Galapagos Island Cruise
If you want an experience that is meaningful, enriching and fulfilling, this is the trip for you. Instead of the familiar, discover the wonder and exploration of The Galapagos Islands.
Few people will ever witness the extraordinary beauty and wildlife of The Galapagos Islands. There is no other place on earth that is like it. The islands of the Galapagos archipelago rose from the sea from erupting volcanoes, and have never been connected to the mainland. The environmentalists are talking about eliminated travel to this exotic destination completely to keep the islands in their most natural state. If you are looking for the most unique travel experience of a lifetime, The Galapagos Islands is the trip for you.
As we stepped off the plane in Baltra and we went to embark on the ship, we viewed sea lions resting on the dock, so that we had to step around them. Reptiles, mammals and birds have the right of way in The Galapagos Islands as they have never been hunted and have no fear.
The very first day we observed mating Frigate birds, Galapagos Sea Lions (mothers nursing their babies), Blue footed Boobies doing their mating dance, Marine Iguanas, Land Iguanas and the Galapagos Hawks just to mention a few. To say it took our breath away is an understatement.
One evening we dined under the stars and the Captain shut off the lights. The sky was magnificent and there is no pollution or street lights to block out the beauty of the stars. The captain turned the lights on below the water surface. All of a sudden the fish swimming toward the light of the ship started jumping out of the water. They were being chased by sea lions!! A little while later the pelicans came to grab the fish jumping out of the water and the sharks came as well. The sharks were not hunting the sea lions and they were swimming toward the light of the ship more out of curiosity.
A low intensity excursion that we went on, was in a small zodiac ride in deep sea water and we had a school of dolphins swimming beside us, so close that we could have touched them. On another excursion we saw a sea turtle make her way to her nest to lay her eggs. One afternoon, the captain made an announcement to look on the port side of the ship and there were whales swimming along the side of us. Some of the islands had marine iguanas so well populated that we had to watch were we stepped as they blended in with the rocks so well that we didn’t even realize that they were there.
Some of the other wildlife we saw on land was the Galapagos penguins, Flightless Comorants, Iguanas, Lava Lizards, Green Sea Turtles, the giant Galapagos Tortoise (600 pounds), nesting Waved Albatross ( with a wingspan of 7 ft.), Fur seals, Flamingos, and Sally Lightfoot Crabs.
The wildlife viewed below the water, was Marbled Sting Rays, Eagle Rays, white-tipped Reef sharks, Pacific Barracuda, Parrot fish and on a truly amazing snorkeling excursion some of the passengers saw the really rare 15ft Whale Shark which only feeds on plankton. While snorkeling we had a sea lion blow bubbles in our mask and we saw penguins swim by. Walk and swim on black or red sand beaches.
Every excursion had a maximum of 13 to 14 people that was accompanied by a very well informed Naturalist, who showed us were to walk and answered every question with enthusiasm.
Aboard the ship we had the choice of low intensity, medium intensity or high intensity tours. On every tour, there was an abundance of wildlife and there were never any complaints about not seeing enough. Anyone in average physical condition can do the high intensity tours without a problem.
To add the icing on the cake, we were pampered and catered to in the lap of luxury with personal attention given to our every need. When returning from an excursion, we were handed a cold damp cloth on a silver tray to refresh ourselves with as well as a cool drink of soda, juice and something to eat. This was in between our delectable meals served to us with white gloved service.
This is an opportunity of a lifetime and should not be missed.
