Warning – this is a VERY long one – there’s a lot to say and even more to share pictures of!

We always intended to do a cruise in Galapagos, and it was a separate line item in Debbie’s budget for our travels, but we just weren’t prepared to pay the absolutely extortionate prices that the booking sites wanted before our departure for South America. There was still quite a lot of availability for our dates so we decided to get there and see whether we could negotiate a last minute deal. Our friends Jayne & Graham had, admittedly nearly 15 years ago, and Chat GPT reckoned we had a decent chance too, so…

Steve imagined that there would be boats lining a waterfront quay that we could just walk up to and negotiate a bargain. Nope, it wasn’t like that at all! For a start, the boats were moored offshore, at various places, and there was no way to speak directly to the boat operator/staff. Debbie had found a cruise that she liked the look of online and had got a ‘best last minute price’ from a Quito-based online agency, We spent a bit of time at an agency in Puerto Ayora, and the lovely girl explained the different cruise itineraries – ‘West’ to Isabela Island seemed to be what we wanted. Most cruises were Central or East and only 3 or 4 nights (they advertise 4/5 days but they really are only 2 or 3 full days). The cruise Debbie had already identified was THE ideal one – West itinerary and 7 nights, so now to get it for the best possible price.

To be clear, although Galapagos has reasonable prices for hotels, food and drink, the costs of excursions and cruises defy belief and can’t really be justified objectively. But most people will only pass this way once in their lifetime, and that’s only if they are fortunate enough to have got here in the first place, so tight-wad tendencies have to be forgotten, the credit/debit card needs to be flexed, and potential legacies need to reduced somewhat further.

Debbie got a bit of a reduction through a local Galapagos agent, better than the boat operator would give her directly, saving about $1,500 each on the full price (but wondering whether anyone ever pays full price), and the promise of an upper deck cabin for a lower deck cabin price sealed the deal. We are currently complaining to the Ecuador Ministry of Tourism as is turned out that our agent Maury from Galapagos Best Cruises was a lying bastard, selling us a cabin that wasn’t available, sending a picture of a cabin that wasn’t even on the boat we were booking, telling us about the ‘confusion’ just as we were about to board the boat, and ultimately getting fired for his deceit. The payment process was ‘fun’ as we weren’t prepared to pay a whopping 10% credit card surcharge. Wiring the money was OK and incurred no surcharge, but the agent wanted it paying to their owner’s personal savings account – nope we were not doing that! Eventually we managed to make payment via Wise directly to the Florida-based offshore account of the boat’s operating company, but it was a rather stressful day and a tense weekend when many thousands of dollars had left our account on Saturday but weren’t scheduled to be sent by Wise until Monday morning.

Our boat M/Y Koln was a Superior Tourist Class vessel and part of the Rolf Wittmer Tip Top fleet – not posh but we really weren’t prepared to pay over $1000/night EACH, and that was last-minute prices, for a first class or luxury boat. We got our cruise for almost half that price, but it was still a ridiculous amount of money – expectations weren’t high but it looked OK, reviews were 4/5 and the itinerary was good.

We backtracked to the airport to meet our guide and fellow travellers – there were only 10 guests on the boat so we were amazed that with a capacity of 16 they weren’t prepared to do a better last minute deal. It turns out that almost all Galapagos boats take 16 passengers as that’s the maximum number for one guide – but the size of the boats for those 16 passengers varies enormously, with mega yachts and catamarans available for those prepared to pay even sillier money for additional space and luxury.

Our guide Carlos was a lovely bloke, and rather easy on the eye too (but not Debbie’s type, she prefers older and chunkier blokes). Our companions for the week were a Californian couple Janet & Mike accompanied by Janet’s 85 year old father Dewain, who’d already done another Galapagos cruise the previous week, Janet’s sister Brenda who flew in later as a lovely surprise for dad, Annette & Jeff from Oz who were on a 2 month South American tour, Lee – a retired American professor, and Christian – an Austrian/German guy in his 40s (so a good 10 years younger than anyone else) on a 4 month South American sabbatical. They say that on a group tour that if you haven’t spotted the weirdo/dickhead by day 2 then it’s you. We all spotted that Prof was ‘the one’ before we’d even left the airport! A murder wasn’t committed on our boat that week but there were a few close calls, and overall it was a lovely group of people to share a fabulous experience with.

