Galapagos Island Vacation Interview
Gene McCullough, his wife and their two friends joined a Galapagos Island vacation yacht cruise from 10-17 February 2008. It is in the middle of the rainy season but the weather turned out rather nice. He says Galapagos rates as one of the best holidays he and his wife have been on, and they travel a lot!
We always use Lonely Planet guides. The Galápagos are covered in their Ecuador book - probably not the best specifically for the Islands but we didn't really need one we thought.
Did quite a bit of exploring on the Internet beforehand. I eliminated a number of agencies after reading on TripAdvisor and the South American Explorers sites.
We decided on and booked through Cultural and Natural Heritage Tours (make an enquiry with CNH Tours) using e-mail. We ended up spending our Galapagos Island vacation on the M/Y Eric yacht which is operated by Ecoventura.
We cannot say enough good about CNH Tours, particularly Heather Blenkiron who handled our request. Throughout the whole process of planning our Galapagos island vacation, the personal attention that she paid us made us feel like we were her only clients, knowing full well that we weren't. We found out later that she was a Canadian consular officer on the Islands for several years. She was very knowledgeable and very open and honest in her suggestions. We felt like she was working for us, not for the boat companies.
Their pre-tour information book (44 pages!) covered every conceivable issue.
Cost
A Galapagos island vacation is not one of the cheapest trips one will ever take. In 2008 I would estimate a minimum of about $5500 per person from the U.S. for a trip solely to the Islands. $3000 for a middle quality boat for a week. $1000 for airfare U.S. to Quito. $400 airfare Quito to the Islands. Another $150-200 for tips on the boat. National park fee of $100. Couple nights in Quito going and coming.
Worth it? Yes. (Actually with the U.S. dollar being where it is now in early 2008, Ecuador's using the greenback as its currency is a big advantage for U.S. travelers.)
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We used Aerogal and were most impressed with the service. Just like it was in the U.S., say, 15 or 20 years ago. Hot towels passed out after every takeoff. A small snack on the 35-40 minute flight Quito to Guayaquil. A full hot meal on the 2-hour flight from Guayaquil to the Islands. Same on the return flight. No problems at all.
When we arrived at the Quito airport we were met by a representative from Ecoventura who took care of our bags, issued us our tickets and steered us where we needed to go. Never even had to go to the counter.
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The 83ft Eric (and her sister ships Letty and Flamingo) has 10 cabins for 20 passengers. The boat had a crew of nine including the captain and two naturalists.
The food was quite good and varied - breakfast and lunch served buffet style and dinner served to the table. The dinners rotated through a variety of "themes" including Ecuadorian and Mexican. Had a shrimp ceviche one lunch which was outstanding.
The facilities were very good. When we booked there were only two cabins left on the boat (we were two couples) and we took what there was - the lower (water line) deck. Downsides were being close to engine noise and vibration and not having a window. None of this was much of a problem for us but for some I suppose it might be. All the cabins on the boat were about the same size no matter the deck.
How about internet connectivity, and electricity on the boat for recharging batteries and so forth?
There were no Internet facilities onboard the boat. We used Internet cafes in Puerto Ayora and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Reasonably fast and cheap.
Yes, the cabin had power outlets.
And your guide(s)?
We had two naturalists on our Galapagos island vacation. The "senior" guide (Karina López) was level 2 but I don't know about the other (Lourdes). Probably a lower level. Both of our naturalists were very good in my opinion. Both were knowledgeable and entertaining.
Every evening they wrote on a board the following day's schedule and events in great detail. (My first photo each day was this board. A great help back home in sorting out my Galapagos island vacation pictures!)
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Neither my wife nor I had ever snorkeled before except in a swimming pool several times in preparation for our Galapagos island vacation. We did quite well in the open water with only that little experience. The snorkeling was in our limited experience very good and great fun. Obviously water temperature and clarity varied from island to island but only in one location was the water murky enough to be limiting in sight distance (Tagus Cove on Isabela).
By the time I got around to finding a wet suit that would fit me there were none remaining in my size so I simply did the week in the water without. There were one or two locations when the water temperature was about at my limit but it never prevented me from staying in the water as long as had been scheduled. (But then most on board thought I must have had some temperature regulation abnormality and most used wet suits all the time.)
