr. Graham Watkins, executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, a research and conservation group in the Galápagos, recently released a statement saying new ways to bring tourists to the islands are a "cause for concern."

Mr. Grubb, who also runs white-water rafting trips in Ecuador with his Quito-based partner, Juan Rodriguez, insists his kayaking and camping trips have little to no impact. For this test trip, he brought along a small portable toilet with storage bags for waste. He set no fires, placed tents away from wildlife nesting sites and packed out all trash, often more than we produced. He hires local guides and consumes relatively little of the 5.7 million gallons of fuel shipped to the Galápagos each year: A small motorboat followed us, within sight but out of earshot, for safety and to carry supplies.

As the demand for tourism increases, Mr. Grubb said that his kayaking trips would provide an environmentally friendly way to visit a place that could use some cleaning up. Some beaches "are getting trashed from fishermen who camp on them already," he said. "We've offered to improve those sites."
THE eight-day itinerary offered through ROW International, a division of Mr. Grubb's company, River Odysseys West, samples six of the chain's 18 or so islands and islets (the number varies according to whether somebody considers a big rock a small island) and includes a mix of hiking, snorkeling and well-earned rests at an inn.

After a two-hour flight from Quito to Baltra Island, the trip started with two days of kayaking off Baltra's west coast and camping outside the park at Salinas Beach, a strip of fine sand churned by sea turtle tracks. Nearby, the tour's clients can expect to snorkel with sea lions off Mosquera Islet and hike among nesting frigate birds on Seymour Island, both an hour's paddle north.

On Day 3, the group took a small twin-engine plane west to Isabela, a seahorse-shaped island of lava, guava trees and a village with sandy streets and 2,000 people. Nearby, visitors can snorkel with sharks, sea turtles and even penguins, or journey inland to hike five miles along the steaming rim of Sierra Negra, a 4,888-foot-high volcano that last erupted in October.

After two nights at Casa Marita, a funky Mediterranean-style inn, the trip concluded on San Cristóbal Island, a 30-minute flight east. There, guests hopped back into kayaks for a 10-mile paddle along dozens of untrammeled beaches to camp for two nights at Puerto Grande, a cove behind the looming mass of 1,500-foot-high Cerro Brujo. Kicker Rock, a 300-foot-high monolith west of the campsite, is one of the archipelago's more impressive snorkeling areas. Scores of Galápagos sharks, spotted eagle rays and yellowtail surgeonfish filter through a deep channel cut into the rock's volcanic tuff.

Mr. Grubb, 48, and Mr. Rodriguez, 39, worked on and off for about 10 years to organize this itinerary. The trick has been to find camping sites in a park that's largely off-limits to tourists. So far park authorities have denied permission to camp anywhere except at Puerto Grande on San Cristóbal.

At first glance, Puerto Grande is stunning, a cuticle of fine sand in a lagoon framed by black lava rocks lapped by warm green waters. But fishermen have legally used the beach for years to strip and repaint their boats. A short walk inland uncovered scraps of plastic, panties and a disturbing mound of toilet paper.

To open other beaches for camping, Mr. Rodriguez approached the Ecuadorean Air Force, which operates passenger flights to the Galápagos and controls some beaches on Baltra surrounded by the national park. Maj. Fernando Teran gave Mr. Rodriguez a permit to camp at Salinas Beach, a half-mile sliver of pinkish sand frequented by nesting sea turtles, at no cost. "Why not?" the major said. "The water is clean, the animals are friendly. It's beautiful."

Though the campsites are spectacular, as a whole the Galápagos are not particularly beautiful, at least not in the way tropical islands often are. There are few palms among uninterrupted stands of haggard salt scrub plants. Some beaches have azure waters and baby-powder sand, but most shorelines are rocky and lapped by dark waves cold enough to warrant a wet suit. "We fancied even that the bushes smelt unpleasantly," Charles Darwin wrote during the voyage of the Beagle, the trip in 1835 that sparked his theory on evolution.
It is the diversity of animals - penguins and flamingos, for example - and their bizarre mutations that bring people here today. After countless generations of not needing to fly, some cormorants can't; the four-eyed blenny fish can crawl on land; iguanas sneeze salt. Most creatures are freakishly unafraid of people because humans haven't been around to hurt them until relatively recently, said Mr. Tomalá, the naturalist. Whatever the reason, the interaction with wildlife is extraordinary. We snorkel with sea lions that nibble on our flippers while others play tug-of-war with a small section of cord. Frigate birds, iguanas, giant tortoises and even a short-eared owl all sit patiently for their portraits.

