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Posted on 1/9/24 at 10:00 am to baldona
quote:
I get that absolutely. But for $7-10k a head you could rent the hell out of a nice 50ft sailboat for 2-4 people in the Carribean for 7 days. For a 15-50 passenger boat $7k a day is pretty damn expensive even to dive for 7 days.
All good, it looks like an awesome trip. I’m just trying to figure out where the expenses come from.
The Galapagos are much more remote than anywhere in the Caribbean. Although there is agriculture and fishing on the islands, much of the food must be imported from the mainland. Since most guests on luxury cruises want to eat meals with upscale ingredients, that adds to the cost. Obviously, things like fuel also are imported from the mainland.
It's not possible to rent a sailboat in the Galapagos and travel independently. Aside from some parts of the four inhabited islands, all of the Galapagos is a national park, with a number of endangered species. Some islands, such as Pinta, are completely inaccessible to everyone except government-approved scientists. Again, aside from the four inhabited islands, no one can go to any of the other islands without a government-approved guide. There are three levels of guide training, and upscale cruises will all have Level 3 guides.
The government imposes significant taxes/fees to fund conservation efforts. For example, from 1997-2006, the government freed the Santiago, Pinta, and norther Isabela islands from invasive goats, killing over 100,000 animals (sometimes from helicopters in volcanic and mountainous terrain), and by using "Judas goats" who were sterile but injected with hormones to stay in heat. All this was too late for the Pinta species of giant tortoise, but that is one of only two known extinctions on the islands.
Posted on 3/30/24 at 12:04 pm to GOP_Tiger
Arrived in Guayaquil last night. Spent the night in the Sheraton, which is a good hotel near the airport. I had let them know which flight I was arriving on, and the driver of the shuttle van was waiting for me with my name on a sign. The hotel is literally across the street from a large, very nice mall, with a huge food court with McDs, KFC, Pizza Hut, BK, and lots of local options.
Guayaquil was the center of the violence from the drug gangs a couple of months ago, but the security situation is much, much better now. I went for a walk this morning along some of the traditional tourist areas, and there were police officers all along the route -- very safe.
I'm in the extremely nice Priority Pass lounge at the airport now for my flight to the Galapagos, but I thought I'd share a few pics from my walk this morning.
This is the Parque de las Iguanas, so named because there are about a dozen of them living in this park in front of the cathedral.
The City Hall is imposing.
At the river, the Malecon starts. It's a stunning boardwalk with bars, restaurants, a movie theater, a huge ferris wheel, children's play areas, and an impressive botanical garden. It would have been great to visit in the evening, when it would have been full of people, but I was there fairly early, when there were only a few joggers and people walking their dogs. This ship goes out for trips on the river.
Obligatory:
The hill in the distance is Las Penas, the oldest neighborhood in Guayaquil. The lighthouse at the top is my destination (many of the 444 steps up the hill are numbered, so you know how far you have to go).
Las Penas is charming:
I don't know if you can see the cable cars crossing the river. I'd have liked to do that, if I'd had time.
There's a naval museum at the top. Of course, it wasn't open.
The view from the lighthouse was great. I wish I'd had more than a couple of hours to explore Guayaquil.
Guayaquil was the center of the violence from the drug gangs a couple of months ago, but the security situation is much, much better now. I went for a walk this morning along some of the traditional tourist areas, and there were police officers all along the route -- very safe.
I'm in the extremely nice Priority Pass lounge at the airport now for my flight to the Galapagos, but I thought I'd share a few pics from my walk this morning.
This is the Parque de las Iguanas, so named because there are about a dozen of them living in this park in front of the cathedral.
The City Hall is imposing.
At the river, the Malecon starts. It's a stunning boardwalk with bars, restaurants, a movie theater, a huge ferris wheel, children's play areas, and an impressive botanical garden. It would have been great to visit in the evening, when it would have been full of people, but I was there fairly early, when there were only a few joggers and people walking their dogs. This ship goes out for trips on the river.
Obligatory:
The hill in the distance is Las Penas, the oldest neighborhood in Guayaquil. The lighthouse at the top is my destination (many of the 444 steps up the hill are numbered, so you know how far you have to go).
Las Penas is charming:
I don't know if you can see the cable cars crossing the river. I'd have liked to do that, if I'd had time.
