The Galapagos Islands- a Fabulous Bucket List Trip
Category: Adventurous retirement
September 13, 2017– The Galápagos Islands are at the top of many people’s bucket list destinations. This article will give you a taste of what that experience is like, based on your Editor’s recent trip, plus some tips and advice if you decide to go.
Where and what
The Galápagos are a volcanic archipelago of small islands in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles west of Ecuador, which is near the top of south South America. They are most famous because of the role they played in Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution explained in his groundbreaking “Origin of the Species“. He visited the Islands in the early 1800’s, at a time when its only






Comments on "The Galapagos Islands- a Fabulous Bucket List Trip"
Susan says:
My husband and I travel a lot but that is the first trip that I may skip. I am concerned about seasickness since we would be on a small boat. I would like to hear thoughts about that.
Mary says:
To Susan, I traveled for 5 days on the Santa Cruz II in late January 2016 and like you, worried about getting seasick. Well, the 90-passenger ship was very stable and the waters were very calm. I think all the islands break up the energy of the waves so that it is smooth sailing among the islands. It was a fantastic cruise!! Naturalists on board led groups of 12 or fewer passengers on walks or snorkeling twice a day and we could get up close to the animals and birds, after listening to a briefing session and agreeing to observe the ecological restrictions designed to protect the flora and fauna. The crew were absolutely great in assisting passengers on and off the small Zodiac boats so that we could all enjoy the shore excursions. I never experienced even a moment of queasiness. Bring seasickness medications if you are worried, but you might not need them!
Susan says:
Fabulous. Because of you I will get to go. What months would you suggest for calm seas
Lucy Burdette says:
Susan, I also get seasick and was on this trip with my husband. I think the dry season seas are a little rougher than the warm season (January to June is considered warm, I think.) So I had occasional days where I felt queasy, as did another passenger we got to know. But I took Dramamine regularly and found that worked pretty well. There are definitely advantages to going in the fall – it's much cooler and not at all buggy. All in all well worth the trouble for me!
Susan says:
How big was your boat, Lucy?. I researched and there are 2 bigger boats with the Santa Cruz II being 1. It was rated really well.
So thankful for this blog and Mary's response that made me do an about face on getting to go on the trip.
My husband isn't fond of heat or bugs and I have to have calm seas so what time of year to go will require further exploration.