But it is the slow pace of gliding inches over the water in a kayak that makes this Galápagos experience special. While kayakers can't disembark anywhere they please, the boats are maneuverable enough to ride tidal surges through caves and to cruise rocky shorelines that motorized craft cannot. The hull of a kayak hissing through the water often attracts curious animals, especially near-sighted sea lions that swim out for a closer look.

Some kayakers, like me, may never wish to leave Salinas. During a meal of ravioli and a malbec wine taken slouched in the sand, I watched blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans with eight-foot-wingspans dive-bomb a school of sardines 20 feet away. To my right, sea turtle tracks ran like tank tread through the warm sand. One came up to lay eggs in the light of a full moon.

"I can't see this trip getting wildly popular because it takes a special kind of client - who doesn't mind sleeping on the ground or going without a shower for a few days," Mr. Grubb said.

Out to sea, as if to make a point, dolphins jump through a lemon sunset, its reflection flickering across the waves.

•

If You Go
Rivers Odysseys West (800-451-6034,www.rowinternational.com), which also offers traditional cruises and a trekking program in the Galápagos, has seven kayaking and camping trips scheduled for 2006, with departure dates on Feb. 17, March 17 and 24, April 7, Nov. 17 and Dec. 22 and 29. Each trip is 11 days, with eight of them in the Galápagos. The price depends on how many sign up: for a group of six to eight it is $2,790 a person; for 9 to 12 the price drops to $2,390. Fees include all meals, guides and equipment, but do not include air fare to Quito (round trip from $667 from La Guardia Airport on Continental), flights to and from the Galápagos ($392), interisland flights ($180) and a $100 park fee.

Packing list: http://www.rowadventures.com/images/gear_list/galapagos%20unbound%20packing%20list.pdf

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/central-and-south-america/ecuador/galapagos-islands/overview.html

TIM NEVILLE frequently writes for Outside, Men's Journal and the Escapes section of The Times.

Great Escape for a destination afloat - but at what price vs rewards

• DESTINATION AFOAT

Eight travel agents help an imaginary Australian couple choose a cruise to remember

SELECTING the right cruise can be tricky. Go for river or ocean, fun in the Caribbean or adventure in the Antarctic, a week touring the South Pacific or six months circumnavigating the globe?

So T&I invited eight travel agents to match an imaginary cruising couple with the destination that best suits them. T&I readers Jan and Michael are Australians in their mid-50s, educated, well-travelled and interested in cultural travel. Both are fit but not super athletic, enjoy a little pampering and are knowledgeable about food and wine. They're cruise novices, have three weeks to spare and a budget of $25,000.

Martyn Ellis, Diploma World Travel, Brisbane: We recommend the 14-night Secrets of South America cruise with Oceania Cruises from Valparaiso, Chile, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a Concierge Veranda stateroom on board Insignia. Depart Australia in February next year, stay one night in Santiago before sailing from Valparaiso along the Pacific coast to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in South America, then north on the Atlantic to Buenos Aires. Two days cruising through the majestic Chilean fjords is a highlight.

Cost: From $12,296 a person twin-share. Includes return airfares from Brisbane to South America with LAN, cruise, pre-cruise accommodation, transfers, port charges and gratuities. More: oceaniacruises.com.

Oceania Cruises offer a casual, friendly ambience, much like a private country club, with only 684 passengers, which would suit first-time cruisers. The ship offers the finest dining at sea in four distinctive open-seating restaurants complemented by an extensive wine cellar.

www.diplomatravel.com.au

* * *

Toni Chambers, Broadway Travel & Cruise Centre, Perth: I recommend Silversea's 10-day Tokyo to Shanghai cruise with mid-ship veranda accommodation aboard Silver Shadow. The ship offers an excellent selection of food and wine and Silversea has a reputation for indulgence.

