The Galapagos

Trip of a Lifetime

The Galapagos. An archipelago located off the coast of Ecuador that is situated on the equator. I was lucky enough to be invited by my grandparents to join them and my extended family on this National Geographic/Lindblad expedition. Thank you Ronnie and Dan (grandma and grandpa) for inviting me on one of the best trips I have ever been on! If you have the money and time to go on this expedition, I highly suggest it. I’ve heard it does book up about a year in advance. It includes transportation to and from Guayaquil to the Galapagos, 8 Days/7 Nights, activities, equipment, and all meals on the expedition.

Getting to the Galapagos

I am so grateful and happy that I was able to get work off, especially during the end of football season. I caught an early morning flight from Los Angeles to Miami to meet up with my grandparents, uncle and cousins who were coming from Denver. We stayed overnight near the airport, and caught a flight out the next morning to Guayaquil. National Geographic puts everyone on the cruise in the same hotel called Hotel Oro Verde. We had a mini orientation at the hotel of what to expect the next morning and then had the whole afternoon to ourselves. We were told that Guayaquil wasn’t the safest place to wander around because of civil unrest, so we opted to stay in the hotel.

The next morning, we went down to get breakfast with all the people on the cruise. National Geographic took care of the transportation of all our bigger luggage from the hotel to the cruise ship. We got bused to the Guayaquil airport, and the flight was about 2 hours long. We landed in Baltra and we saw an iguana just chilling on the dirt next to the sidewalk as we walked to customs. We then got transported to the port with zodiacs waiting to take us to the ship.  

The Endeavor II

This ship holds 96 guests (not including staff) and is a relatively small ship. We went to our cabins and got settled in. We went to the lounge where we met the staff and expedition leader Cindy. We went through how the next 8 days would look and our first outing we would go on after lunch.

We went down to the dining room for lunch, where we found a table that would be our table for the rest of the trip. The food was delicious the whole trip and our waiter Chester was very nice. It was buffet style for breakfast, service for lunch and dinner. For dinner, we would write down what option we want for later that day. They are extremely accommodating to your dietary restrictions and go above and beyond to make sure you get what you want and need. They also have a dessert after lunch and dinner that was very yummy. After a couple of days, Chester remembered what salad and drinks I liked and would have them ready before I sat down. Breakfast was usually at 7am (except for two days), Lunch around 12:30pm and Dinner around 7:30pm

In the Galapagos, you always need to be with a naturalist when you are off the cruise ship. The island “opens” at 6am (around sunrise) and we had to be off each island by 6pm (sunset).

We also had this peg board that had all the room numbers and these moveable pieces. Any time you went off, you had to move your peg to the off side. Once you got onboard, you moved it back to onboard. They would check the board before moving to the next location, and if anyone forgot to move their piece, they would make an announcement that “x” room says you are still off the ship. Please move your piece if you are on board. I felt a lot more comfortable that they would not leave us anywhere and were accounting for everyone before sailing to the next destination. Between excursions and meals they have lectures that you can attend to learn more about photography, the Galapagos, ocean currents, Charles Darwin, etc.

Las Bachas, Baltra Island

Our first activity was to go to Las Bachas, a beach on Baltra Island. This was the first of many wet landings. A wet landing is where we don’t have a dry dock to land on. We had to step into the shallow water, and walk to shore. We saw lots of the bright red Sally Lightfoot Crabs and even got to see flamingos. We learned about the green sea turtles and their nesting place up top of the beach hill. Only one out of one thousand sea turtles survive when they are little. We had some time to explore the beach on our own before heading back to the ship.

We had a nightly recap and debriefing about the next day. We went to dinner and had some delicious lobster. It was New Years Eve as well, so there were some activities on the observation deck to say goodbye to 2022 and ring in 2023.

North Seymour and Rabida Island

We started our first full day by going to North Seymour Island. We saw Frigate Birds, Pelicans, Blue Footed Booby’s, Seal Lions, Iguanas, Lava Lizards and much more. There was one bird that almost landed on my dad’s hat.

Before lunch, we got our snorkel gear fitted. We sailed to Rabida Island where we would have our first snorkel swim where we saw lots of fish and a few turtles.  After snorkeling, we went back on board, dried off and then went back onto the island to walk around. Rabida is home to more sea lions and flamingos. The naturalists were saying in the last 10 years, they haven’t seen Flamingos here, but then sudden they came back just a few weeks ago. We also saw two females sitting over their eggs and another group of around 9 or 10 just grazing. We walked on the red sand beach for sunset.

Fernadina Island and Isabela

We stopped at Fernadina Island in the early morning. This island is covered in black lava flow with Marine Iguanas covering the lava flow and sunbathing. We got to see iguanas taking a morning swim and sea lions playing in the ocean. We saw skeleton remains of a whale and learned about how iguana skeletons are toxic.

