Ticking the bucket list in the Galapagos

Liz Penn on 06 June 2013
As part of our three-month trip around South America, my husband and I got to visit a real bucket-list destination – the Galapagos. Firstly, here are a few tips from me:

1) Unless you get seriously sea-sick don’t opt for a land tour; the absolute best way of seeing as much as possible is by boat.

2) You ideally want at least a 10-night tour as these tend to actually mean 8 nights out in the islands in reality – the first and last night will most likely be in Quito.

3) On the subject of boats, in my humble opinion I would choose a smaller vessel as the fewer the people the shorter the amount of time it takes getting people on and off the islands you’re visiting – the landing areas are deliberately small to keep numbers down. We went with G Adventures on their West & Central tour which covers half a dozen islands and carries a maximum of 16 passengers.

4) I strongly recommend going as part of a tour rather than trying to do the trip independently – you’ll find it hard to organise transport to the remoter islands and you will need a guide to get the most out of your visit. Essentially, a tour pretty much guarantees you will get the experience you want and splits the cost between fellow travellers.

5) One final thing to consider is what you actually want to see – this may determine the route and the time of year to go. I can certainly help you plan to get the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Everyone knows what to expect from the Galapagos but it still doesn’t prepare you for the sheer volume and proximity of the wildlife. A little like my safari and zebras experience, the first time you see a Sally Lightfoot crab or a Marine Iguana you’ll probably take hundreds of photos until you realise they are the sparrows of the Galapagos (although the islands do also have sparrows but you get the drift). I still couldn’t get used to seeing an iguana swimming though, very weird.

Most days started early (7:30am was the norm but it did get even earlier) and consisted of breakfast before heading out in dinghies to visit an island before going snorkelling (wetsuits can be hired and you may well need them), heading back for lunch, perhaps moving to another spot while we’re eating and then repeat the above. Our guide, Pedro, gave a briefing the day before so we knew what to expect – what we needed to take with us, what kind of landing it would be (wet or dry) and what wildlife we might see. He did a very good job and we soon decided he’d paid the wildlife to be where he said it would be….

On Isabela we got to see some of the islands’ most famous residents, the Giant Tortoises, at the National Park’s Rearing Centre. One of them was nicknamed Houdini as he’d made several escape attempts and they had to lock his pen. Later in the trip we visited the reserve on Santa Cruz where Lonesome George lived, the last of his kind who sadly didn’t find a mate. Most excitingly for me, we even came across them in the wild on Santa Cruz.

Of course, the Galapagos is just as much about the birds as it is the land lubbers and we got lucky, seeing Galapagos Penguins, countless finches that helped Darwin with his studies, Flightless Cormorants – I felt sorry for them when I saw them drying out their tiny wings – not to mention Blue-Footed Boobys and Magnificent Frigate birds carrying out their mating rituals.

Rich did more snorkelling than me and, typically, most of the more exciting encounters were just after I’d got out. He swam with sea lions playing around him and saw a Manta Ray – still one of my bucket list critters, so I really kicked myself missing that one. However, there was one magical day when we were practically ordered to do the snorkelling as the bay was renowned for its group of Pacific Green Sea Turtles and within minutes we were surrounded. I still don’t know how such cumbersome looking animals can be so agile but despite there being around 40 of them swimming amongst us they didn’t touch us once. It was a magical experience.

I’ve included more photos on this post than usual as it’s really what the Galapagos is all about – getting up close and personal with so many different animals. Any photos with a human in is to give perspective – there are tracks you stick to but the animals don’t know that and it wasn’t that rare to have to pick your way through a group of sunbathing iguanas. I wrote a more in-depth blog at the time of the trip, so if you’d like to read more and for a lot more photos, you can take a look here: https://lizardtracks.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-galapagos-footsteps-of-very.html