How to Galapagos

Greetings!

I have just recently returned from a trip to the Galapagos - a group of islands in the Pacific renown for its diverse and unafraid wildlife.  It was here that Darwin got the inspiration for what later became his theory of evolution through natural selection.  This was my second time visiting the islands, my first time was back in 1996.

Several people have asked me about the trip, so I thought I'd put together this page to answer the following questions:

Q1. What is a typical day in the Galapagos like?

Q2. What are the special rules of the Galapagos?

Q3. How does one organize a trip there?

Q4. Got any tips or other thoughts on the Galapagos?

If you just want to see a few pictures and skip all the logistics talk: Andrei's Public Galapagos Pix

Q1. What is a typical day in the Galapagos like?

The best, and in my opinion only, way to experience the Galapagos is by booking a boat tour.  It is technically feasible to base yourself in a hotel/Airbnb in one of the Galapagos' two big cities and take day trips, but it's an inferior option to booking a cruise (you'll be limited in range, will likely cost more, you'll waste time getting to and from destinations each day, etc.).  A day on a tour boat may look something like:

• 7:00 am: Wake up, eat breakfast on the boat with the other passengers (food is generally good to excellent)
• 8:30 am: First excursion of the day. You and up to a dozen of your fellow tourists get on a dinghy and are ferried to an island.  Your guide will take you along a planned itinerary (see special rules in next section), walking along established trails.  You see animals (occasionally making sure you don't step on them, they are truly unafraid of you!), you take pictures, you learn about the animals and the environment, you have your mind blown.
• 10:00 am: Return to boat
• 10:30 am: Snorkeling - may be from a beach, or off the side of a dinghy.  You might see: sea lions, sharks, penguins, various rays, corals, eels, and bzillions of colorful fish.
• 11:30 am: Return to boat
• 12:30 pm: Lunch and relaxation/siesta time
• 2:30 pm: Second excursion, either on different part of the same island or a different island that you traveled to during lunch/siesta.
• 4:30 pm: Second snorkeling expedition
• 6:00 pm: Return to boat, snacks and happy hour
• 7:30 pm: Dinner, on boat
• 8:30 pm: Briefing on next day's activities
• (Overnight: boat motors to new destination while you sleep)

Not every day included two snorkeling excursions, in fact some days had none - but we always had a morning and an afternoon excursions to an island.  You may also spend a day in one of the two big cities, seeing sights such as the Darwin Research Center or just doing touristy things.  

Q2. What are the special rules of the Galapagos?

• While visiting an island or snorkeling, you must be accompanied by a certified guide.  For each group of 16 tourists there must be one guide (we were generally 10-12 per guide).  You must stay with your guide and group at all times.  You cannot take off for a stroll on your own.
• No touching the animals (even though it would be easy to do it!).  You must remain 2 meters (~7 feet) from the animals at all times.  If an animal is lying across the path, do your best to avoid it while going around it and get 2 meters away as soon as possible.
• You must stay on demarcated paths, in order to limit the impact of trampling.
• It is truly "leave no trace" - no eating, no littering, no taking ANYTHING (not a shell, not a leaf, not a pinch of sand - nothing!).  It is amazing how pristine the islands are despite all the humans that visit each day, every day. 

Q3. How does one organize a trip there?

"OK, sounds awesome, I wanna go!" - there are two ways of doing it:

Option 1) Book an all-inclusive tour, AKA the "easy but more expensive" approach.  A packaged tour will include your airfare, transfers, hotels, etc.  You just need to show up at the airport.

Option 2) DIY, which is what we did.  Our approach:

- First book the cruise

- Next, book a flight from Quito or Guayaquil (Ecuador) to whichever of the two islands your cruise is leaving from.  In our case, our cruise operator told us exactly which flight we needed to be on so they could transfer us to the boat.

- Finally, book your flight from home to Quito or Guayaquil - and associated hotels, see below.

Notes on travel:

- There are no international flights directly to the Galapagos, so you must connect through Quito or Guayaquil.

- Flights from Quito/Guayaquil to the Galapagos generally leave in the morning and return to the mainland in the afternoon.  You will need a hotel in Quito or Guayaquil since you'll be arriving one evening and leaving for the Galapagos early the next day.  You'll likely need similar accommodations on the way back, as you'll be arriving too late to get a flight back home that same day.

- Only two airlines fly to the Galapagos: Avianca and LATAM

Q4. Got any tips or other thoughts on the Galapagos?

• Do not neglect sun protection.  You will be on the equator and spending hours in the sun with no access to shade.  Getting a sunburn will result in losing out on expeditions as you heal in the only shade available: on the boat.  Wide-brimmed hat, sun-shirt, sunglasses and reef-safe sunscreen are non-negotiables.
• Can my child go?  Can grandma and grandpa come along?  The daily excursions are not particularly strenuous, but there is some climbing, scrambling over rough terrain and stairs involved.  Personally I'd hesitate to bring a child younger than 6 unless they're used to hiking.  One also has the option of skipping the excursions and just staying on the boat if an excursion is beyond someone's abilities or comfort.
• The Galapagos are relatively young volcanic islands, and the ground tends to have a surface somewhere between a cheese grater and a microplane.  It is rough on your shoes.  Solid hiking boots are a good idea.  I wore a pair of running shoes that had been retired from the gym, and the Galapagos more or less killed them.  Something soft like flip-flops will not last.
• While a wetsuit is not required for snorkeling, most people will appreciate one.  On our tour, mask and fins were provided while wetsuits could be rented.  For less than the cost of the rental, I bought myself a suit.  Enquire with your tour operator beforehand about their wetsuit policy.

Final thought, which is unfortunately a depressing one: If you are contemplating going to the Galapagos - and I sincerely encourage you to go, it really is a bucket-list trip of a lifetime - I would suggest going sooner rather than later.  The Galapagos are fragile, and there are signs that climate change is negatively affecting them.  On one island we visited, the annual rainy season has failed for the last 4 years and we don't know how many more it can take.  One of the staff that I spoke to, who was born and raised in the Galapagos, had a very negative outlook on the future of the islands and was making alternate career plans... that was just one opinion, and those islands have been through major changes in the past and have always pulled through - but we don't know what that will look like, certainly not in the short-term.  I can assure you that the islands are amazing right now, so why not catch them while the catching is good?  

Enjoy!

Andrei

P.S. Please leave a comment below, I would love to know if anyone actually reads this :)