Nemo I Review - Galapagos Cruise
Dianne Whitney of the USA cruised the Galapagos Islands for 8 days from 6 August 2006 and told me about it in an e-mail interview...
Our outstanding travel agent was Gustavo Reyes with Latin Trails. Gustavo did an outstanding job of answering e-mails quickly, making sure our questions were answered (sometimes before we even asked them =), and making sure that everything went off without a hitch!
We did the Galapagos for the second half of our Ecuador trip (the first half was spent in the jungle) and so Gustavo made special arrangements for us so that we could make the two halves of the trip fit together.
I found Latin Trails through an internet search and doing some background checking through TripAdvisor's traveler forums.
I also contacted several other tour companies to look at possible itineraries and to kind of "feel out" the agents... Latin Trails offered a great itinerary with very attentive service at a great price, I would most definitely recommend them.
Galapagos Guide
I believe our guide as a naturalist III. He was very knowledgeable and did a great job with working with the captain to make sure we were usually the first group to the sites. This allowed us to not feel so much like "tourists" but more like "visitors" and to get great pictures.
He was very friendly, although, I thought he was a little sexist (but that kind of comes with the territory). He was always respectful and knowledgeable!
The guides do not always work on the same boats and they don't work all the time so (as I understand it) there really isn't a way to guarantee the guide/vessel combination for a given week either than to specifically ask your travel agent.
The flight was fine. I was concerned about baggage weight limits but no one we came into contact with had any issues.
We were very pleased to have the opportunity to be onboard the Nemo I. The Nemo is a catamaran and is simply amazing!
This was my first cruise and it most certainly will not be my last thanks to the crew! My boyfriend (now husband) and I were 2 of the 12 passengers onboard. I get a little excited when I think back to those wonderful days but I will try to provide some structure in this review…
First the cabins/facilities - when you are on a smaller vessel it stands to reason that the cabins will be smaller as well. Our cabin (rear, left) was small but more than adequate for the trip and it was cleaned by the "cabin boy" - his preferred title - daily.
Plus, we didn't spend that much time in the cabin! The bathroom/shower was small but again more than adequate. My husband is 6'4" and he didn't have any issues. The Nemo has hot water - although folks are encouraged to take short showers as there is limited water - but I think this is pretty much the case with this type of vessel.
The Nemo itself has many places that you sit/lay and do whatever your heart desires. I tended to sit up on the driver's bench so that I could minimize my sun exposure (I have fair skin) and take in the scenery. The split table, provided a completely shaded spot that was perfect for the afternoon/evenings card playing and chatting with the other passengers!
Some of the passengers loved to lay-out and sunbathe either on the front of the boat on the padded area or way out in front on the nets. Even though it is a small vessel you could always find a spot for solitude or group fun - depending on what you wanted.
Next, crew/food - the crew was awesome! Our guide tried to be the point person for pretty much everything but the crew was always more than willing to go out of their way to make sure we were taken care of. (One thing that was a little annoying but kind of cute/practical was that the crew asked us to refer to them by title or nickname more often than by name…)
Our captain (Cap-y-tan) did his best to make sure it was a smooth journey - scheduling the roughest parts of the trip to be done at night when we were tucked into our cabins so that the sea sickness was minimized.
The cook (Cook), prepared amazing meals and snacks for us! Whenever we got back from an outing (land or water) there was always something tasty waiting for us! Breakfast was probably my favorite part of the day (however, my husband preferred the lunches, dinners).
Breakfast was served buffet style - my favorite was granola with milk/yogurt and fresh fruit. Lunch and Dinner were multi-course and served restaurant style. With every meal we were provided fresh- fresh- fruit juice. Cook basically took various fruits and pureed them. It was amazing!
I am not a big seafood fan and Cook always made sure that I was well fed with chicken or pasta (my request). My hubby loved the extremely fresh seafood and various soups!
Galapagos weather information »
Pretty much everyone on our ship got seasick, it just didn't happen at the same time. As a novice I was seasick earlier on but then when we were in the "worst of it" I was pretty much fine.
On a smaller vessel you get to know the other passengers over the trip and there was no consensus on the "right" medication to take. My best advice - if you start getting seasick get some mint tea from the galley and head to the front of the boat and watch the horizon.
More advice on avoiding sea sickness »
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The snorkeling was amazing, awe inspiring, terrific, like no other - I simply can not put into words how great the sights were!
The temperature is a different matter - it was cold! Very cold! Water is coming from up north (we saw penguins - and if there are penguins you know it is cold, right?). However, and this may be a testament to how great the snorkeling is - the cold isn't enough to stop one from snorkeling.
