Our Galapagos Islands adventure has been in the works for almost a year, and knowing my two oldest are off to college in the fall, I really wanted to savor this trip (and not get blown up by a volcano in the process). If you're a flora and fauna lover too, or want to see what you could do on your own trip to the islands, pull up a chair and get ready for a visual adventure!
Day 1: Arrive in Quito
We decided to fly out the day before our tour actually started, in light of the way airline travel is today. We flew direct from Houston to Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. It was an easy flight, but because of thunderstorms we ended up taking off late, arriving in Quito around 2am. I thought for sure the place would be a ghost town. Thankfully it was not - the airport was buzzing. We made our way through customs easily and went to baggage claim, where our prearranged driver was waiting for us. Little did we know on the drive to the hotel, that a fellow tour mate was sharing the bus with us. Pretty sure we were all walking in a sleep trance, since it was 3am, after our time waiting in customs.
Have a scroll through some of my favorite interior details of our hotel!
Top Tips for a Galapagos Islands Adventure of your own
Register with U.S. embassy before you go and put the number for the local field office in your phone as a contact just in case.
If you have to take a cab on your own, negotiate with the driver BEFORE you get in the cab.
Read last week's post in case you're wondering what I took in my bag and what I wished I had!
Day 2: Explored Quito + met our tour mates
Part of the reason for flying in a full day ahead was the chance to explore Quito. For those of you who don't know, Quito sits in a beautiful valley surrounded by towering volcanoes and is located a half marathon and change (14 miles) from the equator. While its location gives it mild, spring-like weather year-round, in the mornings and evenings it can feel a little chilly because of the altitude. Not that I'm complaining as I sit here typing away in Houston, thankful for the people who invented air conditioning, but I digress.
Since we didn't have a car, and since we'd read the travel warnings from the state department, which said to avoid crowded areas and certain parts of town (apparently the President of the country dissolved their Congress a few weeks prior to our trip, insert the all teeth "oh crap" emoji face here), we knew we didn't want to venture out of our hotel on our own. Our hotel concierge was able to help us find a cab driver who very kindly acted as a tour guide for us and showed us around town.
I posted all of my favorite door finds on this trip too, as I always do! You'd be amazed at how many people let me know they too love an old chippy door.
The architecture was incredible I can assure you. I only wish we had more time to explore Quito. You can scroll through below to see a couple of the places we managed to see...
That evening, we met a guide from our tour company and were introduced to our fellow tour mates. We had a full info packed briefing before we enjoyed our first meal together as a group.
Day 3: Fly to the Galapagos then bike the San Cristobal highlands
We were up at zero dark thirty to catch our flight to San Cristobal, the easternmost island of the Galapagos Islands chain. It was actually two short plane rides from Quito to San Cristobal but the flights were smooth and easy. Once we landed and passed through customs, we met our official tour guide, who has a long glorious name, but goes by his nickname Pepo. I'm pretty sure it means super planner because that he was. He was, in a word, stellar or should I say super stellar.
We made our way from the airport to our hotel, where we left our bags to grab lunch. One of the best things of going on a guided tour is that everything is planned - you just have to show up. Well, show up and lean in...you'll see what I mean in a sec. After a delicious local lunch, we jumped into trucks and were ferried up to the town of La Soledad. Key word here is UP. The plan was to bike down through the lush highland cloud forest that blankets the top of the island all the way down to La Loberia. I don't mean to sound negative when I say this, but it was not all downhill on that mountain. Some of it yes, and we were flying when it was, but there were some hills that felt like mini mountains - aka steep. I admit I had to get off the bike and walk up a couple of these bad boys by the end of the day. (Don't judge, I'm from Savannah which, in short, stands for flat). About halfway down, and I use that term loosely, we stopped at the coolest respite called La Casa Del Ceibo. Instead of telling you how super cool it was, let me show you.
Moving in closer you see the orange "thing" in the tree, and you're wondering what in the world?
The boat you see in the tree above, yep you read that right, has a bed/bathroom that you can actually rent to stay in for the night.
Yes, that's me climbing down into another tree on the property. Not. Even. Kidding. They turned the area UNDER this tree into a supercool hideaway room (sorry, I took off my backpack and left my camera up top). In a separate building on the property is the neatest bar, where we had the most delicious juices and ice creams.
Note that the walls are made out of beer bottles. I know. I die.
After our little pit stop, we continued the trek "down" the mountain to the beach at La Loberia, a beach with stunning views that is home to a very funny and very large sea lion colony. Below you'll see our group testing out our snorkeling gear in preparation for the next day, before we cycled back into town for another delicious dinner with our group.