There's a naval museum at the top. Of course, it wasn't open.
The view from the lighthouse was great. I wish I'd had more than a couple of hours to explore Guayaquil.
Posted on 3/30/24 at 2:50 pm to GOP_Tiger
I arrived in Quito Thursday night. Have another week on the mainland before headed to islands.
Posted on 3/31/24 at 1:31 pm to kciDAtaE
Getting to the Galapagos isn't cheap. It costs $20 for mainland immigration office to give you a transit card, and then you have to pay a $100 national park fee when you arrive (which goes up to $200 later this year). It has to be paid in cash on arrival -- no package that you buy can include it.
Anyway, the airport for Isla Santa Cruz is actually on the adjacent island of Baltra, so you have to take a bus from the airport to the ferry ($5) and then the ferry ($1) to get to Santa Cruz, which has about 30k inhabitants and is by far the most populous island. I took a taxi from there to my hotel, but I paid the drive extra (for a total of $50) to stop at the giant sinkholes of Los Gemelos and then to Rancho Chato to see wild tortoises and explore the lava cave tunnels.
I then checked in to the Royal Palm Galapagos. I'm here for two nights, booked with a free night certificate from the credit card for one night, and with 95k Hilton points for the other.
It's an unusual property, as it's up in the highlands (where the tortoises live -- I've seen two of them on the property) of Santa Cruz, and it's a good 30-minute taxi ride into the island's main town of Puerto Ayora. But if you want to get away from everything and relax, it would be a great option. As a Hilton Diamond, I was upgraded to Villa 3, which was recently renovated.
It's a highly private villa with a great view. Yes, that is a fireplace you see at the right of the last photo -- it gets cool up here in the summer months (last night's low was only 66, though).
Overall, I think that the Royal Palm would be a fantastic place to stay for 2-3 nights before or after a cruise, or as part of a land-based tour like I am doing, but I wouldn't want to spend my whole trip here -- it's too remote, and there aren't more than a few hours of great activities up here in the highlands.
I'm going to the island of Isabela in the morning.
Anyway, the airport for Isla Santa Cruz is actually on the adjacent island of Baltra, so you have to take a bus from the airport to the ferry ($5) and then the ferry ($1) to get to Santa Cruz, which has about 30k inhabitants and is by far the most populous island. I took a taxi from there to my hotel, but I paid the drive extra (for a total of $50) to stop at the giant sinkholes of Los Gemelos and then to Rancho Chato to see wild tortoises and explore the lava cave tunnels.
I then checked in to the Royal Palm Galapagos. I'm here for two nights, booked with a free night certificate from the credit card for one night, and with 95k Hilton points for the other.
It's an unusual property, as it's up in the highlands (where the tortoises live -- I've seen two of them on the property) of Santa Cruz, and it's a good 30-minute taxi ride into the island's main town of Puerto Ayora. But if you want to get away from everything and relax, it would be a great option. As a Hilton Diamond, I was upgraded to Villa 3, which was recently renovated.
It's a highly private villa with a great view. Yes, that is a fireplace you see at the right of the last photo -- it gets cool up here in the summer months (last night's low was only 66, though).
Overall, I think that the Royal Palm would be a fantastic place to stay for 2-3 nights before or after a cruise, or as part of a land-based tour like I am doing, but I wouldn't want to spend my whole trip here -- it's too remote, and there aren't more than a few hours of great activities up here in the highlands.
I'm going to the island of Isabela in the morning.
Posted on 4/2/24 at 6:26 am to GOP_Tiger
Yesterday morning, I took the ferry from Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz to Puerto Villamil on Isabela. It's in a relatively small boat (mine had a capacity of 28), isn't the smoothest ride, and costs $30. We had relatively calm seas and no one in our boat got sick, but it's why some people prefer to pay the $180 each to fly in a small plane.
I said that it was $30, and that's technically true. But there are lots of ways that the islands nickel-and-dime people. You actually have to take a water taxi to the ferry at each end, which costs $1 at each end. And, in addition to the $100 national park fee I'd already paid (which goes up to $200 in August), Isabela has it's own $10 entrance fee.
But this is what the boat dock looks like. I've never been anywhere where so many sea lions were so comfortable with humans.