The other thing you can do (and we figured it out half-way through the trip in a 'oh duh' moment) is wear a wet suit! It is worth the daily rental.
This was my first snorkeling experience* and we saw so many things! My first from boat snorkel, we went near a bunch of baby sea-lions and they thought it was super fun to swim next to us, around us, etc. I felt it was necessary to keep one hand on my mask so they wouldn't knock it off…
You are not allowed to touch the animals in the Galapagos - however, if they touch you it is fine. There is absolutely nothing like getting gently side-swipped by a sea-lion, having to move out of a sea turtles way, having a ray swim under you, or simply finding yourself in a mob/school of fish.
Although we did not dive we did see sharks - I believe they were white-tipps (from afar - which was plenty close enough for me).
The divers in our group had amazing stories & pictures but the visibility is so clear that you can see almost everything from snorkeling. The real question is - how close do you want to be to the animals you are seeing? Having said that, the snorkeling was so great it did inspire us to become PADI certified and we plan on visiting the Galapagos again just so we can experience it again!
*A little way into my first open water snorkel from the small raft/boat outing, I started panicking and became overwhelmed because I couldn't keep salt-water from coming in my mask and my contacts were getting messed up, and I thought the water was rough and cold (probably because I was a novice snorkeler and was panicking) and was just getting upset… I had just about decided I was done - I was also starting to worry about WHAT IF??? ….. and in my panic I started to turn and look around me.
To my surprise (although I don't know why because the crew is extremely attentive) directly behind me, a short distance away, was the raft! I looked at the crew member and we locked eyes almost instantly, I raised my arm (the sign for please get me the heck out of here) and he immediately came and picked me up. I would say within 30 seconds I was being helped into the raft and given some bottled water to splash on my face! I went from being scared/panicked to knowing that everything would be just fine - thanks to the Nemo crew's watchful eyes!
While I didn't hop right back into the water on that particular trip - I did snorkel at every opportunity after that, knowing that if I got into trouble (even the imaginary kind) one of the crew would get me out of it.
The better question is what we didn't see! Pretty much everyday we saw a new animal.
We had battery problems with our digital camera and so we had to watch what pictures we took. I think we ended up with something like 350 pictures mostly of different animals.
On the last evening our guide walked us through a listing of all the different animals that are in the Galapagos and we did a "saw it" "saw it" "saw it" type of thing. If it is listed on your itinerary you will most likely see it. My favorites were the sea-lions, land turtles, iguanas, lava lizards and red sally light-foot crabs.
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In the mornings I would awake, usually before the bell (they have a bell they ring if you aren't up in time to make sure everyone is ready for the morning excursion - however, if you want to opt out then you can), and grab a cup of coffee or tea from the galley (Cook- who didn't speak a whole lot of English and I speak very little Spanish would offer a joke that I would try to understand and he would try to explain and we would laugh) and go sit up on the front of the Nemo and take in my surroundings.
The crew would be up - tidying up the boat - it was absolutely immaculate- and as they saw me would offer a "buenas dias - Como estas?"
The Nemo would either be pulling into the island of the morning or already be anchored and I would see something different than what I had when I went to bed. I would just sit in awe and be completely happy!
Eventually, the bell would be rung and the word would get out that breakfast was ready. After we all dipped up and sat down to eat our guide would run through the daily schedule again and ask for questions… Usually there weren't many as the schedule is posted on the dry-erase board and you are given an overview the night before.
We would then gather up our things and hop on a smaller boat/raft for transport to the island. Sometimes there was a dock type outing and other times you would get your feet a little wet getting to the beach. If the landing area was being "guarded" by a male sea-lion, or sally-light-foot crabs our guide would shoo them off and we would start our morning trail.
As I mentioned before we were usually the first group or one of the first groups so we took the trail at our own pace. If you aren't part of the first group than usually the guide will have the group hang back and provide a more detailed explanation of the island, its history and the animals you may encounter.
It is all done to make sure each group feels like they are alone on the island - and pretty much everyone is respectful of staying out of each others photos…
There are "trails/footpaths" that one must stay on, but it feels very organic. We would do a mostly gentle hike for an hour or two. Everyone stops quite often to watch the animals so it is not very physically demanding.
As we would encounter different animals our guide would explain a little about them (e.g. the marine iguanas probably came to the islands by riding drift wood, and have special glands so that they can drink salt water and then just blow the salt particles out, etc). I didn't ever really feel like we were being pushed along or forced to stop. Eventually, the trail loops back to the landing area and everyone hops back on the small boat/raft for the ride to the Nemo.