Day 4: Kicker Rock - Snorkel with sea lions, turtles and sharks, oh my!
I admit this was the day I was secretly dreading the most. In case you don't know me in real life, I had a 40 year fear of the water - ironic considering I grew up on an island on the coast. I'll try to wrap this up quickly but a little background...I decided at the ripe old age of 41 to conquer said fear, so I found an instructor I call "the swim whisperer" and I started lessons. The first lesson with her ended with me doing the Oprah ugly cry in the middle of the pool - I was that terrified. But I pushed through the fear, determined not to pass it on to my kids, who were littles back then. Coincidentally, a friend who was into triathlons at the time mentioned an upcoming one. I mentioned it to my teacher and she asked when it was. Three months I said. I got the distinct feeling she doubted I could do it. I asked her what it would take. Daily lessons and daily practice on my own. Done I said. And I meant it. Three months later, I finished my first triathlon. #donteverdoubtme
Fast forward a decade and multiple triathlons later, I'll admit I still was worried about the open water bit, namely the long boat rides between islands and swimming itself in the open ocean. Terrified might have been a better word but ever since my 40s, there is no retreat for me, it's only lean in and crush the fear. Which is how day 4 found me cruising in a speed boat with half our tour group to Kicker Rock off the coast of San Cristobal (the other half was in a separate boat due to the protective restrictions put in place in the Galapagos, where they limit the number of visitors per area to prevent damage to the reefs and ecosystem). We donned wet suits, snorkels, and masks supplied by our tour and tendered from the speed boat to our designated area around Kicker Rock.
Together our smaller group snorkeled around what is the remains of an underwater volcanic "tuff cone" with a rock face rising 500 feet above the surface of the water. We saw the most amazing colorful tropical fish, sea turtles and hammerhead sharks as they circled the edges of Kicker Rock with us. Then it was back on the boat that took us to a little picturesque beach where we walked around and explored while lunch was prepared on the boat.
While on the beach, our group witnessed an acrobatic fight between a local frigate bird who was literally diving and darting at a blue footed booby bird, trying to steal his catch of the day. It was like wild kingdom!
After lunch on the boat, we headed back to San Cristobal and a quick change before heading off on a tour of the islands' local interpretation center, where Pepo gave us a little history lesson about his home island of San Cristobal and went into detail about local animals and the biology of the island. To us, there's only one way to really enjoy a place like this, and its with an expert guide. We wouldn't have seen a tenth of what we saw if we were on our own.
Day 5: Snorkel and hike Floreana Island
After another early breakfast, our boat departed San Cristobal Island towards Floreana Island, the sixth largest island in the Galapagos chain and one of the least inhabited...by humans that is, with a population hovering around 100. I knew from having studied the itinerary that this would be the most rustic of the islands we visited. We walked to our hotel from the dock, dropped our bags at the hotel, then headed for a fantastic lunch at Leila's restaurant. Fueled by fresh local seafood specialties, we took a cool bus ride a la Fantasy Island up to the ancestral land of the Wittmer family (google that and Floreana Island if you like history and intrigue), where we hiked into the highlands of Floreana. Once there, Pepo shared the mysterious history of the islands while we wandered around where the first inhabitants of Floreana once lived. We even saw an old pirate cave.
I'm telling you it was like walking back in time. Back down by bus, we were dropped off where we departed and were given a couple of adventure options to try on our own. Some went snorkeling, while some of us decided to head down a trail to where we'd heard that at trails' end, our reward would be flamingos.
Sadly, we got to the end of what we who made that trek jokingly refer to as "the bumpy road to nowhere," because as you might now surmise there were exactly zero flamingoes. But there were some lovely yellow birds and this guy...
Happy to have done the extra hike though, because as we trekked over boulders back to our hotel (the Hotel Wittmer) in the tiny port of Puerto Velasco Ibarra, I held fast to a rumor I'd heard that there was a little bar on the beach next door to our lodging with incredible sea views and a great sunset and I'm happy to say this has been verified!
Day 6: Journey to Isabela, Kayak Isabela Bay, Walk and Snorkel Tintoreras
I was thankful we didn't head out at zero dark thirty. Instead we enjoyed breakfast and a much needed coffee break on the beach before we headed on the boat again. Look at the amazing rainbow that signaled a lovely goodbye to us from the island of Floreana...
Back on the boat, this time to Isabela Island which is the largest of all the islands in the Galapagos. Once in port, our bags were taken to the hotel while we went directly to a prearranged outfitter, where we had a Pepo-led run through of his super plan before we left land again - this time on kayaks. We all paired up and took off in the calm waters of Isabela Bay, where we saw some of the most amazing wildlife up close the Galapagos has to offer.
