There's no place like the Galapagos Islands. One of the most biodiverse spots on Earth, visitors will leave here having seen something entirely new, like a marine iguana or colony of Darwin's finches.

As we scrambled past quarreling sea lions, our guide, a local naturalist named Daniel Sánchez, explained how eons of tectonic movement over a volcanic hot spot spawned the Galápagos island chain and ...