The boat was FAR better than we expected, having anticipated something akin to the Red Sea diving liveaboards like Hurricane that we’d used in the past. Our lower deck cabin was fine and probably better than the upper deck when things got a bit rough on crossings between islands (but we’ve obviously not said that in our complaint to the Ecuadorian authorities). The Rolf Wittmer company ran a very professional operation and our cabin came equipped with branded microfibre beach towels, water bottles, detailed itinerary booklets and even a box of chocolates each. A very good first impression for what we were expecting to be a very basic cruise. Meals were 3 courses and excellent for both lunch and dinner (oh dear god, when does the diet start?), breakfast was huge and the chef cooked eggs to order, and there were snacks to greet us on our return from every excursion. The only negative was that there wasn’t an after dinner bar service, but Debbie soon had a word about that! On the first evening we felt like we were on ‘Below Decks’ (IYKYK) when the crew dressed in their whites and formally introduced themselves, Christian the steward changed for dinner service, there were different crew uniforms for different activities. We don’t think that Brian and Darwin were the real names of the 1st and 2nd mates though – and naturally Prof challenged Brian about that as his name badge had his first initial as S not B!

Each day brought at least 2 locations, with snorkelling and land activities at each – all utterly amazing and totally different to each other. On every single trip we saw something more special than the last and didn’t stop smiling or saying ‘wow’ for a week. We’d seen some unbelievable stuff on the land but what we experienced on the cruise transcended to another level. The ‘West’ itinerary was a bit further off the main tourist trail but was worth every nautical mile…

Day 1 – North Seymour

Next to the airport, this was a perfect small island for our first afternoon. There were land iguanas every few feet, the amazing Frigate bird (with the males displaying their spectacular red gular pouches), our first spotting of the iconic Blue-footed Boobies, a beautiful sunset and an overnight passage to Santiago Island. We certainly started the trip with a bang. And Debbie, who has previously been disinterested in birds, and even a little phobic about them, was suddenly mesmerised.

Day 2 – Santiago Island

An early morning panga (RIB) ride in Buccaneer Bay on Santiago’s North-West coast brought some excitement when the engine on 1 of the 2 boats failed early. It’s OK they said, there’s a spare motor and an engineer back on-board. Nope, that wasn’t working either and a spare part that the engineer didn’t have was needed to fix both engines. Oh well, good job there’s only 10 of us this week as the pangas take 12, but God knows what we’d do if the only good engine failed too!

Kayaking was available for those that wanted to – we didn’t – we are crap kayakers, so we snorkelled. The water was warm and teeming with fish and turtles, schools of Majors and Surgeonfish, individual Parrotfish munching on the soft corals and Triggerfish patrolling their areas…

Afternoon took us to Egas Port and after more snorkelling we set off through vegetation, avoided a racing snake on the path, dodged a few land iguanas, spotted locusts and butterflies, marvelled at the trees on the steep slopes of a volcano, before arriving at a black lava flow by the sea with deep crevices, lava tunnels and natural bridges. The rock pools were home to marine iguanas and hundreds of Sally Lightfoot crabs, Galapagos sea lions lounged nearby, under a ledge we spotted a couple of Fur sea lions, and in the distance a group of Boobies. Carlos tended to take us walking early morning and late afternoon – avoiding the heat of the day and tourists from other boats, and giving the best light for photography. Not that there were any pro-photographers on our boat – the best camera in our group was probably Debbie’s iPhone 16 Pro Max – but there were some serious lenses being brought out on other boats.

Day 3 – Isabela & Fernandina

An 8 hour overnight passage, which those in upper deck cabins reported to be rather bouncy (“it felt like the boat was going to tip over”), took us to the more isolated West of the Galapagos archipelago, arriving at Tagus Cove on Isabela just as the sun rose. The first activity of the day was described as a pre-breakfast ‘power hike’ starting at 6am. Steve told Debbie to be quiet on her way out and to take lots of pictures for him from the slopes of the volcano – lazy sod, but a lie in and escaping early morning exercise is probably the only upside of having a chronic lung condition! Anyway, the walk up the side of a crater, past an inland lake, and up to a vantage point looking down across the lava flows, across to out boat and up to 2 of Isabela’s 5 main volcanoes (Darwin & Wolf) was worth the effort.

After breakfast there was the option to kayak or take a panga ride around the bay – no prizes for guessing which we chose. It was here that we spotted penguins for the first time on the trip – who knew that there were penguins on the Equator?? Something to do with the cold Humboldt current apparently and only seen in the West Galapagos region. And then another unique sight – the Flightless Cormorant, the only cormorant species that cannot fly – it has tiny stunted wings about 1/3rd of the size needed to fly and is only found in the Galapagos, specifically in this area.

