Galapagos Islands, Ecuador – Part I (Post #129)
Michele here…writing from the Galapagos Islands.
On Thursday, May 25th, we boarded a plane going from Guayaquil, Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador). We have been looking forward to going to the Galapagos Islands since the beginning of the trip and there we were…finally going!
We landed at the airport and it was immediate obvious we were being well catered too (something we are certainly not used to on the trip). A man from the Galapagos Legend Cruiseship showed us where to go, told us what forms to fill out, where to pay the $100 Galapagos National Park fee, and then got us on the airport bus that would take us to the dock. We were told our luggage would be transported directly to our rooms on the ship and not to worry. Despite being told this, I realized this was the first time on our entire trip that we did not have control of our luggage and it made me a bit nervous.
The AeroGal airlines bus took us to the dock where we would board a zodiac (a large, thick, inflatable boat with a motor) that would take us to the ship. When we got off the bus and were standing at the dock we were immediately surrounded by an abundance of wildlife. There were sealions, pelicans, marine iguanas, and crabs. It seemed surreal but then again, we were in the Galapagos Islands and that is what it is supposed to be like (and the reason why we came here).
We boarded the Galapagos Legend Cruiseship and whoa! This was indeed a luxury cruiseship. We got the key to our room and at first I was a bit disappointed because, although our room was large, the window looked out to the zodiacs and not the ocean. The ship was nearly full (76 passengers) and we learned most of the remaining rooms were smaller than ours so we decided to stay where we were. (However, four days later we were upgraded to a Jr. Suite!) Our room and bathroom on the boat was fully equiped with every amenity and our shower had glorious hot water! The bed sheets were clean, the towels were soft, and there was even a blow dryer and shampoo dispenser in the bathroom. We learned that 3 times a day our towels would be changed and our bathroom would be cleaned. Wow! This was really living! Here is a picture of our boat:
The ship also had a library where you could get coffee, tea, and snacks all day and night. There was a bar inside and outside and a small swimming pool. Here is a closer look at the little pool and outside bar:
One of the best things about the Legend cruiseship was the food. It was outstanding! Each day there was an all you can eat buffet breakfast and all you can eat buffet lunch. At lunch we selected what we wanted for our dinner meal. Here we are at dinner the first night on the ship:
About half way through the cruise, Mike and I got moved to a table that included the rest of our excursion group. We spent many wonderful hours with the people shown below because we went on all our excursions with them. Shown are me and Mike in the front; David, a musician from Indiana (left next to me); Kathy (in back on the left) and Jim (next to Mike) from Boulder, Colorado, and Jim´s mom, Ruth (on the right – she´s 85 years old!) We really enjoyed being in the Boobies group with them. (Yes, our group name was the Boobies, as in Blue Footed Boobies, a Galapagos bird.)
Our itinerary was packed full of excursions and each day started early. At 6:35a soft music started playing over the speakers in our room. At 6:45a, Yvette, the happy and chirpy cruise director made an announcement that the breakfast would be ready in 15 minutes at 7:00am. She makes all the announcements in Spanish then English. Each day we disembarked for our first excursion at 8:00am. We generally returned at about 11:00am and found a snack waiting for us. Yvette made the lunch announcement at 12:15 each day telling us the lunch would be ready in 15 minutes. After the lunch buffet we had siesta time (or journal writing time in my case). The afternoon siesta lasted until we heard the soft wake-up music playing over the speaker in our room at 3:10p each day. Then at 3:15p, our chirpy cruise director told us we would be disembarking for the afternoon excursion at 3:30p.
We disembarked in small groups for all our excursions and each group had a bilingual guide that spoke perfect English and Spanish and was trained as a naturalist (a specialist in Galapagos birds, animals, plant life, etc.) The guides were fantastic.
We returned from our afternoon excursion each day at about 6:30p where we found an evening snack waiting for us. At about 7:15p we heard Yvette tell us over the speakers that the evening presentation on tomorrow´s excursions would be in 15 minutes in the lounge. Each evening at about 7:30p we listened to a half hour presentation on the following day´s excursions. The presentation was given by one of the naturalist guides and included a slide show and/or movie. When the night briefing was over we went to dinner. Oh, this life was sooooooo tough! 🙂
Here was our itinerary:
Thurs, May 25th
- am – picked up from Baltra Airport (Baltra Island)
- pm – Bartolome Island
Friday, May 26th
- am – Espinoza Point, Fernandina Island
- pm – Tagus Cove, Isabela Island
Saturday, May 27th
- am – Egas Port, Santiago Island
- pm – Rabida Island
Sunday, May 28th
- am – Charles Darwin Station, Santa Cruz Island
- pm – Dragon Hill, Santa Cruz Island
Monday, May 29th
- am – Bachas Beach, Santa Cruz Island
- pm – North Seymour Island
Tuesday, May 30th
- am – El Barranco, Genovesa Island
- pm – Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island
Wednesday, May 31st
- am – Suarez Point, Espanola Island
- pm – Interpretation Center, San Cristobal Island
Thursday, June 1st
- am – Black Turtle Cove, Santa Cruz Island
- pm – leave cruise ship, check into hotel on Santa Cruz Island for 5 days (3 days of scuba diving)
The blogs following this one include lots of pictures of what the Galapagos Islands are famous for – amazing wildlife.
Tags: Category #29: Ecuador
Michele Harmon
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