This little guy was a true photo magnet:
I checked in to the Hotel La Gran Tortuga ($45 for a simple, clean room with AC) and went out on my prebooked ($120) tour to the area known as Los Tuneles, a 45-minute boat ride from Puerto Villamil.
This area was formed only a few thousand years ago when lava flowed into the sea, and it's incredible. This photo only shows a very small part of it, full of tiny islets, channels, and tunnels.
Me and other humans for scale:
Before the trip, I bought a off-brand GoPro thing, but I never had time before the trip to set it up. So, I can't show you pics of the dozen or so green sea turtles that I got to see up close, as they methodically chomped algae/seaweed off the rocks. Really, the turtles are almost completely oblivious to human presence -- they don't bat an eye if you're a foot away from them. There were a couple of times when I had to be very careful to avoid touching them. And these guys were massive, all of them 4-6 feet long. People have to leave the area by 4:30 in the afternoon, because tiger sharks will come in at night to try to eat them.
I also got to see a Galapagos penguin up close, a couple of whitetip sharks (not close), some marine iguanas, a couple of blue-footed boobies, and three seahorses. Overall, Los Tuneles was more than worth the $120 and the 45-minute trip each way.
On the docket for today: a hike up to the Sierra Negra and Volcan Chico, and then the 3:00 ferry back to Puerto Ayora.
I said that it was $30, and that's technically true. But there are lots of ways that the islands nickel-and-dime people. You actually have to take a water taxi to the ferry at each end, which costs $1 at each end. And, in addition to the $100 national park fee I'd already paid (which goes up to $200 in August), Isabela has it's own $10 entrance fee.
But this is what the boat dock looks like. I've never been anywhere where so many sea lions were so comfortable with humans.
This little guy was a true photo magnet:
I checked in to the Hotel La Gran Tortuga ($45 for a simple, clean room with AC) and went out on my prebooked ($120) tour to the area known as Los Tuneles, a 45-minute boat ride from Puerto Villamil.
This area was formed only a few thousand years ago when lava flowed into the sea, and it's incredible. This photo only shows a very small part of it, full of tiny islets, channels, and tunnels.
Me and other humans for scale:
Before the trip, I bought a off-brand GoPro thing, but I never had time before the trip to set it up. So, I can't show you pics of the dozen or so green sea turtles that I got to see up close, as they methodically chomped algae/seaweed off the rocks. Really, the turtles are almost completely oblivious to human presence -- they don't bat an eye if you're a foot away from them. There were a couple of times when I had to be very careful to avoid touching them. And these guys were massive, all of them 4-6 feet long. People have to leave the area by 4:30 in the afternoon, because tiger sharks will come in at night to try to eat them.
I also got to see a Galapagos penguin up close, a couple of whitetip sharks (not close), some marine iguanas, a couple of blue-footed boobies, and three seahorses. Overall, Los Tuneles was more than worth the $120 and the 45-minute trip each way.
On the docket for today: a hike up to the Sierra Negra and Volcan Chico, and then the 3:00 ferry back to Puerto Ayora.
This post was edited on 4/2/24 at 6:29 am
Posted on 4/2/24 at 7:38 am to Tree_Fall
quote:
Shoot a note to LSU assistant prof Dan Holstein. He and other faculty have run a field-study class in Galapagos and should be a good source of advice.
This is fricking solid!
Posted on 4/2/24 at 10:27 pm to GOP_Tiger
quote:
On the docket for today: a hike up to the Sierra Negra and Volcan Chico, and then the 3:00 ferry back to Puerto Ayora.
The hike was great. Sierra Negra's crater is some six miles across -- just huge.
After you get further west, the land becomes Mordor. Here's a half-panaroma:
Early in the hike, we passed a tortoise on the trail, and I also got to see a Little Vermillion Flycatcher (reference pic -- not my photo):
After taking the 3:00 ferry back to Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, I had this fish, called a brujo, for dinner tonight.
Tomorrow: my first dive of the trip, an excursion to off Seymour Island.
Posted on 4/3/24 at 9:45 pm to GOP_Tiger
quote:
Tomorrow: my first dive of the trip, an excursion to off Seymour Island.
Incredible diving. The first dive, we had barely gotten down when we saw a couple of whitetip sharks, and we didn't even have time to look at them before three huge eagle rays swam by. After that, a big blacktip shark, and then a group of hammerheads (I only saw five, and they were about 20 feet away, but others in my group were in the middle and saw ten).