We did our first “deep-diving” snorkeling outing. Which basically means we exit the zodiac near the shore and dive right into the water, instead of going out from the beach. It was so cold and murky. We saw a couple of fish and at the very end a penguin joined us.

After lunch we went on a zodiac ride around the coast where we saw 5ish Mola Molas, big 6ft long fish with fins on the top and bottom. We saw Blue Footed Boobys mating and penguins and sea lions playing. That night, we had a Crossing the Equator celebration, where everyone went under the Ecuador flag as we crossed the equator. We also saw three orca whales in the distance as we sailed to our next spot.

Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove, Isabela

We landed at Urbina Bay, known to have giant tortoises and paper wasps, unfortunately. We were able to see a few giant tortoises and also learned about the poisonous apple trees that are toxic to humans, mammals and birds. Only reptiles eat these small apples. After our walk, we were able to swim at the beach before heading back to the boat. About 20 people or so swam from the beach back to our boat, which was about .61 miles. After lunch, my parents, my cousin and I went kayaking along the shore. We saw turtles, sea lions and penguins.

For our last expedition of the day, we went on a nice zodiac ride and saw so many animals. We saw pelicans diving and feeding on the fish, around 5-6 pelicans pairs mating (which apparently is something our zodiac driver who has been working for over 5 years has never seen). We had the option to straddle the seat of the zodiac and have one foot touch the water. About halfway through the ride, there was a splashing right by my foot, and a sea lion came up and wanted to play. It disappeared and about a minute later I felt a nose on my foot. I jumped slightly and the sea lion had come back, and it looked at us like it wanted to join us on board. We also saw about 30 penguins, which were a lot according to our naturalist. They were sliding into the sea to get their dinner. I think this was our best zodiac wildlife sighting outing.

Santiago Island

I was off the ship and went on my first morning expedition at the crack of dawn, 6:30am. I went on a photography centered walk with one of the naturalists, Ramiro. We got the nice morning light as we watched the sea turtles make their slow descent back into the ocean. We also saw a few turtles mating in the water. We walked around, stopping every now and then to take photos.

We then went back to the boat around 7:45 and had breakfast. After breakfast, my dad and I went out for another round of kayaking. We didn’t see too many animals, but the scenery was very pretty. After lunch we went to beach where we sunbathed with sea lions and went snorkeling. We swam with a seal lion, saw 3 turtles and several schools of fish. After the swim, we went on a hike from the beach and saw lots of birds, crabs, seal lions, seal lion pups, an American oystercatcher, and iguanas. For dinner, we had a delicious BBQ on the observation deck.

Puerto Azorra and Highlands, Santa Cruz

We went to town to the Charles Darwin Center, where they have baby giant tortoises and help raise them until they are of big enough to return to their home island. They were so cute!

I wasn’t feeling 100%, so I wasn’t able to go to the Fishermans Wharf but I saw some pictures and it looked really cool. Luckily, the ship doctor gave me some medicine and I was feeling better for the afternoon excursion. We visited a sugarcane farm where they make their own Moonshine, coffee, and sugar bars. We ate lunch at Rancho Manzanillo. This ranch is home to one of the giant tortoises grassy areas. We were taken around the ranch with a naturalist. We then had some free time to wander around and take pictures. After dinner, there was a performance on the observation deck with a local band and some traditional Ecuadorian dancers.

Punta Pitt & Cerro Brujo, San Cristobal

Our last full day on the island. We had the option to go on a hike or take a zodiac ride. I still wasn’t feeling 100%, so I opted for the zodiac ride. We circumnavigated two little islands and looked for the Red Footed Booby. Afterwards we met the hikers on the beach and could swim and sunbathe. The beach sparkled like a diamond and we saw more seal lions, American Oystercatchers, and Red Footed Boobys.

After lunch we went to another beach, Cerro Brujo, which had white sand. We were given about an hour and a half to explore. This beach was very pretty, but very hot. We could see Kicker Rock from it and had a nice walk on the shore. We had goodbye cocktails as we traveled past the Kicker Rock and ended the night with a nice slideshow of everyone’s best pictures.

Otoy Organic Farms Restaurant, San Cristobal

We were up and off of the ship for the last time at 7:30am and took the zodiac to shore. We were then bussed to the highlands to a farm/restaurant called Otoy Organic Farms and Restaurant. We were able to wander around the farm and some people played soccer. We had our lunch and then were transported to the airport.

Final Thoughts

One of the best trips I have been on. The food, the staff, the places we went to were all amazing. I hope I can go on another National Geographic trip at some point in my life. I highly recommend going to the Galapagos if you are able to.

Until next time!