See Part 1 of our Galapagos Cruise adventure here.

Espanola Island

When researching which Galapagos Islands cruise to take, we realized that we would be in the islands at the right time of year to see the waved albatrosses on Espanola Island, so we made it a high priority to find an itinerary that included this experience. On the fifth day of our cruise we woke to find ourselves anchored off Espanola.

Our activities started with a walk along a spectacular white sand beach. We saw plenty of sea lions and some depressions in the sand where sea turtles had laid their eggs.

After our beach walk, we snorkeled from the dinghies. We enjoyed the best snorkeling conditions we had experienced so far, with great visibility and calm water.

After lunch we sailed to a different part of the island. After a tricky landing on some rocky steps, we were ready to tackle the hardest hike of our Galapagos cruise. The first wildlife we saw after landing was many marine iguanas. They were easy to see when they were resting on the white sand. However, the iguanas on the rocks were harder to see and we had to be careful when walking over the rocks so we didn’t step on them.

As we moved away from the shore the trail became rocky and we had to tread carefully. Soon we saw our first albatrosses.

Along the trail we got a close-up view of a pair of blue-footed boobies.

Along with the bird life, we saw some rugged scenery, including a blowhole that sprayed water high in the air.

We soon came across some more albatrosses. We were there at the time the males were arriving on the island and meeting up with the females who had arrived before them. These birds have an amazing and elaborate courtship dance, and we got to see multiple pairs perform.

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Although we had seen so much on the island itself, Espanola had one last surprise for us. Just before dinner we heard the call that a whale shark had been spotted. About half of the Solaris passengers scrambled to get into a dinghy. The nearest available crew member was the bartender, who jumped into the dinghy and grabbed the tiller wearing his dinner service outfit.

We saw the whale shark pass under the dinghy a few times, close enough to see the white markings on its back. The photos don’t really do justice to the experience, but we later found out that it is pretty much unheard-of to see a whale shark in Espanola. They are normally only seen near the far out islands that are only visited by dive cruises.

Returning to the boat we enjoyed dinner and the amazing color in the clear sky after sunset.

Floreana Island

The next stop on our Galapagos cruise was Floreana Island. This is one of the few inhabited Galapagos islands, although the sites we went to were well away from the inhabited area.

Our first activity was snorkeling from the beach. The highlight was seeing a penguin swim past (very quickly). After our snorkel we hiked, starting from the beach we had snorkeled from.

First, we walked through some dense vegetation to a fenced-off area where we could look across a large lagoon. We could see a pair of flamingos, and a couple of chicks.

Next we took a trail that led across the island. About halfway to the highest point of the we had a good view of a larger group of flamingos.

Continuing on, we came to a viewpoint which looked over the whole lagoon.

Crossing over to the far side of the island we came to yet another spectacular beach.

As well as the beautiful beach itself, we enjoyed watching sharks cruise past in shallow water, and rays playing in the surf, sometimes being uncovered as a wave receded.

As we turned to leave, we noticed a great blue heron standing serenely in the vegetation behind the beach.

Floreana – Afternoon

After lunch back on board the Solaris, our afternoon activities started with a dinghy ride through a shallow water area near the Floreana shore. We saw sea lions, turtles, boobies fishing with spectacular dive bombs, golden rays and baby eagle rays. Maria started to tell us a story about the historical inhabitants of Floreana (an intriguing murder mystery involving a bizarre love triangle) but was interrupted when we saw a penguin swimming in the water. We spent some time following it around. It moved surprising quickly, often ducking under the water and emerging in an unexpected place.

Eventually, Maria completed her story (see this link for all the details), and we finished our dinghy ride and landed in Post Office Bay. After a short wak we found a barrel that was used in historical times as a kind of voluntary mail service. Sailors calling in to the island would leave mail in the barrel for loved ones, and look through the accumulated mail and take anything addressed to someone in their home town or a port they planned to call into. The tradition continues among tourists that visit today. We looked through the mail in the barrel, but unfortunately, we didn’t find anything for an address on our planned itinerary, and we didn’t think we should take anything for Texas when we weren’t planning to be back there for more than a year.

The final activity for the day was snorkeling from the beach along the rocks. We saw lots of fish, a Galapagos shark and a very large turtle feeding on some seweed. While watching the turtle, sea lions came to play, swimming right at us as if they were jealous of the attention we were paying to the turtle.

So ended a day where we saw an amazing diversity of wildlife. Other than a Galapagos cruise, I’m not sure there’s anywhere you can see flamingos, penguins and sea turtles all in the same day.

Santiago Island

When I woke up the next morning in time to catch the sunrise, we were anchored next to the barren volcanic landscape of Santiago Island.

