Planning a trip to Galapagos Islands
Getting There
With very, very rare exceptions, travelers come by plane to the Galápagos Islands. Tame (tel. 02/3977-100; www.tame.com.ec) and Aerogal (tel. 1800/2376-425; www.aerogal.com.ec) now offer daily flights to both Baltra Airport (airport code: GPS), right off Santa Cruz Island, and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (airport code: SCY), on San Cristóbal Island. Note, however, that there are sometimes last-minute changes to flight schedules owing to inclement weather. Always check and double-check with your airline and the cruise company to confirm the airport that will be used for your particular itinerary.
Round-trip fares run just under $400 (£267), including local taxes and airport fees. During the low season (mid-Sept through mid-Dec and mid-Jan through mid-June), flights are sometimes a little bit less expensive.
Upon arrival you must pay a $100 (£67) fee to the National Park (www.galapagospark.org), which is good for the duration of your stay. This fee must be paid in cash, so be sure to plan ahead and have it ready. Children under 12 pay $50 (£33). There is also a new $10 (£6.65) "transit tax" that you must pay at a special booth in the airport before checking in for your flight to the Galápagos.
If you booked a boat tour before you arrived, the airfare and ticket booking should already be included. You can usually expect someone to pick you up at the airport and escort you through the logistics of arriving in the Galápagos and finding the way to your ship. If you're traveling on your own and you have a choice of flights (and airports), I don't recommend flying into San Cristóbal; there is very little tourist infrastructure here. There are a handful of hotels on the island, and you can book last-minute tours and day trips from its port city of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. But if you plan to base your touring out of a hotel on land, or if you're looking for a last-minute berth on a boat, the place to be is Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz, which is accessed from the Baltra Airport.
All flights from the mainland originate in Quito and stop in Guayaquil. If you plan on flying to the Galápagos the day after you arrive in Ecuador, I recommend spending the night in Guayaquil. Most flights to the Galápagos leave Quito early in the morning and then stop for more than an hour to pick up passengers in Guayaquil. You can have a more relaxed morning, and gain precious sleep time, if you board the plane there.
In addition to the two airports mentioned above, a small airstrip on Isabela Island is used for provisioning and inter-island commuter traffic.
Ship or Shore? -- For many, the most important decision to make when planning a trip to the Galápagos is whether to take a cruise or visit the islands from a hotel base on land. The standard advice is that those prone to seasickness are better off staying on land. This may be true, but if you plan to take day trips from Santa Cruz Island to any of the other popular island sites, you will most likely be doing so on a very small boat. Conversely, if you book a cruise on one of the larger ships, you will be on a boat that is much more stable in rough seas, and most of the travel is done at night, while you are hopefully asleep, or, at the very least, supine.
If you're looking to avoid a regimented experience with a bit of the cattle-car feel, avoid the larger ships, and be sure to ask in advance the number of passengers per naturalist guide. I recommend you find a tour with no more than 10 tourists per naturalist guide.
Yogi Berra said: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." I personally think the best way to go is to do both. My ideal Galápagos tour is a 4- or 5-night cruise, followed by 3 nights at a hotel on one or more of the islands.
Getting Around
The Galápagos archipelago consists of 13 big islands, 6 small islands, and more than 40 islets. Santa Cruz is the most populated island; its main town, Puerto Ayora, is the major city in the Galápagos. From here, you can arrange last-minute tours around the islands, day trips, and scuba-diving excursions. Santa Cruz is also home to the Darwin Research Station, where you can see giant land tortoises. San Cristóbal is the second-most populated island. Several tour boats begin their journeys from the its port, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. While serving as the official capital of Galápagos province, the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is small. Moreover, there's not much to see on this island. Isabela is the largest island, but only the third-most populated. In general, most visitors only stop here on a guided tour. For more information about individual islands in the Galápagos.
To enjoy the best of what the Galápagos have to offer, I recommend exploring the islands by boat. More than 100 tourist ships ply the seas. All boats need a permit and must register with the national park, so it's very difficult to use your private craft. If you're prone to seasickness, you can take day trips from Puerto Ayora to Santa Fe, Plaza Island, North Seymour, and Bartolomé.
Flights between the islands aren't frequent, but the local Galápagos airline EMETEBE (tel. 800/481-3163 in the U.S., or 05/2520-615; www.emetebe.com) offers service on tiny propeller planes among Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, and Isabela islands. Fares are $100 to $150 (£67-£100) for each flight segment.