We heard some excited noises from the kayakers – they thought they’d spotted something big and soon we saw what – a huge majestic Manta Ray swimming alongside our boat. Very rare in these parts apparently and Steve’s favourite sight. He’s often said that he wants a tattoo of a Manta, and if he ever saw one again he’d get one. Debbie hopes that he forgets or doesn’t get around to it! Sadly the Manta had gone elsewhere by the time we went snorkelling.

After lunch we crossed the short channel across to Fernandina, the youngest of the Galapagos Islands, and Espinoza Point. The snorkelling highlight was the marine iguanas swimming alongside us, and massive groups of them watching us from the black lava rocks. Late afternoon we walked on the lava, through vast colonies of the marine iguanas well camouflaged against the black of the rock, past sea lions swimming in the shallow waters, encountered a few racing snakes (one of which slithered across the feet of our group), and the sun set on another amazing day just as Brian and Darwin arrived in the panga to collect us.

Day 4 – Isabela

At some point during the night the boat was quietly repositioned to Urbina Bay on Isabela and our morning trip ashore brought Galapagos’s famed giant tortoises. Pretty much immediately after landing on the beach, there they were, wandering down a path, two males rising up to establish pecking order. Amazing! There were plenty of land iguanas sharing the habitat too, and we came across one burying her eggs, but we’d become quite blasé as we were used to seeing these creatures now (how spoiled does that sound?!).

A 3 hour daytime passage took us up the West coast of Isabela to Vicente Roca Point – a half crater bay and the ‘mouth’ of the seahorse-shaped island. There was a chance that we’d see mola mola (giant sunfish) here but luck wasn’t on our side. We did see plenty of boobies, flightless cormorants and marine iguanas though, and the serious photographers were having a field day. The snorkelling took us into a spectacular cave and we caught a glimpse of some black tip reef sharks.

And then we set off again late afternoon as we had a long and potentially bumpy overnight passage ahead of us. But shortly after departure there was something rather special – a trip up to the bridge of the boat and the countdown to crossing the Equator at sunset…

Day 5 – Bartolome and Santiago

By morning we’d arrived at Bartolome, one of the must-see islands of Galapagos and another 6am ‘power hike’ to what was famed as the best viewpoint on the islands. Again Debbie copped for the early alarm and unaccustomed exertion, and the octogenerian in our group said it was harder than the previous power hike (he’d done it ta week earlier while on another cruise) – great. But after God only knows how many flights of steep steps along a wooden boardwalk trail, we made it, and the view was out of this world – across tiny Bartolome and the narrow strait to the volcanic peaks, lava cones and vast black lava flows of Santiago’s East coast. After a well deserved breakfast, at which our very fit 85 year old told Steve that Debbie had ‘done very well’ on the climb, we had a fabulous snorkelling session where Steve duck dived to swim through a huge shoal of sardines.

A panga ride across to Sullivan Bay on Santiago for afternoon snorkelling and we needed to go somewhere different to the plan as there were a lot of boats in the area and masses of snorkelers crowding the place somewhat. This part of Galapagos is accessible on day trips and covered on most cruise itineraries, so a little less exclusive than most of our cruise where we’d been joined by only a couple of other boats. Our late afternoon land excursion was onto the vast volcanic lava flows, some amazing scenery but quite hard work.

After dinner it was Shark O’clock… we had found that the lights of the boat attracted small fish, which in turn attracted sharks, pelicans and sea lions, so Steve dug out his head torch to illuminate them and we spent a happy hour watching black tipped reef sharks and Galapagos sharks circling the boat while large male sea lions popped up with a snort every few minutes and the pelicans floated by unconcerned.

Day 6 – Chinese Hat and South Plaza

An early morning quick crossing from Bartolome took us to the island named Chinese Hat (for obvious reasons!).

Another early start as we had a full day, but this time Steve dragged his arse out of bed. A beautiful walk on a rocky seaside trail, with more penguins and sea lions and a lone great blue heron standing on the beach watching the world go by. The views across the turqoise waters to the stunning scenery of Southern Santiago were out of this world, and snorkelling in those waters and looking up to the cacti on back lava flowing down to the sea, whilst surrounded by shoals of fish, turtles and sea lions is vision that Debbie said will be forever imprinted on her mind’s eye. Just gorgeous!