The cruise visits Tokyo and Hiroshima, Pusan and Cheju in South Korea and Beijing and Shanghai. The itinerary includes three days at sea when passengers can take advantage of a range of activities.

I suggest Jan and Michael take shore excursions that specialise in the history, culture and customs of the region, such as the overnight excursion to Beijing visiting Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. I also suggest they spend three nights pre-cruise in Tokyo, staying at the InterContinental Hotel and three nights post-cruise at the JW Marriott Hotel in Shanghai.

Flights are economy class Perth to Tokyo, Shanghai to Perth with Singapore Airlines, with airport transfers courtesy of our agency.

Cost: $23,900 for two; includes airfares, taxes, cruise, port charges, Beijing excursion, additional accommodation and travel insurance. More: www.silversea.com;www.singaporeair.com.

www.broadwaytravel.com.au

* * *

Julie Hogben, Jetset Rowville, Victoria: APT's 15-night Magnificent Europe river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest would be perfect for this couple. APT is Australian owned and operated and its cruising packages are designed for Australians in their 50s so Jan and Michael will be with like-minded travellers. We have upgraded them to a Twin Balcony cabin.

Jan and Michael will be impressed by the selection of gourmet cuisine and regional wines included on all itineraries.

They can learn something of the history and culture of the places they visit through audio guides provided by APT. Excursions include a visit to Austria's famous Schonbrunn Palace.

To help them stay in shape there is an onboard fitness centre and bicycles to explore ashore at their own pace if they choose.

Cost: $23,554 for two. Includes airfares, Twin Balcony cabin, meals, Freedom of Choice touring ashore, taxes and port charges. More: www.aptouring.com.au.

www.jetset.com.au/rowville

* * *

Richard Davey, Harvey World Travel, Mosman, Sydney: I recommend Seabourn's Kingdoms of the Sun cruise to Dubai, Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Rome aboard Seabourn Spirit in a French Balcony suite.

When considering a first cruise, the choice of ship can be as important as the destinations. Jan and Michael will enjoy being pampered by the crew aboard Seabourn Spirit who will quickly attune to their likes and dislikes and preferences in food and wines (champagnes and spirits are included in their fare).

Fellow passengers (no more than 200) are an interesting mix of Australians, North Americans, Brits and Europeans and the ever-popular Norwegian captain Dag Dvergastein will be in command. He's known for running Captain's Water Polo on afternoons at sea and a video was recently posted on YouTube showing him towing his waterskiing cruise director behind his ship as it rounded Cape Horn.

This 18-night voyage is an opportunity to visit some of the wonders of the world in comfort and with ease at a time of year when it's not too hot.

We have included an overnight tour from the Egyptian port of Safaga to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. In Jordan, the port of Aqaba is near to Petra and Seabourn Spirit is able to call at the closest port to the Pyramids at Giza, the Sphinx and Cairo before transiting the Suez Canal.

Nights pre and post-cruise are included at Sheraton Dubai Creek and Rome's St Regis Grand. Flights are with Emirates and include 30kg baggage allowance each. Departs March 19.

Cost: $12,500 a person twin-share from Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney, $12,250 from Perth. More: www.seabourn.com.

www.mosman.harveyworld.com.au

* * *

John Hancock, City Beach Travel & Cruise, Perth: We recommend the 15-day Wonders of the Ancients cruise from Rome to Athens with Oceania Cruises for Jan and Michael's maiden voyage. This premium line offers excellent cuisine, luxurious accommodation and exceptional service.

The ships, Insignia and Nautica, are mid-sized, with a guest capacity of 684 to 400 staff. The recently refurbished interiors create a casually elegant country-club ambience.

All meals are open seating, a great way to meet new friends. It's ideal to allow at least two nights in Rome before departure in case of jet lag and possible flight delays.

The itinerary will suit the couple's interests. The ships visit ports steeped in history: Sorrento and the Isle of Capri; Cairo (with excursions to the Pyramids, Jerusalem and Bethlehem); Tartous in Syria, with the double-walled fortress of the Knights Templar dating from 1291; and Kusadasi, Turkey, with an excursion to the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus, and the final port is Athens. We recommend Jan and Michael then travel to the island of Santorini for three nights' relaxation before journeying home. Cruises depart April 23 and June 13.