Visitor Information
The main tourist information office (tel. 05/2526-613; turismo@santacruz.gov.ec) in the Galápagos is in Puerto Ayora, on Avenida Charles Darwin, close to the corner of Charles Binford. It is open Monday through Friday from 8am to noon and 2 to 5:30pm.
Note: the Galápagos Islands are 6 hours behind GMT, 1 hour behind mainland Ecuador.
You Can Look, But You'd Better Not Touch -- It seems like common sense, but in no case should you touch or in any way disturb the wild flora and fauna of the Galápagos. This includes plants, birds, reptiles, and mammals -- every living thing, both on land and under the water. Be very aware of not encroaching upon any wild creature or habitat. Do not litter, and definitely do not attempt to feed any of the animals.
Bring Your Own Gear & Wear Some Rubber -- While most of the ships and boats and all of the dive shops in the Galápagos have snorkeling and diving gear for rent, you might consider bringing your own. If nothing else, bring your own mask. A good, properly fitting mask is the most important factor in predicting the success of a dive or snorkeling outing. Faces come in all sizes and shapes, and I really recommend finding a mask that gives you a perfect fit. Fins are a lesser concern -- most operators should have fins to fit your feet. But I definitely prefer to have my own snorkel. If you plan on going out snorkeling or diving more than a few times, the investment will more than pay for itself.
Even during the dry season, the waters of the Galápagos are much cooler than you'd expect this close to the Equator. Most scuba companies dive with full 6mm wet suits year-round. Even if you are snorkeling, a full or "shortie" wet suit will make the experience much more enjoyable, especially from June to November, when the Humboldt Current makes the water significantly colder. I highly recommend that you find out in advance if your ship or tour operator can provide or rent you a wet suit. If not, consider buying one.
Islands in Brief
Every island in the Galápagos has its own allure. The more time you have, the richer your experience will be, but even if you have only a few days, with proper planning you'll come home with a lifetime of memories. When you're choosing a tour operator, you should always examine the itinerary. Note that 7-day trips often make frequent stops at Santa Cruz or San Cristóbal to collect and drop off passengers. The best trips head out to far-flung places, such as Genovesa, Española, and Fernandina, and spend only 1 day docked in Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz. To help you decide which trip might be best for you, here's a list of what each island has to offer.
Santa Cruz -- You will most likely begin and end your trip to the Galápagos on Santa Cruz. If you plan to arrange your trip on your own, you should use Santa Cruz as your base. The main city here, Puerto Ayora, is a bustling and attractive little harbor and burg, with a variety of small hotels, restaurants, gift shops, and tour operators. If you're looking for a luxury hotel getaway, this island offers the only such options on the Galápagos, with both the Royal Palm Hotel and Finch Bay Hotel. This island is also home to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where you can observe tortoises firsthand. Tours of the island include stops at Los Gemelos (The Twins), two sinkholes that stand side by side. As you walk around Los Gemelos, you will have a good chance of spotting the beautiful vermilion flycatcher. Some companies will take you to a farm in the highlands, where you can see tortoises in the wild. It's exciting to see these enormous creatures crawling about, but I must warn you, it's either hot and sunny up here or cool and drizzly (depending on the seasons). After you see the tortoises, the tour continues on a long, boring hike to a small, unattractive lake. If you can, try to turn back after you see the tortoises. Finally, most trips make a stop at the lava tubes, where you can wander though underground tunnels created by the movement of hot lava. On the north side of the island is Cerro Dragon, which is a great place to see the unique Galápagos land iguana.
Bartolomé -- Bartolomé (or Bartholomew) is famous for its dramatic vistas and barren volcanic landscape. The most common anchorage here is near the oddly shaped Pinnacle Rock. From here, you can climb 372 steps of a wooden walkway to reach the top of an extinct volcano. The vigorous but technically easy climb is a lesson in volcano geography, with cooled-off lava flows and parasitic spatter cones visible along the route to the main cone. On the way up, you will see lava cactuses and lava lizards. The view from the lookout up top is beautiful, with Pinnacle Rock below you. Be sure to ask your guide to pick out a few of the lava rocks to show how light they are. This island has one of the larger colonies of Galápagos penguins, and many snorkelers have spotted penguins off this island.
San Cristóbal -- Most boats only stop on San Cristóbal to pick up and drop off passengers. Still, the island's main town, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, is a pretty little port, with an attractive waterfront walkway, or Malecón. The main attraction on the island is the Centro de Interpretación (Interpretive Center), a small, interesting museum with exhibits on the natural, human, and geological history of the island. If you spend any time on San Cristóbal, you will probably stop at El Lobería, a pretty beach with sea lions, red crabs, and colorful lava gulls. It's also worth visiting La Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado, a natural giant-tortoise reserve. If you sail into or out of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, you will probably pass through Kicker Rock -- a unique rock formation set about 1.5km (1 mile) offshore. Take note of San Cristóbal's fishing and commuter craft at anchor; many are ringed with strands of barbed wire to keep off sea lions. Boats without the barbed wire almost always have one or two of these large sea mammals lounging around on the aft deck or sunning on the prow.