Our next destination was a 4 hour passage from Chinese Hat, hence the need for an early start, past Baltra island and the airport and down the East coast of Santa Cruz. Most people took the opportunity for a snooze, but not Debbie, she was straight up onto the top deck to catch some rays! Of the sun, not marine, variety!! Almost immediately she was joined by a few Frigate birds, cruising along riding the updraft from the boat, and the numbers steadily increased until there were around 30 of them accompanying us on our voyage. Great to see until they started shitting on the deck and Debbie was forced to find shelter.

South Plaza is a tiny island with more unique terrain, some incredible bird life, masses of land iguanas, rather brave sea lions and even a pod of Orcas spotted from our panga. Another very special place.

Day 7 – Santa Cruz

We’d made our way around to Puerto Ayora overnight and disembarked early for a full day on Santa Cruz island, taking in places we’d deliberately not visited during our time there the previous week – the must-dos on every Galapagos itinerary.

Firstly to the Charles Darwin Research Centre, a major conservation and research establishment focussed on protecting Galapagos wildlife and eco systems. We learned more about Darwin and his 1835 visit, the projects on invasive and endangered species, saw first hand the giant tortoise breeding and rearing programmes (Steve questioned whether this was husbandry rather than conservation), saw some huge saddleback tortoises that we’d not come across in the wild, and paid our respects to Lonesome George, the last known Pinta Island giant tortoise, the ‘ending’ of that species, expertly preserved by an American taxidermist following his death in 2012 at age 100+. Scientists had spent decades trying to find the poor bloke a mate and breed him, but without success, so with his demise came the extinction of his species – unless they should find a living female who can benefit from his frozen sperm!

We ventured into the Santa Cruz Highlands, first visiting the impressive twin craters (Los Gemelos) – created when underground lava chambers emptied and the surface above caved in, before heading to El Manzanillo, a privately-owned ranch serving delicious lunches and where giant tortoises roam freely on National Park land. For many visitors to Galapagos this is a highlight of their trip, but as impressive as the creatures were to see, it felt a little curated compared to our tortoise encounters on Isabela.

We had some time to kill in Puerto Ayora, but as we’d already spent time there we headed for a couple of happy hour cocktails at 1835 and purchased a bottle of wine for that evening. We did pop into a gallery that we’d passed a few times and were very taken with the copper sculptures of Galapagos wildlife by the Ecuadorian artist Jorge Espana. We still have wedding gift money that we plan to use for a piece of art when we see the right thing, so may well be ordering a pair of blue-footed boobies if we can get a sensible price for shipping to the UK.

Back on board it was another cocktail reception with the crew in their finery, this time for us to thank them and hand over the tips envelopes which had thoughtfully been placed in our cabins while we were ashore – one for the crew to split and one for the guide. All of the crew and our guide Carlos were absolutely superb and thoroughly deserved a decent tip (there was no way we were tipping 10% of the cruise cost as some sources suggested though!).

The farewell dinner came with wine, then we stayed up and drank the bottle we’d bought ashore while Christian the steward nipped home for a couple of hours to see his family as it was his birthday (they work a 6 weeks on and 3 weeks off pattern), before we set off again around midnight. It was VERY bumpy and we heard glass smashing in the dining room – “Steve, you did stow our empty wine glasses back in the secure holders didn’t you?”. “I put them in the sink” was not the answer that Debbie had hoped for – ooops!

Day 8 – time to leave

We’d arrived close to the airport by morning, the shattered wine glasses had miraculously been cleared up with no comments, and we had to be off the boat by 0800 so it could be prepared for the next cruise starting that day, but there was still time for one final 6am excursion. We seriously considered not bothering but FOMO got the better of us and we were rewarded with a pristine white beach at sunrise, and the majestic view of a flamingo, to end the most amazing week.

And after a quick shower and breakfast it was time to sadly bid farewell to M/Y Koln and her crew and take one last panga ride ashore to catch our transfer bus to the airport.

So did we enjoy Galapagos? The answer should be pretty obvious! Undoubtedly the trip of a lifetime and we are so grateful that Steve finally got to his last truly bucket list destination. Yes it was bloody expensive but we left Galapagos with absolutely no regrets about spending a big chunk of our pension savings on properly experiencing the place. It’s probably the best place we’ve ever visited and the rest of our South American destinations (and in fact anywhere else we ever travel to) will have an extremely hard, and perhaps impossible, act to follow…