The night before we fell asleep at Sombrero Chino Island, after spending much of the evening on deck looking at the splendid skies and chatting with our shipmates (and ok, drinking a couple of bottles of wines we'd brought aboard...). Somewhere in the night, we were aware that the motors had started and that we were moving but anyway, in the morning, we woke up at Isla Bartolome. We woke to the sound of sea lions 'honking' around the boat, boy are these guys noisy! We were one of the first boats at the island and we took our time waking up and eating a wonderful breakfast before setting off to the island.

Isla Bartolome or Bartholomew Island is best known for the famous vista from the top, where every tour group has its picture taken. The island is highly visited and famous not so much for its wildlife like the other islands but for its wildly volcanic landscape. To protect the trail against erosion a wooden path and stairway to the top has been built (it is not for nothing called the stairmaster of the islands!).
We also snorkelled around pinnacle rock (the famous monolith seen on the last picture).

We spent the night at Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) Island, close to Santiago (James) Island. Actually, this is quite a privilege, since visitation to Sombrero Chino is highly restricted. We were the only boat around and I can honestly say i've never seen as many stars in the night sky!
This was the first sea lion colony we visited.

The Galagagos are probably best known for being the islands that inspired Darwin's The Origin of Species. Incredibly, in spite of growing tourism and the impact of human habitation, the islands have changed relatively little since Darwin's time. Tourism is managed intelligently by limiting the numbers of tourists allowed at any of the islands at a time and by using smaller boats to cruise between the islands instead of big cruise ships. A Galapagos cruise is like no other. Don't expect luxury like traditional cruises, do expect otherwordly landscapes, incredible creatures, an adventure you won't forget!
The archipelago consists of 15 islands, of which 5 are inhabited. All have their own character and interesting points. The best way to visit would be on a boat tour. Land based tours are also available (and a bit cheaper) but since the islands are quite far away from each other, you won't see as much and will be spending a lot of time at sea. Trips are available in different durations, mostly 4 to 5 days, 7 to 8 days, or 10 days. The shortest trips really don't allow much time on the islands because the first and last days are travelling days from the mainland (a 2 to 3 hour's flight).

The Galapagos are also known as one of the premier dive spots of the world. But even if you are not a diver you can enjoy the underwater world on a snorkelling trip. We snorkelled at a couple of islands and swimming with the sea lions was one of the highlights of our trip! And we swam with sharks! Twice! I never imagined I would be doing such a thing in my life!

Isla Seymour/Isla Seymour, a tiny island close to Baltra Island was the first stop on our itinerary after settling into our boat at Santa Cruz, and our first hike and experience with the wildlife up close. The island has a nice, easily walked trail where a lot of birds can be seen. We saw blue-footed boobies (with eggs and even with chicks, so cute), frigate birds and lots of seagulls. The frigate birds are impressive, with the balloon-like sacs under their throats which they inflate to attract overflying females.

The birds are absolutely fearless here. It is a funny sensation to have to step aside for a blue-footed boobie eyeing you: "I'm not going no-where, ok!"

If you arrive at Baltra airport, your first (half) day will be spent at Santa Cruz Island. You will probably get an excursion to the highlands of Santa Cruz like we did. This gives a good overview of the island and its different ecosystems.We visited a farm where we had our first peek at those famous Galapagos tortoises. The tortoises spend months travelling from the highlands to the coastal areas and vice versa to mate. When travelling, nothing will stop one of these beasts, so they often topple fences between farms. Farmers have finally learned to make their fences at 'tortoise-height' and often supplement their income with tourism. Except for the tortoises, there is really nothing special to be seen at these farms.
A nice stop is at the twin sinkholes (Los Gemelos), near the main road. A lot of birds can be seen here.

Our first glimpse of the Galapagos was arriving at Baltra Island.
Baltra is really only a small satellite island to Isla Santa Cruz and where the airport is located (see my review). Everything went quite rushed, first we had to go through customs formalities etc, which took quite a lonf time. Then we caught a small van that brought us to the ferry that would shuttle us to Santa Cruz Island, our final destination for the day and where we would embark the ship that would be our home for the next week.
Good thing that we are light travellers because the loading and unloading of the luggage on the small ferries is not easy. I would definitely not recommend to travel with hard-sided luggage.

Everyone was twisting their necks to see the first glimpses of wildlife but there really wasn't that much to be seen on Baltra. It looked like a very dry and desolate island.

You will be arriving at one of the two airports in the Galapagos, at either Baltra Island or at Isla San Christobal, which is a much smaller airport. When arriving at Baltra airport, keep in mind that Baltra is a small island just next to Santa Cruz island and that, in order to reach Puerto Ayora, the main town and the harbor from which most boats depart, you still have an almost 2-hour bus trip to go, including a ferry connecting Baltra Island and Santa Cruz Island. Taking the ferry is quite a bustle. Arriving at San Christobal Island would be more convenient but there are more flights to Baltra airport. Upon arriving at the islands, you'll go through customs (quite strict so you won't bring anything into the islands that could contaminate the natural environment like seeds or fruit) and you'll have to pay a $ 100,- fee to enter the national park.

