Blogs from Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 16

Lauren, Rebeka from Sweden, who Lauren met in Mankara, and I decided to go on a snorkeling trip off of Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos. We hired a boat for an afternoon, who would provide a guide and show us the best places to explore. The boat zipped us out of the harbor where all the cruise ships anchor. The day was a bit stormy with large full clouds marbling the sky and wind that pushed up mounding white caps. The boat stopped in front of a golden sandy beach where sea lions and marine iguanas rested on the rocks. We slipped into the slightly cold water and started paddling against the currant, which was threatening to pull us out of the bay. When I put my head under the water I was met ... read more

Nun ist es über einen Monat her als mein Bruder hier in Galapagos gelandet ist und schon ist er wieder zurück in der kalten Schweiz. Ende November kam mein Bruder Markus mich besuchen und wir machten die Inseln zusammen unsicher. Die erste Woche blieb er hauptsächlich bei uns in Puerto Ayora, wir gingen nach Tortuga Bay schnorcheln, oder zu den Grietas. Ausserdem lernte er so auch das Leben im Dorf kennen, wir machten Parilladas, gingen essen bei den Kioskos, wie ein local natürlich. Nach einer Woche hatte er dann schon ne nette Ahnung vom Inselleben, also dachte ich, wir schicken ihn auf eine 8 Tages Kreuzfahrt. Da es noch nicht Hauptsaison war, fanden wir ein last minute Schnäppchen auf der Beluga. Ein Traumschiff! Leider musste ich im Dorf bleiben und meinen Alltagsvepflichtungen nachgehen, wie mein voluntariado ... read more

Day 1 - We flew from Quito to Baltra island on a 727 jet. I had visions of flying to Baltra on a puddle jumper, but I was wrong. I was hoping to see Iguanas being chased off the runway, as I had heard these stories. The only creature I saw at the airport (besides tourists) were Lizards. We were ferried over to Santa Cruz Island. Our ferry ride was entertaining, we saw a Sea Lion sitting on a dinghy and 2 Sea Turtles mating. We finally arrived at our boat. I took this trip through Gap Adventures. Our boat (Gap Adventures I) also known as Pelikano was large enough for 16 tourists and 8 crew members. Perfect for me, I wouldn't want to have been on a large cruise ship as they can't get around ... read more

Before flying out to the Galápagos Islands, we spent a week in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We will add a separate blog entry for Quito after our Galápagos entry. The Galápagos Islands were most definitely the highlight of our trip so far. While being expensive, we think that they were worth every cent. The Galápagos is a surreal place, with strangely tame animals lazing around everywhere. The animals are the main reason for visiting the Islands; they indirectly made the Islands famous by being so unique and influencing Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution. It was specifically the Islands´ mockingbirds that the young Darwin had taken back with him that caused him to start speculating about evolution. One really appreciates that this is one of the last few places left on earth where ... read more

We have just returned from our 5 days in the Galapagos Islands and our time spent there can be summarised in one word: Amazing! Since beginning to plan our trip we were looking forward to the Galapagos as one of the major highlights and we were not disappointed. There are many ways to go about organising a trip to the islands. After much research and careful consideration we decided to book a 4 day cruise with Dreamkapture travel in Guayaquil. There is no way of getting around the fact that a trip to the Galapagos is going to be expensive but in the end we feel that it was money well spent. We flew in 1 day before the tour started and stayed in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. We spent the day walking around the ... read more