Galapagos

...Remote, isolated, extraordinary biodiversity, unique flora & fauna, striking volcanic landscapes...

Visiting the Galapagos Islands was one of our favorite and most memorable trips of all time!

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands ~900km west of Ecuador.  They are extremely remote and isolated, which has resulted in an unprecedented amount of biodiversity and unique species of plants & animals.  It also makes the animals completely indifferent to visitors watching them at a pretty close distance. We had some of our most amazing and unforgettable animal encounters on this trip both in the sea and on land:   

• Snorkelling in clear waters amongst:
  • playful sea lions who practically dance in the water around you
  • quick penguins who zip around you
  • shy hammerhead sharks just on the perimeter of your vision
  • agile marine iguanas swimming like a snake
  • serene sea turtles passing by gracefully
• Walking on isolated volcanic islands amongst:
  • animated blue-footed boobies doing their mating dance
  • peaceful red-footed boobies relaxing in the shrubs with their beautiful red feet, blue bills and brown plumage
  • abundant sea lions laying around and even approaching for an inspection and sniff of my leg
  • regal waved albatrosses doing their dance or taking off to soar through the air
  • fantastically colored sally light foot crabs scampering around the tidal rocks and rock pools
  • graceful flamingoes feeding in the lagoons or flying with their long necks and legs outstretched
  • stiking frigate birds showing off their inflated red throats
  • ancient-looking land iguanas basking in the sun

In order to protect the islands, the government has recently put restrictions on the number and size of boats allowed to visit the islands.  They are also limiting when each of the boats can visit certain islands to prevent the boats from inundating the more popular islands. In addition to the benefits from a conservation point-of-view, it also means as a visitor that you will hardly see any other boats or passengers from other boats, which is awesome!  The tricky part, though, is being able to see everything you want to see, which can mean doing more that one trip or doing an extended trip, which is what we chose to do.

Here are highlights (DINK Trip Tips) from our trip...for more details or to help plan your own visit, contact us!

Itinerary/Islands

• As most boats have one week itineraries which alternate each week, doing back-to-back trips meant being able to experience both itineraries and see most of the islands and unique animals

Boat

• Sailing on the romatic, intimate (only 18 passengers) M/Y Grace, Grace Kelly’s royal honeymoon yacht, through Qasar Expeditions, which was recently rated #1 “Small-ship Ocean Cruise Lines” by Travel+Leisure

Timing

• The Galapagos is good to visit year-round; we really enjoyed our trip over Easter in April as it was at the end of the rainy season and so had the advantage of the islands being green and full of life