Do try to take a day trip to Cotopaxi Volcano, at least climbing up to the refugio. Driving up from Quito, you will see interesting villages and landscapes, and entering the National Park, you will pass through Andean grasslands and Eucalipt and pine forests (imported). There is a nice lake for hiking around, where often wild horses can be seen, and there is an interesting little museum, explaining a lot about the plants and wildlife you will see along the way up to the volcano. On the way to Cotopaxi Volcano, we saw wild horses at Lago Limpiopungo, which is a lake about half way to the volcano in the National Park. This makes a nice walk to get acclimatized to the height before climbing the mountain. Most day-trippers to Cotopaxi only climb to the Refugio Jose Rivas, which is at 4800 m. altitude. Expect to get tired and out of breath, especially if you are not used to climbing! As they say, it is as if you have an elephant sitting on your chest! Then, believe me.. going up the mountain is a LOT harder than getting down again. Since most parts of the trail consist of fine volcanic ash you just let go and literally RUN down! Don't stumble however, before you know it you will be ROLLing down.. In the picture you can see a group of local schoolchildren climbing up to the refugio. Yes, even children were panting the whole way up!

We started off our trip in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, situated in a valley, surrounded by the Andes and with a couple of volcanoes quite close-by. Although it is almost on the equator and one would think this would make for a hot tropical climate, because of the altitude, this is not the case. The temperatures are actually very pleasant (if a bit rainy, at least when we visited).

Our stay at the very modern and convenient Hotel Rio Amazonas was part of the package we bought to the Galapagos with GAP Adventures. However, the hotel was so good we booked an additional room at the end of our journey, when returning to Quito from Otavalo and Banos. The service was excellent and friendly and the rooms were more than satisfactory, clean and modern. The hotel is conveniently situated from a shopping area, travel agents and several restaurants (but quite far away from the colonial center of the city). Also, there is an internet cafe just across the street. When my husband got sick, the front desk went out of their way to find a doctor and get medicines from the pharmacy for him. You couldn't possibly with for better and friendlier service. Last but not least, the restaurant next door belonging to the hotel serves an excellent seafood ceviche and seafood soup!

Hotel Sangay Spa is said to be the best in town. The location is very good, a bit outside of the center of town but still easily walkable and the waterfall next door is nice with a soothing sound. The baths are also right next door. That said, the service is disinterested at best (which is strange for Ecuador, with its friendly people), the spa facilities were practically unavailable (we must have asked about eight times, only to be told, "we'll book you later", when 'later' finally arrived, the spa was closed for cleaning, etc, etc, At last we gave up). The rooms are clean enough, but very dark and gloomy, and the hotel was noisy with small children running around screaming. Would I recommend this hotel to someone else? Not if you would like the services the hotel prides itself on like the spa. Yes for the location.

The staff provided fresh roses everyday and were very helpful. There is a casino located on the lower level that was nice. The location was good and was in a good area of town. Within walking distance to markets and several good restaurants. The hotel also had a nice restaurant with great food! I would love to stay here again!

We now get all the hype, visiting the Galapagos Islands was absolutely amazing.  Tom and I treated ourselves to a 4 night luxury yacht cruise around the islands, plus spent 2 more days ourselves on the main island of Santa Cruz.  We got up close and cosy with so many cool animals - sea lions, giant tortoises, iquanas, sea turtles, fur seals, penguins, manta and sting rays, galapagos and reef sharks and trillions of fish and birds, including the infamous Boobies!  It is truly surreal how unbothered the animals are by human presence, completely different to anything we have experienced before.  

With many to choose from, the best highlight for me was snorkelling with a young sea lion who literally swam up to play with me.  I was twisting and turning my body trying to keep up with him swimming all around me, until I was exhausted and he darted off to find another playmate.  Where else in the world does a wild creature come up to play with you?!?  The day later though being chased by a huge sea lion out of a cave was slightly less amusing! 

Just have a look a the pics below, they say it all...

PS, for those lucky enough to be in the know, we visited the islands of Floreana, Santiago and Genovesa, as well as Santa Cruz.  For those thinking of going, be warned that even with a great last minute deal, 1 week in the Galapagos cost us more than a month anywhere else on our trip!   But it was worth every US penny! 

What a place for a romantic getaway.    We stayed at El Retiro which was a honey moon place to go.  But the prices were not to much that we couldn't afford because Olon Ecuador is so much less expensive than grandiose cities in US.    We had a hotub/jacuzzi in our room.  Our room overlooked the Pacific ocean and the hillside at the same time.   The dinner we had was as private as you could get.  We had the entire dining room to ourselves right in front of their fish tank. 

The dinner was superb.  I had a wonderful piece of Corvina, which is a local fish in the South America Countries, with a peanut sauce on it and we had platanos served two different ways.  My favorite style was with the honey.  I guess I like my Platanos sweet rather than salty.  I suppose it is personal preference, even though they are generally served or prepared with salt or deep fried and nude. 

We went swimming in the evening at their swimming pool tool.  It seemed like we were the only people staying there.    I can't wait to go back again!!!! 

Before we got to our destination of Salidas, we stopped in Montanita.   I had no idea what I was about to find out.  My best friend could actually  ride a horse too!!!!   What a caballero on a caballo.  I was so taken away by his abilities to ride the horse on the beach in a full gallup.  As for me,  I just trotted and mine loved the water, so I was a lot farther behind as we rode.   

Montanita is a small town where so many people find, no matter where they are from in the world.  The town was full of restaurants and a huge night life.... We must have driven thru at least 5 different towns before we found the horses we were about to ride......

The hostels in Montanita are full all the time with backpackers and hikers and students just touring the country. 

I don't think Montanita ever sleeps either.....   we had a little to much to drink this night to and I carried my best friend this time and returned the favor to him.