As mentioned earlier, there would be a tasty snack or depending on the time lunch waiting for us. Cap-y-tan would then drive the boat to the area for our afternoon excursion. This usually provided enough time to eat lunch and take a short nap.
In the afternoons, we would have another excursion to a different part of the island of the day (or a different island) depending on where we were in the trip and then we could snorkel or dive. Depending on the Nemo's location and who/what was around us, if we weren't snorkeling from the beach, Cap-y-tan would move us to where we it was safe and provided a place for great snorkeling.
Depending on the location and if there were folks wanting to scuba dive those of us that wanted to snorkel would either do it from the Nemo or be taken out on the smaller boat/raft. Although all swimming is "at your own risk" you are always with a buddy and the crew is there if you need them.
After the afternoon excursion and snorkeling/diving, we would usually come back to the ship and get cleaned up and take showers to get the salt-water off of us. (There was always a snack out for us to munch on I had no idea how many calories one can burn snorkeling in cold water). We would put on warmer clothes and sit down to a fabulous dinner!
After dinner, while we finishing up some mouth watering desert, our guide would review what we had seen that day (ask and answer any questions) and provide an overview of what we would do the next day (ask and answer any questions).
My hubby and I would usually play cards with a few of the other passengers or review some of the pictures that were taken by the photo enthusiasts onboard.
Depending on our location and our route Cap-y-tan would try to wait until we were in our cabins for the night to start our trip to then next location, however, sometimes he would have to start the move shortly after dinner and we would enjoy the sensation of moving across the water as the sun-set.
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It really depends on what you are looking for. We saw huge cruise ships visiting some of the sites. The passengers looked like they were having a good time but I don't know if they had the same authentic Galapagos experience that we did. I would recommend small groups.
Also, I would strongly recommend booking a catamaran (ideally Nemo I or II) - there are some pretty strong waters and if you are not used to sailing the water can be rough! Not being a sailor I am probably using the wrong terminology, however, catamarans have a better center of gravity and don't pitch and roll like other vessels that have only one point of contact with the water. Your stomach will thank you for booking a catamaran if you go with a small group!
The most useful items in my luggage were:
- my water-proof, sweat-proof sunscreen
- water-bottle holder
- my detangling comb
In preparation for the trip, I just did internet searches. I found Lonely Planet to be very helpful.
We stopped at a city/port one evening to take in an evening dinner on land and the night life there were shops offering internet by the hour. The prices were fine although I don't remember exact costs.
There were outlets for battery charging - we didn't bring rechargeable batteries - and one of the passengers fried her charger but the other passengers seem to be fine with the electricity available.
I strongly recommend going on a trip that is at least 8 days. Even though the Galapagos islands are located in the same area, each island is very unique! Given that they were created at different times each has a very different feel to it.
Some feel like the volcanic lava cooled only weeks ago and life is just beginning and others have been around much longer and have beautiful white soft sandy beaches. In between there are beaches of many colours and some are made of pieces of coral. Every shore or sea excursion offers many new and interesting things!!!!
I had about nine of the pictures we took of the scenery printed as 8x10's, framed and put them up at work. The comments from my folks who see them usually goes like this…
Them - "These are amazing - who took them?"
Me - "My husband and myself"
Them - "I didn't know you were a photographer"
Me - "We're not - it is just so beautiful - it is hard to take a bad picture!"
Them - "Where did you take them?"
Me - "The Galapagos Islands"
Them - "Where else?"
Me - "Just the Galapagos"
Them - "But they're so different…"
Even though we had serious camera/battery issues we brought home some amazing pictures. They don't compare to the memories we made - but they are still amazing. It is really hard to narrow it down to even the top 20 favorites. When I look at the pictures, especially of the animals, I have many that look like we used the zoom function on our camera - and we didn't!
To portray the ability to get close to the animals I am submitting a picture that I took while snorkelling with an underwater-disposable camera (if you have used these before you will understand how amazing this picture is knowing the quality of pictures those cameras provide and how they have NO ZOOM). I am also submitting one from our first morning excursion - this little sea-lion was just dying to have his picture taken - he about chased us down for us to take it.
10!!!!!!!!!! I was in constant amazement of the whole thing.
Probably the highlight of my trip was simply taking in the unspoiled beauty of the different islands! I simply had a hard time getting over how beautiful everything was and how the animals completely did not care if we were there or not! If anything, the animals acted like we were a source of entertainment! Being in a smaller group, I really felt like I was exploring the islands and could easily imagine what it was like for the early explorers!
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