Visitors to the Galapagos Islands could (0) BE forgiven for asking what all the fuss is 1 Disaster workers and ecologists currently outnumber tourists, but there are 2 visible signs of a disaster. A wrecked oil tanker, stranded on rocks a mile 3, is a blot on the tropical landscape. Simply keeping catastrophe at 4 was never going to satisfy an environmental 5 that wants the Galapagos Islands to remain as they were when Darwin visited in 1839, 6 since most of the credit for the narrow escape is thanks to the winds and currents that carried the spill 7 to sea. About a third of the islands' 600 or 8 native plant species are found only there. Protecting such a unique natural treasure demands constant vigilance — and a bit of luck from nature itself.