Santiago -- Also called James Island, Santiago was a major base where early buccaneers and pirates stocked up on fresh water and food. Santiago is also a case study in the potential destruction caused by introduced species. Supposedly a couple of pairs of feral goats, left here as a future source of food by buccaneers in the 18th century, reproduced to the point where they numbered over 100,000. Recent efforts have greatly reduced the size of the herds of wild goats, but they are still wreaking havoc on certain native species, including giant tortoises. Most of the sea lions in the Galápagos are California sea lions. But on Santiago Island, you will have the chance to see the only endemic species of sea lion in the Galápagos, which is incorrectly called the Galápagos fur seal. After you see the fur seal, you will have an opportunity to take advantage of the excellent snorkeling here. If you're lucky, you'll see sea turtles. The island is also full of coastal birds such as great blue herons, lava herons, oystercatchers, and yellow-crowned night herons.
Española -- May through December, albatrosses settle down here to mate and take care of their young. In May and June, if you arrive early in the morning, you can witness the beak-cracking mating ritual of the albatross. Later in the season (Sept-Dec), you can see the little chicks. There must be some sort of aphrodisiac on this island because this is also a great place to see blue-footed boobies doing their mating dance, where the male extends his wings and lifts his beak at his prospective mate. If the female likes what she sees, she mimics her suitor.
Fernandina -- This is the westernmost island in the archipelago, and one of the best for wildlife encounters. The largest colony of marine iguanas lives here. These cold-blooded animals hug and cuddle with each other to warm up after swimming. Flightless cormorants also inhabit the island; even though these birds can't fly (they are the only flightless cormorants in the world), they still dry their wings in the sun, just like their flying ancestors used to do millions of years ago. At something around 1 million years of age, Fernandina is the youngest of the Galápagos Islands, and one of the most volcanically active. Major eruptions here were recorded as recently as 1995.
Isabela -- Just to the east of Fernandina, this is the largest island in the Galápagos, formed by the volcanic activity and eventual joining of six different volcanoes -- five of which are still active. Darwin's Lake provides an excellent backdrop for dramatic photos of the sea. The island is home to several different species of the giant Galápagos land tortoise, which can commonly be seen in several protected areas. Isabela is particularly prized by bird-watchers; owing to its size, the island has a high species count. One of the common species here is the flamingo, found in its namesake Pozo de los Flamingos (Flamingo Pond), close to the main town of Puerto Villamil. Among the main attractions on Isabela is El Muro de Lágrimas (The Wall of Tears), a stone wall that was used as a torture mechanism for prisoners kept in a penal colony here during the mid-20th century. Isabela also has several great hiking and mountain-biking options. Perhaps the most popular is to Cerro Negro (a massive, still active crater often nestled in clouds) and on to Cerro Chico, which offers spectacular panoramic views. In town, you can also see graffiti that dates back to 1836. Tour companies in town, and ships stopping here, usually offer panga (dinghy) rides around Tagus Cove, where you will have the opportunity to see the Galápagos penguins.
Rábida -- Rábida, also known as Jervis Island, has a beautiful red-sand beach that is almost always heavily populated with sea lions. If you get too close to a female or child, the local bull male will probably make his presence known. Just behind the beach is a small saltwater lagoon that is a good place to see flamingos. A small loop trail leads to the top of a hill, with some good views of the island's coastline. In my opinion, the waters off Rábida offer the best snorkeling in the islands. I recently found myself swimming simultaneously with sea lions and penguins here. Unfortunately, I arrived too late in the day, and the marine iguanas weren't interested in joining us; otherwise I would have scored a wonderful trifecta.
Genovesa (Tower) -- Home to Darwin Bay and the popular hiking trail known as "Prince Philip's Steps," Genovesa is located on the far northeastern end of the archipelago. It's a long, often rough sail here, and only the longer tours include a visit to Genovesa. Almost every Galápagos tourist brochure has a picture of a frigate bird puffing up its red neck in an attempt to attract females; on Genovesa you'll have ample opportunities to see these birds in action. This island is also home to the largest colony of red-footed boobies on the archipelago. On another side of the island, you can see masked boobies and storm petrels. If you're lucky, you might spot the elusive short-eared owl -- as these guys don't have predators, they are the only owls in the world that are diurnal. Genovesa is also home to both sea lions and the endemic Galápagos fur seal.
