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"Not only was my
every need taken care of, I had the unusual
luxury of not having to worry about a thing,
except when and what I wanted to do next.”
Coming to the Galapagos is in and of
itself a lifetime experience, but to be able to come
here and enjoy one of your life's passions, favorite
pass times or share the experience with loved
ones....priceless.
Below you will
find information for:
Naturalists/Birders,
Divers/Snorklers/Learning to Scuba,
Fisherman/Fish & Eat with Locals, Surfers and
Art with Locals.
Naturalists/Birders
 Galapagos
is a naturalists dream, for obvious reasons.
Birders in particular seem to get a special kick
out of it all when they’ve “bagged” that rare
Galapagos (pick your bird or animal) shot. A
land based tour allows people the time to stomp
around in the bush or beach a little and allows
the opportunity to return there at whatever
hour. Also, we know where the animals/birds are
and when. While the great majority of the island
is national park, with severely restricted
access, (visitors are only allowed to enter
certain parts and many of those only if they are
accompanied by a National Park guide, which
you’ll happen to have) however our 40 acre farm
is not, nor are the farms of our friends and
family. The nesting grounds of the blue footed
boobie and lava and swallowtail gull can be
walked to from town. From a one day boat
excursion you’ll be able to see, the petrels,
albatross, the nesting grounds of frigate birds
(unique to San Cristobal) and pelicans, the
nesting grounds of red footed boobies and
tropical birds, sea turtles and sea iguanas.
There are a number of birds
you will not be able to find here on San Cristobal, which
may be important to you. Probably the most important of
which are Penguins, flamingos and flightless cormorants. For
these you have to go to the island of Isabella which is a
forty minute shuttle plane flight away or a three hour
sometimes arduous boat trip. On Isabella you will have the
best accommodations available in the charming small pueblo
of Puerto Vallamil where the flamingos and penguins are
swimming/living within a short walking distance of the
pueblo. The flightless cormorants can be accessed with a two
hour boat trip from Puerto Viliamil to another part of the
island or the near by island, Fernandina, also famous for
it’s erupting volcanoes. This chartered all day boat costs
$400. The round trip flight to and From Isabella costs $200
per person plus the flight of the guide.
Divers
PADI Certified
Divers
The visibility in the water and the shear
abundance of wild life make this one of THE
destinations for divers. All the equipment is
here, the PADI certified dive masters and
instructors. Dives close to the port with all
equipment cost approx. $100 each. Dives further
out or at near by islands cost the same plus the
cost of the boat charter, approx. $500 a day.
Hard core divers will be better served with a
“diving cruise ship vacation package” (available
through other tour operators), but for a family
or group of part divers, part whatever else,
everyone can be made very happy here.
Learn To Scuba
Non PADI
Certified Divers -
It is unbelievable the things you can see and
experience with a snorkel alone, but should you
wish to learn to dive here, you can do that and
still enjoy practically all of the other
activities, thanks to the presence and
flexibility of your guide. There are two
programs available, one six day “PADI Certified Open
Water Course" $400 and a “PADI Certified Discover Scuba
Course” one
day course $150.
Fisherman
On any day there
are fish to be had, what type and kind changes,
but generally, small tuna, wahoo, palometa and
bacalao are available at a particular time and
place each day, changing day to day. The
smallest of these feeds a family of four.
There are two ways to fish here: one is to
charter an all day fishing/diving and or surfing
(combinations make a nice compliment) boat, $500
and the other is to...
Fish and Dine
with Locals
The fishermen of San Cristobal have seen their
world change radically in the past fifteen
years. There was a period where they were all
making a fair amount of money selling sea
cucumbers to the Japanese, until they fished
them close to extinction. They had similar
success/failure with lobsters. Now with strong
laws, the fish harvest is closely managed. They
are in the process of moving away from reliance
on the non renewable industry of fishing toward
reliance on tourism. It is a particularly
endearing experience to spend a half day fishing
with them with their time honored techniques and
continue to their home to dine on the days
catch. They’ve been working with gringo tourists
now for a number of years, refining their
abilities to manage gringo tastes and
gastronomical weaknesses. If you want to touch
the reality of the Galapagos, to do something to
help the future of the islanders and the islands
themselves, this is another way. When you return
home, you’ll spend as much time talking about
this experience as you will about any of the
many animal stories you will have. This
experience is included in the basic tour, but
should you wish to do it a second or third time,
it is $75 per person. See Come To Galapagos Family for
more info on some of these guys.
Surfers
 This
is a great place for an ocean family to visit,
but it is definitely not a wave mecca, nor is it
a good place for beginner surfers (too many
rocks). There are some waves here, some days
quite good. The water is clear, clean and warm
low 68 high 78. You are always surfing in the
presence of friendly locals, sea lions and sea
turtles. Usually when a good swell is coming,
packs of surfers from mainland Ecuador, Peru and
Brazil arrive the day before (one of the
consequences of computer info and occasionally
they aren’t so friendly). Many surfers travel
here and most leave disappointed with the waves,
but impressed with the location. There are no
beach breaks as such so we are always surfing
over uneven lava rocks and small swells don’t
have the benefit of a sand bottom to stand up
on, add to that the propensity for the strong
deep ocean currents to decimate swells… and too
often we’ll go weeks in prime surf seasons with
NO waves which makes the fantastic snorkeling
even better. All that being said I generally
surf at least a few days a week year round.
The
point here is, if you’re a surfer, bring your
board, but don’t expect epic waves or be
surprised to find crowds. If you’re with us,
you’ll likely be surfing with me and though our
focus is more rounded to a complete experience
of these islands, we’ll hook you into the best
surf available while you’re here AND accent your
sessions with something a little richer than a
surf mag and a smoothie. Best months to get the
good surf, Dec.-Feb and May-June.
Art with Locals
If you like drawing or painting or if you’d
like your kids to be able to draw or paint while
the experience of the Galapagos is fresh in
their minds there is an art studio available to
help however they can, from loaning easels and
paints to hands on instruction. The studio is
located in the original “Casa Blanca” where you
may very well be staying.
Instruction is
quite reasonable and they have a five hour
package spread over several days. Instruction
costs $20 per hour, materials included.
Materials available at cost. Artists can do
their fellow artists a huge favor bringing
materials. A small island six hundred miles off
the coast of South America is not the easiest
place to find artist’s supplies. Be sure to give
us a heads up if this is something you think you
might want to do. |
