The Galapagos guru

By Darrell Nicholson

While best known for their unique wildlife, the Galapagos Islands are also home to some fascinat ing people. One of them is Gus Angemeyer, the unofficial king of Santa Cmz Island.

Gus can usually be seen patrolling Academy Bay in his banana-coloured Royal Barge. In between pulls at the wood en dinghy’s oars, he greets visiting sailors with his favorite riddle: “How many times have you been around the sun?” he asks, raising two thin eyebrows.

If you know the answer, he rewards you with a smile and a tale, for Gus knows many.

Only the ancient tortoises have a longer history on the island than Gus and he takes particular delight in entertaining visiting sailors. After all, Gus is a sailor himself.

In 1935, he and three brothers - Hans, Fritz and Carl - set sail for the Galapagos to escape from Nazi Germany. Their par ents sold their home to purchase the boat and planned to join them later in the islands.

Although the boat didn’t make it to Ecuador’s Islas Encantadas, the young men did, and they soon made a home in the

islolated archipelago.

Today, Gus spends much of his time exploring Santa Cruz or reading in his cave-house built into a cliff not far from where yachts usually anchor. As generous as any self-proclaimed king, he cordially invites sailors to visit his rocky throne and test his whale-bone bed.

He loves spinning yams of the islands’ past, stories spiced with pirates, treasure and mystery. But more than anything, the white-maned man of the islands is a

philosopher. Usually he passes on a simple message to sailors, one he hopes will inspire them on the long voyage to the Marquesas, 2800 miles away.

“Live! Live all you can,” he shouted to us as we set sail for Hiva Oa in Tosca. “It’s a shame not to. I doesn’t matter what you do, but live, for life is the greatest trea sure.” It’s no coincidence that Gus’s own sailboat was called Liv, which means life in Norwegian.

Anyone interested in more information about the history of the Galapagos and the Angemeyer family’s life there may want to read My Father’s Island, written by Gus’s niece, Hanna Angemeyer. Or just ask Gus when you get there.

Oh, and if he asks you how many times you’ve been around the sun, just tell him your age . . . and watch the smile light up his sun-wrinkled face. ■

Marine iguanas warm themselves on volcanic rocks near Gus’s home on Santa Cruz Island