Floreana -- This small island, the first to be inhabited, is rich in lore and intrigue. Today, some 100 people live on this island, which is seldom visited by tourists. If you do come here, be sure to stop at Post Office Bay, where a barrel full of letters and postcards sits on the beach. It's a tradition begun by early whalers: If you see a letter or card addressed to someone in your town or country, you are supposed to carry it and post it from home. In exchange, feel free to leave a letter or postcard of your own for someone else to return the favor.
When to Go
There's never a bad time to visit the Galápagos. The peak season lasts from mid-June through early September and from mid-December through mid-January. It's almost impossible to find a last-minute deal at these times. The national park limits the number of visitors to each island and coordinates each ship's itinerary, so the Galápagos will never feel like Disney World. But if you visit in the summer, you are less likely to feel a sense of solitude and isolation. Below is a brief summary of the seasons to help you decide what time of year is best for you.
December Through May -- During these months, the water and the air are warmer, but this is the rainy season. It drizzles almost daily for a short period of time. Ironically, this is also the sunniest time of year. The end of December through the beginning of January is still the high season, so expect more crowds than during the rest of the year.
Because the water is warmer at this time, swimming and snorkeling are more enticing. On the flip side, there aren't as many fish to see as there are later in the year. This is the breeding season for land birds, so it's a good time to watch some unusual mating rituals. If you're into turtles, this is when you want to be here; you can watch sea turtles nesting on the beach, and March through May, you can often see land tortoises searching for mates around the lowland areas of the islands. Sea lions also mate in the rainy season -- it's entertaining to watch as the males fight for the females. Around March and April, you'll see the adorable newborn pups crawling around the islands.
In February, March, and April, as the rains dissipate, flowers start to blossom and the islands are awash in bright colors. Another benefit of traveling to the Galápagos at this time of year: The ocean is much calmer, so you'll have less chance of getting seasick.
June Through November -- June through November, the Humboldt Current makes it way up to the Galápagos from the southern end of South America. The current brings cold water and cold weather, but it also brings water rich in nutrients and plankton, which attracts fish and birds. During this season there always seem to be clouds in the air, but it rarely rains. It's also quite windy, and the seas tend to be rougher.
Experienced divers claim that this is the best time of year to visit the Galápagos. Unfortunately, to see the wide variety of underwater marine life, you have to brave the cold water. Because there are more fish in the sea at this time of year, there are also more seabirds searching for these fish. Albatrosses arrive on Española in June and stay until December. Penguins also like the cold water and the abundance of fish, so you're more likely to see them here during this season. On Genovesa, the elusive owls mate in June and July, and you have the best chance of spotting one during this time. Blue-footed boobies also mate now, so it won't be difficult to witness their beautiful mating ritual known as the "sky point."
Organizing A Last-Minute Trip
There's no way around it -- trips to the Galápagos are expensive. But if you book a cruise at the last minute, you can sometimes save substantially off the regular rates. Most boats would rather sell a few spaces at steep discounts than send the ship out with empty staterooms. Unfortunately, it's not easy to find a last-minute price, and you run the risk of not finding space. During the high season (June-Sept and late Dec-early Jan), you shouldn't even waste your time looking for one. Even during the low season, you shouldn't expect to come to Ecuador and immediately find a boat leaving the next day. In some cases, you may have to wait a week to 10 days before you find an opening.
Your best bet for finding a discount is to hit several of the budget-oriented travel agencies in the Mariscal district of Quito, or along Avenida Charles Darwin in Puerto Ayora. In addition, I've found the following agencies to be some of the best at arranging a last-minute Galápagos cruise.
In Quito
- Ecoventura operates five ships and yachts in the Galápagos. Through their website (www.ecoventura.com) they sometimes offer last-minute deals at reduced rates. If there are no special discounts on the website, stop in or call their local offices in Ecuador. They have an office at Almagro N31-80, Edificio Venecia (tel. 02/2907-396); in Guayaquil their office is in the Edificio Samborondon Business Center, Torre A Piso 3 (tel. 04/2839-390). At both offices, you can try to book a last-minute berth at last-minute prices.
In Puerto Ayora
- Moonrise Travel Agency (tel. 05/2526-589; www.galapagosmoonrise.com), on Avenida Charles Darwin near the corner of Charles Binford, is an excellent family-run local operation that specializes in booking last-minute trips on a number of different vessels (all classes and sizes).
