Dec 3, 2024 • 6 min read
A Small-Ship Expedition Cruise Is the Best Way to See the Galápagos Islands in All Their Glory
15.11.2024 - 09:37 / matadornetwork.com / Cruises
Whale!” Mark shouted at breakfast. The rest of us passengers, the ship’s captain, and the naturalist guides stood up at once. We lifted the binoculars strapped around our necks and scanned the horizon from the sundeck. The Bolivar Channel is the best place to see whales around the Galápagos Islands, and eagle-eyed Mark, with his patience and determination, had spotted a splash nearby. A fin appeared and we all gasped and whooped.
“The pangas are ready. Let’s all jump in and see it from up close,” Gustavo Barba, one of the naturalist guides, said, referring to the small inflatable boats on the ship that could take us closer without disturbing the whales.
We gobbled down what was left of our delicious breakfast of humitas, fresh fruit juice, and Galápagos coffee. In less than 10 minutes, we were geared up and zooming toward the last sighting of the animal, cameras at the ready. What ensued was 30 minutes of observing a mother humpback and her calf bobbing in and out of the water, giving us the best show any of us had ever seen before 9 AM.
A mother humpback and her calf in the Bolivar Channel. Photo: Jesse Adams
This is what it’s like to take a trip with Ecoventura around the Galápagos Islands: Everything is designed to give the few guests on board the most adrenaline-filled wildlife-watching experience of their life. You want to swim with manta rays? Sure thing! Just jump off that panga and have fun. You want to spend an extra 20 minutes watching a just-born baby sea lion playing in a puddle, or looking at a giant tortoise walking by with a flower in its mouth? The crew can make time for that. You want to dive off the ship into the clear, warm waters of the Pacific and go for a swim? The captain will arrange it for you. At the end of a seven-day sailing with Ecoventura, you’ll have seen more wildlife than you can anticipate coupled with a lifetime of adventures and excitement.
There are dozens of cruise lines sailing expedition ships around the Galápagos Islands, including some of the biggest names in the industry like National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea. Ecoventura is just one small player among all of those operators, but it’s got a multitude of advantages.
Our ship, Ecoventura’s Theory, anchored near Rabida Island. Photo: Jesse Adams
The most significant benefit of traveling with Ecoventura is the size of the ships. While the Galápagos National Park, which covers 97 percent of the islands, has capped the number of passengers for any expedition ship to 100, Ecoventura keeps things even more intimate with a maximum of 20 guests per ship. (There were only 14 of us on the trip I took in late September.) Such a low number of passengers not only makes the voyage a
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