Cost: From $9240 a person twin-share. Includes accommodation, meals, soft drinks and 24-hour butler service, port charges, gratuities and onboard credit from $150. Valid for bookings to December 31. Emirates has a combination business-economy fare from $5440 plus taxes with 30kg luggage allowance. More: www.oceaniacruises.com; www.emirates.com/au.

www.citybeachtravel.com.au

* * *

Di Blackwood, Andrew Jones Travel, Hobart: Choosing a voyage for the first time can be daunting so I've chosen an itinerary to suit any new cruise traveller wishing for a mix of adventure and luxury. Oceania Cruises' 12-day Glacial Wilderness tour aboard Regatta offers culture, beauty and style.

This inaugural cruise for Oceania offers stunning scenery and an intimate on-board experience. The voyage from Vancouver to Anchorage calls at nine new ports for Oceania, which will create a sense of occasion.

Oceania has a gourmet culinary program created by world-renowned chef Jacques Pepin. Restaurant dining is casual with no set dining time or place. The couple will stay in a Veranda Stateroom.

I have combined this cruise with two nights in Vancouver at the Sutton Place Hotel before departure and a three-day post tour Wild Bear Viewing Experience (offered through Oceania) that begins in Anchorage, visits Turnagain Arm and Alyeska and includes a tour of Alaska by float plane. That will complete the three-week itinerary. Cruise departs June 17.

Cost: From $7345 a person twin-share for a deck B1 Veranda Stateroom (no on-board tipping required). Vancouver accommodation from $245 a night. Wild Bear Viewing Experience from $2125 a person.

Flights with Air Canada from $2295 a person including taxes. More: www.oceaniacruises.com.

www.ajtravel.com.au

* * *

Peter Williams, Phil Hoffman Travel, Glenelg, Adelaide: My suggestion is a 21-day package on APT's Magnificent Europe river cruise, taking advantage of a companion flies free earlybird special (valid to October 31 for travel in April) in a Twin Balcony cabin (category T).

The tour begins with three days in Prague in luxury accommodation before embarking in Budapest for 15 days on APT's ms Amabella.

The vessel offers twin balconies (private and outside), four dining options including the impressive chef's table menu at Erlebnis Restaurant, wine with lunch and dinner, complimentary internet and a selection of shore excursions. Jan and Michael can visit medieval villages such as Rothenburg, Nuremberg and Passau as well as Cologne and Vienna. They will disembark in Amsterdam, then stay in Paris for three days.

Cost: From $14,165 for first person, $12,140 for companion inclusive of flights, cruise-land package, taxes and transfers. More: www.aptouring.com.au.

www.pht.com.au

* * *

Claudia Rossi Hudson, Mary Rossi Travel, Sydney: There is only one cruise line Jan and Michael should consider, SeaDream Yacht Club.

"It's yachting, not cruising," the brochure says, and we agree. Travelling on these smaller ships (112 passengers) is like a holiday on a friend's private yacht.

The casual outdoor feel attracts active couples who love good food and wine, superb service, pampering and the opportunity for more energetic activities. There is an array of watersports available on board, bicycles for touring ports and plenty of chances to swim in the crystal-clear Mediterranean.

We've chosen the seven-day round-trip cruise departing September 17 from Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, and visiting Corsica, Sardinia and the Amalfi Coast, an itinerary that would be expensive and impractical to do any other way than by sea. The water and the days are still warm but the tourist crowds have gone.

When other ships have cruised away from the port of Capri, Sea Dream still bobs at anchor while you have a romantic meal ashore. Jan and Michael also may ask the crew to make up a bed on the deck to watch the moonlight sparkle off the water without lifting their heads from the pillows.

We recommend private shore excursions with guides to maximise time ashore and experience the culture and history of these ancient shores.

Shorter cruises are ideal for first-time cruisers who are not sure of their sea legs.

However, from our experience, they always disembark wanting more and many have already planned their next trip.

Cost: From $US6046 ($6400) a person twin-share (taking advantage of early-bird discount), in a Deck 4 suite. Includes meals and all drinks on board. Discounted return airfares between Sydney and Rome on Singapore Airlines are available for $1967 (economy) and $7745 (business). More: www.seadreamyachtclub.com.

www.maryrossitravel.com