We saw a wide variety of fish - which I'm not versed in well enough to name. Rays, sea turtles, a ghost of a shark once. And sea lions. The latter were the most entertaining. They would swim up to you and do loops and rolls and the only way to interpret their actions is that they were inviting you to play. They seemed to hang around longer if you would mimic them.
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Up at 7:00 for breakfast at 7:30. Most days there was snorkeling and a hike - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Lunch was usually at noon and dinner at 7:00. In the evening there was a briefing as to the following day's activities.
Always some time for lounging around and visiting. Visited the bridge several times and had some good conversations with the captain.
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The weather was quite pleasant. Warm but not too much so. A few rain showers. No particular wind. Mostly sunny.
Wondering what it's like right now, or what the average temperatures and rainfall figures are?
Go to Galapagos weather »
Did you get seasick?
Neither my wife nor I suffered at all (I was a small aircraft pilot for 18 years. Did that make a difference?) But perhaps four or five of the 20 on the boat did to one degree or another. There were certainly occasions when some elected to skip dinner and just get horizontal for the night.
The roughest legs of the week were without question Santa Cruz to Española and Española to San Cristobal. The captain mentioned that this was a common sea condition there. Several people were using Scopolamine multi-day patches or Dramamine but can't say how effective they were. (Poorly designed as a medical study. :-) )
How to (try and) avoid sea sickness »
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Hard to say. The snorkeling was best at Punta Suarez on Española and el Sombrero Chino (small island off of Santiago). The hike at Punta Suarez on Española was packed with varied features and animals.
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Just simply being in the Galápagos. The previous year we had been in Tierra del Fuego and I had read Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle" on that trip. This brought him even more alive. Although the Islands weren't the main source of his research into natural selection, his time there was when the seed was planted. It was a thrill to have been there.
Regarding wildlife, several things: swimming with the sea lions, coming upon a good-sized ray basking in the sand in shallow water and of course the tameness of the birds. The latter probably was single best and most unusual experience.
What other wildlife did you see?
Marine and land iguanas. Galapagos giant tortoise (although not in the wild).
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Among items that some might not think about: an LED headlamp. Footwear was limited to a pair of sandals (Tiva type) and a good low-cut hiking shoe.
» Use our Galapagos packing list for your trip...
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As I said above, when we booked, the only cabins available were on the lowest deck. I would consider spending the additional couple hundred dollars each for a cabin on a higher deck if one were available. This wasn't terribly important though.
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- Be advised that although Ecuador uses U.S. currency (very convenient!) $100-dollar bills cannot be used at any level of their monetary system. We had a fistful of $100s to be used for the tip on the boat and had to break them in a rush before arriving in Ecuador.
- We took note of the advice to arrive in Quito TWO nights before our flight to the Islands but due to a tight itinerary just before this part of our trip, we only allowed one. And we came very close to a disaster due to a delayed flight the day of travel to Quito. Had to forego a ticket and buy another on the spot. Plan on two nights is our advice now!
- We stayed in the funky, backpacker-type hostal Secret Garden in Quito, well located close to the historic district, for six nights. Most interesting place with a most interesting clientele (secretgardenquito.com)! The staff was great. Laudry service on-site. Very cheap internet facility. Their roof terrace has the best view in Quito! (And we're 60-somethings!)
- Safety on the street in Quito: our foursome did not have trouble in Quito - although one of our group was pickpocketed twice in Bolivia - but it was quite an eye-opener to hear the number of other passengers on the boat who were hit. Several had some well-publicized scams pulled on them. It is easy to get paranoid about this but some level of paranoia was called for, it would appear.
- Our Galápagos guides posted a board every evening with the following day's itinerary and activities. My first photo of each day was that board. Most useful back at home for sorting out the 600 or so pictures that I ended up with.
- For us, booking on a 16- to 20-passenger boat was the only range we considered. I cannot imagine doing this on one of the 50- or 100-passenger boats. But maybe that's just our preference.
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Oh, I don't know. Ten?
The Galápagos are somewhere on everyone's "Sometime in my life" lists and for good reason. My wife and I travel internationally two or three times a year, usually somewhat adventurous trips and always self-arranged. This trip was certainly one of the best.
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