Galapagos Glory

If you won't love waking in the morning to a glorious sunrise seeing yourself in an archipelago of islands; seeing a plethora of animals that you may have never seen before, like sea lions, fur seals, mammoth turtles, "miniature" penguins, blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants, marine iguanas (so ugly that they almost look cute, and they swim, etc.); having the abillity to swim, or even better, snorkel with a phenomenal variety of fish and sea mammals; seeing unusual rock formations rising from the sea; seeing strange and wonderful shadows at sunset; and seeing an eruping volcano; then don't plan on going. If you do, RUN, don't walk, and make your reservations to go there.

Quick Tips:

Learn to snorkel before you go. It will be well worth it.

Make sure that you have good walking shoes or sneakers.

Best Way To Get Around:

Only intelligent way is by ship/boat. There are many available in varying sizes. I would personally recommend the Celebrity Xpedition. Wonderful service, good food, and all-inclusive, including your tours and "booze".

Have you ever seen a volcano erupt? Was fortunate enough to see the start of a large eruption light up the sky with crimson glory.

We were sitting n th e deck when we saw a red glow appear in the sky. Started watching more closely and sure enough was a volcano erupting on one of the islands. Fortunately, the Captain was as interested as we were in getting closer than the 100 miles away we were. He turned the ship around and we got to within 20 miles. No, we didn't feel the heat, but we did see a natural wonder that very few ever see.

Here they are - the so ugly they are almost cute. They are the only iguana that actually swim and live off the sea. No, they are not even cute as babies.

Wherever you go, at every turn you will see sea lions. They are single, in pairs, and in big herds led by the beachmaster (better known as the boss). If he starts chasing you, you had better be quick on your feet.

With the sea lions all over the place, they can show up at the most unusual places. Maybe he wanted to get on the bus with me!

Plan on visiting the Darwin Institutes facility.

It is there that you will see the difference between the tortoises from the various islands in the archipelago, and find out how they keep the various species segregated and "grow" them for 5 years prior to returning them their native islands. And this is where you see Lonesome George, the sole survivor of the tortoises from Pinta Island. He's lonesome because he chases everyone away, whether male or female. You'll learn how the Institute is attempting to get him to reproduce, including an attempt at cloning. The same is being done for the iguana.

You will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with the giant tortoises (just don't touch them).

You don't have to go "freeze" in Antarctica to see penguins, albeit the ones that you will see in the Galapagos are much smaller. These cute little animals are the second smallest of this species and have adapted to the much warmer climes than their "cousins" are from. Sometimes when they are swimming, you may think that there are ducks swimming. But when you get close up, you'll see their tuxedos on and know what you've seen.