Galapagos - the Enchanted Islands!

"Galapagos; the old Spanish word for tortoise; used by Bishop Tomas de Berlanga to name the islands"

"I'll never go on a cruise!"  Never say never.  Or my personal favorite: "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind." If you want to experience the "Enchanted Isles", so named in the 1854 Herman Melville classic, there are basically three ways; land-based, water-based or a combination of both.  All have their pros and cons.

 All of the Galapagos Tours include a National Park-trained naturalist and many include round trip airfare.  

So many boats, so many itineraries, so many price differences: it's enough to make one consider staying home! 
But, how can you live in Ecuador for a year and not visit the UNESCO-declared and World Biosphere Reserve National Park?

Masked Boobie's nesting site.

After much research and probing conversations with others, we went on an jam-packed 8-day, water-based tour which visited 8 islands, islets and many surrounding coves.  
We decided on a 1st class Luxury Yacht with no more than 16 passengers and the most active itinerary available.  Each day we were guaranteed at least one snorkel outing and land-based trip.  We lucked out.  We had 3-4 outings daily and two guides! Some people opted out of a few day trips; most did all. 

Having zero experience with cruise ships of any type, never having been part of an organized tour longer than 3 hours - we were in new territory.  Could we adjust to 3 planned meals a day in which we had no say in the menu?  How would we fare being told to 'be up at this time' and 'be ready for a deep water snorkel ' at this time, dinner will be served 'at this time...?'.  Let me backtrack - this was no problem for many passengers - it was ME who was going to have to really 'go with the flow'. Yikes!  No say in the food?!  No control on meal time or outing times??  This must be what it's like to be my husband!

One of many wet landings off the dinghy

Posing Sea Lion.  We never saw more than 3 boats at one time; unless in port.
The people:  The demographic of the passengers seemed to reflect the boat's itinerary.  Singles and couples from Scotland, Norway, Holland, Switzerland, Nova Scotia and Toronto.  Four of us were originally from the States, but now, were all living and working in Quito.  Most of the passengers were in their upper 20's taking 3 month - or more- leaves from their jobs.  What is it with European travelers?  A vacation of 2 weeks is unheard of!  Many of them were scuba certified, all of them FUN.  Oh, and the 16 passenger thing?  We were 19. 

Squawking Masked Boobies - Espanola Island (Hood)

Look Dahlia - a black-headed swallow-tailed gull!!!

Christmas Marine Iguana - Lording over its beach

The Daily Drill (basically): Up at 6:00am for a sunrise on the top deck (opt); 7:00am brunch breakfast; 8:00am - off in the dinghy to snorkel and/or do a land-based hike. Back on the boat at 11:00; lunch at 12.

Crazy-cool lava formations!

It's so new it's still flowing!!

After lunch, a rest till 1:30; then pack up again for more off-boat adventure.

!!!!!!SNORKEL!!!!!!

We snorkeled 12 times, from beach access to jumping out of the dinghy between the rock monoliths of Kicker Rock. Awesome! We swam with Galapagos sharks, white-tipped reef sharks - numbering more than 50 - hammerhead sharks, sea turtles, sea lions, school upon school of colorful fish, eagle rays, sting-rays, penguinos, sea stars that glowed... well, you get the idea.  An underwater paradise.

Tennis used a Canon S80 in a dedicated waterproof case on every snorkel. Taking shots of moving targets from a moving platform proved challenging.  (One of the guides made a 15 minute HD video using a GoPro camera.  If interested, using Google, go to YouTube and search for Galapagos G Adventure G7 Feb2014. It will be posted in my name.)

4:00pm - back on board for a hot shower & cocktails.  6:00 briefing for the next day's outings; 7:00 dinner - followed by top deck socializing and music~

Above:  Sandwiched between Scotland (l.) and Norway (r.)  

 Left:  Our guides and dinghy captain surprised everyone with their latin tunes!

The "guias"  A 28 yr old Galapagos native (l.) and a 54 yr old Ecuatoriano (r.) from Cuenca were our capable guides.  Again, all cruises must have at least one naturalist on board. They were knowledgeable, passionate about their islands and complemented each other extremely well.  Five days into the tour, I asked the elder guide how long they had been a team.  They seemed to work like a 'well-oiled' machine.  He glanced at his watch, hesitated and said, "five.......days!". Big laughs all around~

Colorful and ubiquitous - Sally Lightfoot crab

Brown Pelicans can scoop up 2 gallons of water at a time~

Reading "Floreana" by Margret Wittmer prior to the trip, made the stop at Post Office Bay a lot more fun.  Our group kept the tradition going. I left a few post cards and took some home to Quito to mail to others.  Let me me know if they arrive!

What comes to your mind when you think "First Class Luxury Yacht"?  Yeah, me too.  But on this trip, no one wore jewelry, no make-up, no fancy clothes.  Getting 'dressed for dinner' meant hoping a shirt you'd hand-washed and hung on the top deck was dry enough - and fresh-smelling enough - to sit at a shared table with others. It wasn't so much the 'cruise trip' I had imagined, but a backpack trip with a hot shower.  And we loved it!  The people, the landscapes, the shared experiences made it unforgettable.

At our first briefing, the guides encouraged us to let go of our 'mainland' routines, accept the rhythm of the islands, the movement of the sea, the pace of observing nature.  It was sound advice and when taken to heart, The Galapagos Islands are a thrill a minute.  

If you relish natural history, value stunning, dramatic landscapes, and appreciate political history, the Enchanted Isles are a magical place where one can observe the natural world as it was before man's impact. 

Truly, a trip of a lifetime!