Very much worth the $200 price tag for the excursion.
After the dive, I rode a ferry for the third day in a row -- this time to the island of San Cristobal.
Posted on 4/5/24 at 8:21 am to GOP_Tiger
Yesterday, I got to do two dives at Kicker Rock off of San Cristobal Island.
As indicated in the OP, this was my #1 goal of the trip. I still never set up my fake GoPro, and honestly, the fact that these were my 15th and 16th dives meant that I wanted to focus on what I was doing. But it turned out that our guide had a GoPro and shared the videos with me after the dives.
The first dive was decent, but not really as good as the dives from the day before at Seymour - Mosquera. Still, it was awesome to see a big group of hammerheads.
The second dive, though, still has me in disbelief. I felt as though I were inside of some nature documentary. We encountered an enormous "bait ball" of what I think my guide called selimas, small fish that were about a foot long. The fish stay together so thickly that, when we were underneath them, it was almost completely dark. Here's a pic of me as the fish start to surround me and I go inside the ball.
Getting inside the "ball" was almost scary: it was impossible to see anything other than the thousands of fish a foot away from me.
But what made the dive incredible was seeing sea lions and blacktip sharks hunting. The blacktips mostly stayed at the edge of the ball, looking for stragglers, but the hunting sea lions repeatedly swam right through the ball, and I saw one leave with a silver gleam in his mouth.
The sea lions got close enough to us that we could've touched them.
The best view of a blacktip came a little later in the dive, when we found a school of barracuda.
Of course, we also got some time with a couple of sea turtles.
After lunch, our tour stopped for 45 minutes on Cerro Brujo Beach. This was a great way to end the excursion.
Again, absolutely worth way more than the $200 it cost.
Today, I was going to do a tour to the lake here on San Cristobal (the only freshwater lake on the islands) or maybe do a surfing lesson, but I managed to significantly twist my ankle yesterday, so I'm likely just going to sit around and not do much of anything today.
As indicated in the OP, this was my #1 goal of the trip. I still never set up my fake GoPro, and honestly, the fact that these were my 15th and 16th dives meant that I wanted to focus on what I was doing. But it turned out that our guide had a GoPro and shared the videos with me after the dives.
The first dive was decent, but not really as good as the dives from the day before at Seymour - Mosquera. Still, it was awesome to see a big group of hammerheads.
The second dive, though, still has me in disbelief. I felt as though I were inside of some nature documentary. We encountered an enormous "bait ball" of what I think my guide called selimas, small fish that were about a foot long. The fish stay together so thickly that, when we were underneath them, it was almost completely dark. Here's a pic of me as the fish start to surround me and I go inside the ball.
Getting inside the "ball" was almost scary: it was impossible to see anything other than the thousands of fish a foot away from me.
But what made the dive incredible was seeing sea lions and blacktip sharks hunting. The blacktips mostly stayed at the edge of the ball, looking for stragglers, but the hunting sea lions repeatedly swam right through the ball, and I saw one leave with a silver gleam in his mouth.
The sea lions got close enough to us that we could've touched them.
The best view of a blacktip came a little later in the dive, when we found a school of barracuda.
Of course, we also got some time with a couple of sea turtles.
After lunch, our tour stopped for 45 minutes on Cerro Brujo Beach. This was a great way to end the excursion.
Again, absolutely worth way more than the $200 it cost.
Today, I was going to do a tour to the lake here on San Cristobal (the only freshwater lake on the islands) or maybe do a surfing lesson, but I managed to significantly twist my ankle yesterday, so I'm likely just going to sit around and not do much of anything today.
Posted on 4/6/24 at 1:37 pm to GOP_Tiger
In SCY (San Cristobal) airport right now, about to leave the Galapagos.
Galapagos (and, more broadly, Ecuador) is really a cash economy. There were some opportunities to pay with cards at a few restaurants, but I still just used cash, and I spent $1347 while here. I brought $2000, and I tried to bring lots of $5s and $1s, but it wasn't nearly enough, and I often ended up awkwardly asking places if they could accept a $50. It's also weird paying for a $2 ice cream with a $20.