Pelicans galore, sea lions and marine iguanas be-bopping around and basking in the sun, blue-footed boobies along the rock tops of the bay, Galapagos penguins swimming by while turtles and dolphins would occasionally pop up for air. I wish I would have known to bring a GoPro camera to take underwater pics. I was afraid to bring my iPhone on the kayak with me, even in a waterproof bag that I'd bought for just the occasion. Part of me just wanted to experience it in the moment, the other part was afraid one of us would flip the boat and lose our stuff. Back on shore, we traded our kayaks for a short ride to a short walk at Los Tintoreras inlet, a popular isolated iguana-nesting site that’s home to hundreds of marine iguanas.
Here our group went for a short snorkel in this calm inlet. I chose to sit this one out with one of my tour mates, and instead we enjoyed watching Sally Lightfoot crabs prowling along the rocks at the water's edge. The rest of the gang swam with water iguanas and sea lions. Apparently, there was a cleaning station of sorts underwater, where tons of colorful fish enjoyed cleaning the exoskeleton of the green sea turtles who like to rest on the calm, sandy bottom.
Day 7: Hike Sierra Negra Volcano + Volcan Chico lava fields
I admit when I first read the words "active volcano" on the itinerary, I may have flipped out as in "what in the absolute hell did you sign us up for?" I flashed in my mind to a recent documentary we saw about an incident in NZ and thought, nope, my kids have talked about the Galapagos for years now so I did some research and saw it hadn't erupted since 2018. Ok, I thought, surely some scientists somewhere would be watching seismic measures and would put up the bat signal if there was even a rumble or was close to a repeat performance. Plus, I love a good hike, so off we went on day 7 to climb the Sierra Negra Volcano, one of the largest volcanic calderas in the world, and as I said before, one of the most active.
We made our way up winding roads on our chartered bus, through a couple of small towns. Part of Pepo's super plan was to stop in one of these towns on their main street and visit storefronts of a couple of local farmers. We were treated to sweet handmade pastries and bought gifts for folks back home of homegrown Ecuadorian coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans before heading off into the highlands again.
The bus dropped us off at the trailhead, where we began our trek to the summit of Sierra Negra volcano. The hike itself was challenging, but the beautiful vegetation along the path was breathtaking and kept me busy taking photos with my camera. A couple of miles in, we all stared in amazement as the lowland vegetation changed before our eyes and under our feet to what looked (and felt) like a lunar-like landscape (similar to our trek to nowhere but that road was flat). Once we made it to the top we were rewarded with sometimes smoky views across the seven-mile wide crater...
Once again Pepo delivered informative talks about the volcanoes and the region we were in while we walked around. Then we continued our traverse across the vast lava fields of Volcan Chico and took in more breathtaking views before reversing course down the volcano. Here's part of our group on top of the volcano...
We devoured a picnic lunch at a rest stop along the way, then made it back on the bus and our hotel for a little rest before dinner.
Day 8: Los Tuneles + Wetlands Walk to Breeding Center
This was our last day on Isabela Island and we had the option of how to spend our morning...a free morning of relaxation or exploring on our own OR we could take the optional snorkel tour to Los Tuneles. I vaguely remember last year the hubs asking me if we wanted to add this to our itinerary and I was a pass. Underwater in a tunnel? That's a hard no, a must miss, a "let's pass" for me personally. Fast forward a year and I was reading our final itinerary about a month before departure for us. "Hey honey" I yelled from my home office to him in the kitchen...."says here there's an optional snorkeling thing to some tunnel thing...Los Tunnel-es...we didn't do that right? Silence. "Did you hear me?" I shouted again. Pause, then he said "Yeah, um, is that something you'd want to do? Because we needed to sign up for that when we booked the trip." Pause. My mind heads back to an incident of 2018 when he may have signed my signature to a waiver for a zip lining course over in another National Park adventure trip. Me: "You signed us up didn't you?" Pregnant pause. Him: "yes...but you don't have to do it if you don't want to." Which is why I proclaimed the night before to our tour mates that I was gonna skip Los Tuneles. They'd warned us at dinner that it was going to be a pretty long and pretty bumpy boat ride and I was tired and dreaming of a rest. So far we'd done multiple hours-long boat rides between islands and while each got easier to me, it was still not enjoyable to me to be on a small boat in open water, watching as the waves around us towered up like walls. We went to bed and I was still on the fence, wanting to be with my kids and for my kids, and wanting to sit still and chill and not to lean in anymore.
