We decided to go to the Galápagos Islands for a week. Travel trailblazer and friend, Judy recommended the company she used when she visited the islands a few years ago. We hired Nemo Galapagos Cruises and chose the 8-day northern route itinerary.
A trip to the Galápagos Islands is not cheap. This is a place I wanted to visit when I lived in Ecuador but was not able to afford it. Many of my friends North American in Ecuador had visited by being a chaperone on a school trip or they visited when a parent came to visit.
We got to the islands by plane on Sunday and left following Sunday. Almost everything was included in the cost of our cruise. This included our food and our flight from Quito to the islands. The company makes you sign a form that says you will not disclose how much you paid. My advice: prices are negotiable. The trip did not include our bar tab or our wetsuit rental.
I recommended that Sam read Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galápagos Islands by Michael D’Orso as an introduction to the Galápagos Islands. It’s a good book that tells you a lot about the human history of the islands. Humans are not indigenous to the islands, so it is a pretty short story. I’ve never read On the Origin of Species by Darwin, but one can imagine that would be an appropriate read as well. At the very least you should watch David Attenborough narrate a nature documentary on the Galápagos Islands before you go.
Here is what we did during our week aboard Nemo III. It was a wonderful trip that I am recommending to everyone.
Rarely Pure & Never Simple 