Galapagos Cruise Review
by Alistair Duncan
(Canada)
Sea turtle
Hawk with baby marine iguana
Snorkeling at Chinese hat
The highlight of our Galapagos trip was certainly the wildlife, the abundance and indifference to tourists. The trip was perfect. Ecuador national parks has it well scheduled so that you felt like your group is the only group on the island.
Operator Performance
CNH Tours organized our three weeks in Ecuador - Sacha Lodge, Galapagos, excursions to Papallacta Thermal Springs, Avenue of the volcanoes and Cuenca.
The trip was great, everything was first class.
They were recommended by someone we met on tour in 2008.
Pre tour response was prompt, pre tour info was complete.
Learned that others on the Letty knew who else was on ship a couple of months in advance. We had thought we were on Eric, but found out when we checked in to the hotel that we had been switched to Letty.
So it might have been interesting to know in advance who we were travelling with, but then again a pleasant surprise is probably better.
As it turned out we were only couple on Letty, but we were fortunate to get put on Letty with a great group of young adults and their parents.
Eric and Flamingo travelers did not seem to have had as much fun/interaction with fellow travelers. Couple we spoke to who had been assigned to Eric which had the young children felt they were babysitting and Flamingo seemed to have those who were mobility challenged.
I suppose this is risk of travelling as just a couple. We also got hooked up with a great group at Sacha lodge and had a lot of fun as well. I am sure that some of this is planning by CNH/Ecoventura/Sacha lodge and some is luck.
In any event our trip on Letty was great as was our time at Sacha (should have stayed there one more day).Getting there
Flight on Aerogal was very good.Boat and Guide
Our boat was the M/Y Letty. It was in good condition, cabin and bathroom was good size (B5 on the Booby Deck).
Crew was friendly and helpful. The boat actually had a real captain as opposed to first mate as on Eric and Flamingo; the Captain was seasoned veteran although new to Ecoventura, very friendly. Service was very good.
The food was very good, seemed to be an experienced chef (Oberto), lots of variety and responsive to suggestions / requests (e.g. more bland meal when the seas were rough and people were feeling seasick.)
We used our own snorkel gear, no one used the kayaks. There seemed to be enough wet suits, but some were well used and torn. I did not use one as the water was warm enough, Maureen used hers a couple of times in deep water.
Two guides shared the duties with the 19 passengers. Both Pepe and Daniel were knowledgeable and able to answer any questions. Knew their stuff. Knew where to find the elusive creatures.Weather and Sea Conditions
Quito was quite a bit colder than we expected/planned for. In Galapagos the weather was perfect.
Two "rougher" nights at sea, second night seeing many abandoning dinner. We did not get seasick however. I did put a anti-sea sickness patch on for the second rough night...Wildlife
Snorkeling was fantastic. Got to see just about everything identified in the guide books - penguins, manta rays, sea lions, sea turtles, diving birds, marine iguanas ... also boobies, owl, hawk, tropicbird, albatross, Darwin finches, land iguanas, tortoises ...
The water was clear and we found it warm; did not use wet suits.Typical Day
Wake up call at 0700, breakfast at 0730, disembark for morning activity at 0830. Back to boat for lunch at 1230. A couple hours break then disembark at 1430 or so for afternoon activity. Activity usually was snorkeling and a walk. So most days there was snorkeling twice a day.
We both enjoyed the activity level, good mix of land and sea and a nice break in the afternoon for a siesta.
Tips and Advice
Remember your bathing suit and a hat.
We used a few guidebooks - Galapagos, a natural history by Michael Jackson read pre trip, on trip used the Bradt guide and Moon guide of Ecuador.
Internet only available on land in San Cristobal or Santa Cruz, unable to pickup any wireless networks on the boat. The café we used in Santa Cruz for internet was extremely slow to the point we gave up. But worked fine in San Cristobal. Basically you should forget about internet and the outside world for the first 5 or so days.
My only comment on Galapagos is that it is expensive as compared with doing anything else in Ecuador and compared to other excursions we have taken in different countries. While we received great service, I think we paid for it and I found the expected tipping level very high.
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