The massive 650-berth cruise ship the Discovery sets sail across
the Pacific Ocean en route to the Galapagos Islands, the world's
best-preserved tropical archipelago. When it reaches this
isolated rabble of volcanic islands in just over one month's
time, it will set a worrying precedent, says Graham Watkins, the
director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, which coordinates
conservation research in the islands. The Discovery will become
the largest tourist vessel operating in the Galapagos, carrying
over five times as many passengers as any other. This trend
towards large-scale tourism is pushing out small, local
operators, Watkins says. What's more, it could herald the
arrival of other vessels, increasing the pressure that tourism
is placing on this world heritage site. When Watkins spent a
year in the Galapagos as a tourist guide in the late 1980s, the
annual number of visitors to the islands was about 40,000. Last
year, that figure reached 100,000. The arrival of the Discovery,
which plans to pass through th