Galapagos Adventure - June 2025
Galapagos Adventure - June 14 - Day 1
It is good to be one of our grandchildren. We offered to take them anywhere in the world for their 10th birthday. Jackson and Eleanor chose the Galápagos Islands. This trip has been in planning for several years and it is finally here. Yay!
We selected a Tauck family tour in hopes that other families with children will be on this trip instead of the usual predictable passengers that travel at a glacial pace.
Priscilla, our daughter Alison and I traveled to the Galapagos fifteen years ago. It was a splendid trip so we knew it would be a good one for the grandkids.
Our third grandchild Parker is seven years old and has currently selected Japan for his worldwide trip. He is a huge Godzilla fan and wants to see where Godzilla was born. There is also a Godzilla theme park with a 500 foot long zip line that zooms into Godzilla’s mouth.
Our Galapagos trip begins with a flight from Chicago to Quito, Ecuador with a two hour connection in Miami. I booked the flights eleven months ago and everything was perfect regarding timing and seating. As the months passed American Airlines changed our flight itinerary three times until we now arrive at 12:50 am the next day. Oh well, we shall see. All that matters is we arrive in time for our tour. Our Tauck handler that will meet us at the Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito will have a late night also. We will transit to the Hilton Colon Quito to pass out.
Here is a brief history of the Galápagos Islands with the usual fun facts. Enjoy.
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands located along the equator in the Pacific Ocean. It consists of 128 islands with 18 major islands, 3 smaller islands and 107 rocks. The islands cover an area of land consisting of 3,090 square miles in an area of ocean that is 17,000 square miles. The largest of the islands, Isabella, measures 2,250 square miles. The total population is 33,000 inhabitants. In 1941 the population was 801. The Galápagos Islands are located 605 miles west of Ecuador.
The Spanish discovered the Galapagos Islands in 1535. A Spanish bishop traveling from Panama to Peru was becalmed in the doldrums and drifted upon the islands. They found them barren and uninhabited with no source of water. They left them unclaimed.
Beginning in 1573 English pirates used the Galapagos as a hideout to plunder Spanish treasure ships. In 1793 whaling ships started to visit the Galapagos to kill and capture tortoises. The tortoises could be kept alive onboard ships for several months without food or water before they were eaten. Along with the whalers came seal hunters who brought the seal population close to extinction.
Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands onboard the HMS Beagle in 1835. His voyage and visit to the Galapagos was critical to his theory of evolution of the species by natural selection.
Invasive species have been a problem in the Galapagos. In 1959, fishermen introduced one male and two female goats on Pinta Island. In 1973 the Park service estimated the goat population to be 30,000 individuals.
Jimmy Buffett has provided the soundtrack to my life. I really enjoy playing his tunes on my ukulele. And yes, I am bringing a ukulele on our cruise. The Jimmy song that most defines this trip is Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. We will change our latitude from 42.28111 north latitude to 0 latitude. It is always more fun in the little latitudes and you can’t get any lower than the equator. Just remember “if we weren’t all crazy we would go insane.”
The ship we will be onboard is the Santa Cruz II. She was built in 2002 and refurbished in 2015. She must be due for her next refurbishment. The length is 235 ft and the beam is 45 ft. She has two 850 hp Cummins diesel engines and cruises at 10.5 kts. Accommodations include 43 double cabins, 2 single cabins, 2 triple cabins and 3 Darwin suites. She carries 80 passengers with 51 crew and 8 naturalists.
The weather for the week that we will be in the Galápagos looks very good. A high temperature of 77°f and a low of 76°f. I bet I can guess the temperature of the ocean water also. Partly cloudy or cloudy each day. No rain.
Here is my usual disclaimer. “WiFi is always a challenge when traveling. All should be good in Quito but the shipboard wifi is often suspect. I will endeavor to publish the blog daily.”
The Galápagos adventure begins!