My flights to an from the Galapagos from Ecuador totaled $290. I spent $135 on booking.com for four nights of cheap lodging. I used a Hilton free-night certificate for one night at the Royal Palm and 95k points for the other, I used 12k Marriott points for my night at the Sheraton Guayaquil, and I used miles for the flights to and from the US to Ecuador, but if you're a college student budgeting for a trip, I see departures from MSY on United right now for as little as $361 in May after finals. If you were to add $90 for a fairly nice place to replace the two nights I stayed at the Royal Palm and $100 for the night at the Sheraton Guayaquil, then you would get a total of $2227 to essentially replicate my trip.
Galapagos (and, more broadly, Ecuador) is really a cash economy. There were some opportunities to pay with cards at a few restaurants, but I still just used cash, and I spent $1347 while here. I brought $2000, and I tried to bring lots of $5s and $1s, but it wasn't nearly enough, and I often ended up awkwardly asking places if they could accept a $50. It's also weird paying for a $2 ice cream with a $20.
My flights to an from the Galapagos from Ecuador totaled $290. I spent $135 on booking.com for four nights of cheap lodging. I used a Hilton free-night certificate for one night at the Royal Palm and 95k points for the other, I used 12k Marriott points for my night at the Sheraton Guayaquil, and I used miles for the flights to and from the US to Ecuador, but if you're a college student budgeting for a trip, I see departures from MSY on United right now for as little as $361 in May after finals. If you were to add $90 for a fairly nice place to replace the two nights I stayed at the Royal Palm and $100 for the night at the Sheraton Guayaquil, then you would get a total of $2227 to essentially replicate my trip.
Posted on 4/6/24 at 10:01 pm to GOP_Tiger
I just arrived in Santa Cruz today. Our trip is a bit more expensive.
Posted on 4/6/24 at 10:16 pm to kciDAtaE
I'm sure that you're going to have a great time.
Posted on 7/3/24 at 8:10 pm to GOP_Tiger
quote:
GOP_Tiger
Excellent posts, mate. Forget my other thread, this is where I parked my car
I am definitely going to manage a dive or two. Do you recommend Kicker Rock above your first dive if I can only get one in?
Posted on 7/3/24 at 8:11 pm to kciDAtaE
quote:
kciDAtaE
How did your trip go? You did some land based and cruise on this one? Do you dive or did you see opportunity to do that the way you planned your trip?
Posted on 7/3/24 at 8:22 pm to Sho Nuff
Kicker Rock was legitimately like some National Geographic show. The thing about it, though, is that it's really the only excellent dive site near San Cristobal island, so the dive shops there go just about every day. Isla Santa Cruz, on the other hand, has about six elite sites, so there's more variety.
For example, the Gordon Rocks site is famous for people normally seeing 30-50 hammerheads -- I didn't do it because the currents there are tricky and dive shops only want people with 50 dives, and I don't have that many.
For example, the Gordon Rocks site is famous for people normally seeing 30-50 hammerheads -- I didn't do it because the currents there are tricky and dive shops only want people with 50 dives, and I don't have that many.
This post was edited on 7/3/24 at 8:50 pm
Posted on 7/3/24 at 8:47 pm to GOP_Tiger
quote:
I didn't do it because the currents there are tricky and dive shops only want people with 50 dives, and I don't have that many.
You bring up a great point. I'm PADI certified but I only have 10 dives or so and it's been years. I guess I need to go do a refresher course, but the lack of diving will be an issue at some sites then. I will go get a couple dives in t least over the next few months, thankfully being in Hawaii makes this easy
I was checking some boats and all the dive cruises are 7n/8d so I don't know if we'll do that. I think at this point though, we're looking at making it a 9-10 day visit to the islands. I want to dive for sure. I like the cruise idea in that you get to other islands while you sleep at night, but I'm not sure if a land-based trip wouldn't be more fun as we can customize it more.
Posted on 7/3/24 at 8:54 pm to Sho Nuff
The weird thing (and they have their reasons for it) is that you can't do a combo cruise. You are either on a boat that takes you to different, remote islands and you get to get out onto those islands for tours (with some snorkeling opportunities), or you are on a diving boat, and you aren't allowed to set foot on the remote islands.
So, if you have limited time and want to do some hikes and some dives, like I did, then land-based is the way to go.
So, if you have limited time and want to do some hikes and some dives, like I did, then land-based is the way to go.
Posted on 7/4/24 at 10:43 am to GOP_Tiger
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