The next morning I woke up and thought of all the friends and family we've lost over the past few years. Screw it, I'm leaning in, let's go do this. When I walked on the bus, there were some happy cheers of "yay! you came!!" and I was actually happy I came too.
A little background on exactly what Los Tuneles is...also called Cabo Rosa, this area was formed from past lava eruptions and is about an hour's boat ride off shore. As you can see below, its a beautiful intricate network of arches and islets, created when lava flows reached the ocean, then cooled, forming tunnels and arches, both above and below the surface of the water. There are a few spots where you're allowed to walk on the rocks but the main activity is snorkeling.
I'm so thankful that I went, because I will never forget this snorkeling trip as long as I live. We saw seahorses and fish that had colors I never knew existed, they were so vibrant that I truly could not believe my eyes. We wove our way through the rocky terrain, swimming at various points with massive sea turtles and at one point about 30 freaking sharks. Honestly, I was more apprehensive when I ran into a sea turtle than the sharks, because the turtles didn't turn on a dime like the sharks so when one came at you, it was really up to you to make the move around their 600 plus pound shell. At one point, we gathered around our guides and took off our snorkel and mask and allowed Pepo to push and hold us underneath the water to take a peek at a sleeping shark in one of the tunnels. #magicalandamustnotmiss!
During our walk around on the rocks, we saw a blue footed booby up close and personal....
And watched as giant sea turtles swam by gracefully and effortlessly. After lunch, we took a short walk to a nearby wetland home to pink flamingos (FINALLY!!)!
We then continued through a mangrove and iguana-lined path...
that led us to Isabela’s Giant Tortoise Breeding Center where nearly a thousand (soon to be) giant tortoises were in training for life on their own!
After visiting the breeding center, we continued the trek back to town and at trails end found this...looks like a painting, doesn't it?
Day 9: Hike the Santa Cruz highlands
I think we were all a little sad to leave Isabela Island, but Santa Cruz Island was calling. One more hour or so boat ride and we were onto a bus for a trip up into the cloud forest highlands of Santa Cruz.
Our destination was the amazing El Chato Ranch, where we got our only chance to see giant tortoises in their natural environment. We started in the discovery center, where we had the chance to grab lunch at the on-site restaurant as well as crawl inside actual giant turtle shells...
Back outside we walked through the grounds of the ranch to see the real deal...here's just one but there were hundreds all over the property.
before going underground to take a look inside the lava tunnels scattered throughout the ranch...
These tunnels, formed by molten lava flowing beneath the surface, are incredible, large tube-like caves, some almost a mile long!
On the other side of this tunnel, as we ascended back up to ground level, we caught a glimpse of this special creature....a Galapagos barn owl.
Day 10: Last Day!
Our last day in the Galapagos was jam packed! We had another early morning start walking from our hotel to the Charles Darwin Research Station. Here we learned all about their breeding programs that are saving vulnerable species of tortoises and land iguanas.
After we left the Darwin center, we headed to a quick stop at Los Gemelos, twin craters or sinkholes created when the volcanic roof of empty magma chambers collapsed from tectonic shifts and erosion over time. This area has a very different climate from other parts of the island and is surrounded by what looks like broccoli trees, aka scalesia pedunculata.
I swear I would come back to the islands just to look at all the varieties of flora, not just fauna. The ferns, lichens, bromeliads, flowers, and various types of mosses I saw, not to mention all the beautiful birds...if you know me in real life, you'll know it all made my heart sing. At the end of the road, following our stop at Los Gemelos, we made our way onto a ferry for a short jaunt across to another bus that shuttled us to the airport at Baltra for our short pair of flights back to Quito on the mainland.
That evening, back at the EB Hotel where we started our trip, we shared our last dinner together as a tour group, and I have to tell you, all of our hearts were full. Our family of five feels like we absolutely won the lottery with each and every one of the people on our tour. They were from all over the world and they were amazing! We experienced so many special moments together, even more than what is shared here, that I think we are all bonded for life. It was the trip of a lifetime together and we know it. It may not surprise you that we're already talking about what the next destination should be, and some of us are discussing a return trip to the Galapagos! But first...some much needed rest #Ineedavacationfromourvacation!
If you made it all the way to the end, you are the rock star! And if you have any questions about making this trip of a lifetime happen for you and your family, I'm always here to lend my two cents! Feel free to reach out via a comment below or a DM on Instagram. If you're already planning your own adventure to the Galapagos, be sure and take a look at last week's post to see what I took with me in my bag!