Galápagos Islands tour has surprise leader

As a travel enthusiast as well as an adjunct professor in the biology department at Merrimack College in North Andover, Don Lyman of Wilmington was happy to assist a colleague in leading a group of 15 affiliated with the college on a recent 10-day tour of the Galápagos Islands, which are off Ecuador's coast in northwest South America.

When Andover resident Larry Kelts, a Merrimack College biology professor, was unable to travel because of illness, however, Lyman suddenly found himself in charge.

Though initially "in shock," Lyman said, he relied on his experience traveling with Merrimack groups to Brazil, Belize, Australia, and the Southwestern United States; his research on Galápagos; and the guide and crew hired to transport the group on a 66-foot yacht between the islands.

The expedition was coordinated by the college biology department's Global Environmental Program. The cost of the trip was about $3,000 a person, he said.

Lyman said the Galápagos was selected because of its unique species, such as tree cactus and flightless cormorant, a sea bird adept at swimming underwater.

Lyman said he hopes the group of travelers gained a greater appreciation of Ecuadorian culture, the role the Galápagos played in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and the need to preserve their pristine nature.

CINDY CANTRELL