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FAIRFIELD — For Jenn Webb, a third-year biology teacher at Fairfield High School, there was no greater place to visit than the Galapagos Islands.

While walking in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, the 2004 graduate of the College of Mount St. Joseph studied the island's inhabitants Jan. 2-11 with her former professors and several undergraduates.

"It was amazing," she said. "I think it's going to be awesome when I can get into it with the students, because it's actually somewhere I have been."

Each morning, Webb awoke on a boat and ate breakfast with passengers and crew. She then took a boat to one of the islands.

"What's really cool is the animals on the Galapagos aren't afraid of people because they are really tame," she said. "Everything's so well adapted to where it lives. These are unlike animals you would see anywhere else in the world. The sea lions wouldn't even bat an eye if you walked by."

The islands, a national park, are restricted by the Ecuadorian government to 100,000 visitors a year and it costs $100 per person to get on the island, she said.

Her favorite species was the blue-footed boobies — a type of bird — and she said she got to see their courtship rituals of singing and lifting their feet to show off.

"It has these gorgeous webbed bright blue feet," she said.

Although there wasn't too much danger, the sharp beaks of birds were possible hazards as well as an angry mother sea lion.

"I was able to look at the finches — the same thing that Darwin looked at — and say 'you know they do have different beaks.' You really can see it. Darwin wasn't just exaggerating these differences. You really can see it even this many years later."

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5067 or lhilty@coxohio.com.