After breakfast, our first activity was a hike on the volcanic landscape, walking on lava rock formed 300-350 years ago. We saw didn’t see much evidence of life, just some lava lizards, lava cactus, and locusts. There were lots of interesting lava patterns and small lava tubes.

It was pretty hot on the lava by the time we finished our hike at about 10am. We were happy to get back on the dinghies to head back to the boat.

Our next activity was snorkeling along the rocky shore. We found a turtle, and while we were watching it, a penguin showed up, chasing small fish.

Bartolome Island

After lunch we prepared ourselves for another strenuous hike, this time to the famous viewpoint on Bartolome Island.

Before we could leave for Bartolome, the crew had to dislodge an uninvited guest from one of the dinghies.

Once that matter was dealt with, we set off for Bartolome. Unusually for the Galapagos Islands, there was a wooden walkway to the viewpoint.

The tide was low enough for us to see an interesting geological feature once we had gained some elevation. A ring of rock forms an almost perfect circle in the shallow water.

When we made it all the way to the top, we saw the iconic view of this narrow-waisted island.

The walk back down from the viewpoint was easier than the climb up, but there was volcanic ash on the walkway which made it slippery in parts. We all made it back down, and had to navigate another wildlife obstacle to get to the dinghies.

When we were all back on board, we set off on the short sail back to the island of Santa Cruz where our Galapagos Cruise would finish the next day.

As this was the last night of the cruise, it was time for a farewell ceremony with toasts to the crew (non-alcoholic cocktails for them, full-strength versions for the passengers). This was also the occasion for tipping the crew and naturalist guide. We were happy to reward the folks who had taken good care of us all week.

Santa Cruz

On the last day of our Galapagos Cruise we got up early for the last activity. This was a dinghy ride through the mangroves of Black Turtle Cove.

The mangroves are a nursery for sea life, and we saw baby sharks and baby rays in the shallow water. We also saw sea turtles and birds perched in the mangroves waiting for unsuspecting fish to swim past.

After this activity, we got into the dinghies for one last time to transfer back to the airport. We said our goodbyes to the other passengers, with a mixture of sadness to be leaving new friends but a sense of excitement for the rest of our RTW journey, realizing that this wasn’t a regular vacation that we were returning from, but an early part of a bigger adventure.

Our Galapagos cruise definitely lived up to our high expectations. It was a privilege to spend time in this amazing pristine environment, and we saw and did some amazing things. The Galapagos Islands are truly special. Let’s hope they stay that way even as they are faced with increasing pressure from tourism and challenges from climate change.

Galapagos Cruise Practicalities

You can find a lot of blog posts and websites out there with great information on how to find, select and book a Galapagos cruise, so I won’t go into too much detail, but here are a few thoughts based on our experience.

There’s no getting around the fact that a Galapagos cruise is not an inexpensive travel experience. For this reason, a lot of RTW or long-term travelers skip it, or opt for a land-based trip to the Galapagos Islands (where they stay on the inhabited islands and take day trips to see the wildlife). I’ll describe the few days we spend in this land-based mode in the next post, and discuss pros and cons vs. a Galapagos cruise.

Our Galapagos cruise represented a significant part of our RTW budget, but we don’t regret including this amazing experience in our plans.

One of the major expenses involved with any visit to the Galapagos islands is the flights in and out. We managed to use frequent flyer miles for our flights, for a very reasonable amount of miles. For our flight out we managed to bundle our flight out of the islands with our flight to Lima, Peru, so it was effectively free. Some cruise operators include flights in the cost of their cruises, but of course you need to look at the overall cost of the total package to make sure that this actually represents a saving.

The most popular way to save money on a Galapagos cruise is to book it “last minute”. This can mean anything from booking online a few weeks out (via websites like this one) to waiting until you arrive in the islands and walking into one of the many tour agencies that offer last minute cruise availability.

We originally planned to wait until a month or so before our trip and start looking for a last minute price, but as we were researching, we found a cruise with an itinerary that we really liked (it included both Genovesa and Espanola Islands as highlights) that had three spaces left, and featured a triple cabin (rare on Galapagos cruise boats). The price for the last three places was discounted – not as much as a typical “last minute” discount, but enough to encourage us to book it.

Through our research we found that because we needed three spaces, our last minute options would probably be more limited than if we were just a couple or a single person. This was another factor that helped us decide to book in advance. We used on online agency to book our trip, and they were very helpful. We would definitely recommend using them.

As it turned out, the boat that we had booked ran aground a few months after we had made our booking. Although this initially alarmed us, it turned out to be a good thing. The cruise operator put a new boat in service which was more luxurious than the one we had originally booked. By the time we took our cruise, it was selling for significantly more than we had paid. The only problem is we may not be able to afford the same level of luxury next time we go …