in a huge water fight. Darwin wrote in his diary, Of course not one person, even the Captain got clear of being wet. The ship soon arrived at its destination and remained there for nearly two and a half years. After five years of mutinies, illness, adventures, specimen collecting, and rough sailing the Beagle arrived at the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos were truly unique, consisting of a wide range of vegetation and creatures. The islands landscapes were different than that of mainland South America or any other place. Darwin first thought that the islands were ugly and barren. But this stop would soon prove to be the most important of his life. On October 2, 1836 the ship landed in England. Darwin returned with 1,383 pages of geology notes, 368 pages of zoology notes, a catalogue of 1,529 species and 3,907 labeled skins. (Sears 84)Soon after his return from the South American journey, Darwin was introduced to his mentor Charles Lyell. This inspired Darwins books Zoology and Coral Reefs in which he restated his findings of the voyage. Darwin was hesitant to release his young and unpolished theories on evolution. He felt that society was not yet ready for his findings. It was not until 1842 that Darwin expressed his theories. In a letter he told Lyell of his ideas. Lyell rejected the theories stating that they did not support his own geological theories. Lyell spoke of a theory named uniformitarianism, which explained the geology of the earth. He felt that forces such as wind, rain, flooding, erosion, and frost shaped the contour of our planet. Lyell also brought up the idea of deep time. Deep time was the idea that for such slow-acting forces to produce momentous change, the earth must indeed be far older than anyone had previously suspected. In 1844 Darwin wrote a short summary of his ideas that were similar to the ones in Origin of Species released years later. Even at this time Charles felt that his data was ...
