A Galapagos Islands Cruise

You will see amazing wildlife on a Galapagos Islands Cruise vacation.

To provide a flavor for the amazing Galapagos Islands wildlife on the following excerpts are from a vacation that a friend and I took to the Galapagos Islands.

Note: To learn about inexpensive vacation ideas for the Galapagos Islands see: Galapagos Trips.

We stayed at a resort called Hotel Galapagos on Santa Cruz Island (Puerto Ayora). However, anyone on Galapagos cruises will see many of these same animals (sometimes more).

On the shore next to the hotel we would see pelicans, sally light foot crabs and marine iguanas, and more.

Walking into the small town you would see fishermen going out for a day of fishing with pelicans surrounding the boat hoping for any scraps the fisherman would accidentally drop overboard.

Galapagos Island wildlife is the most diverse and abundant I have ever seen and they are everywhere!

You will see plenty of animals on a Galapagos Islands Cruise.

Frigate birds and Blue Footed Boobie Birds
One of our tours was to see the frigate birds and blue-footed booby birds.

April is the mating season and we saw several male frigate birds nesting with their bright fire engine red chests puffed up to impress their mates.

We awed at the airborne and nesting frigate birds. They are some of the most handsome and graceful birds I have seen. They reminded me of artist renditions of primitive pterodactyls.

The nesting blue-footed booby birds are beautiful with their white chests, brown wings and blue feet. The boobies have a strange courting dance which is a combination of waddling in place and sky pointing by spreading their wings, stretching their long necks and directing their beaks towards the heavens.

People laugh in amusement at the antics of these strange and compelling birds.

Most of the land animals are so used to humans that we could easily walk to within a couple of meters.

The Equatorial government (that owns the Galapagos Islands) does a good job of protecting the land animals. Consequently, they haven’t developed a fear of humans. Hopefully this will continue far into the future.

Giant Galapagos Tortoises
On another land adventure we traveled to see the giant Galapagos Tortoises in the wild. The trip into the high country through muddy bumpy back roads took a bit less than an hour. We arrived at a fenced area where we embarked on foot through woody areas with many small streams and steep slippery muddy embankments to cross.

Our trip to see the amazing Galapagos Island Wildlife was a total of thirteen days. The land and sea animals we saw, our adventures, and the friends we made along the way created a trip of a lifetime. These enchanted islands are truly a Mecca for nature lovers.

Give strong consideration to any Galapagos Island Tours to see these amazing creatures provided by a Galapagos Islands Cruise.

An Incredible Vacation
For any wildlife adventurer contemplating a Galapagos Islands Cruise Vacation, or a Galapagos Vacation I only have one recommendation. GO!

It’s worth the money and travel time to experience a place that is still primitive, pristine and unbelievably beautiful in ways that can only be understood when you walk where Charles Darwin once did.

To save money on your cruise consider getting an insiders guide to cruising. These guides can save you 10-30% on many vacation costs. The one I like is:

The Intelligent Cruiser Secrets
An Ex-cruise ship officer reveals confidential secrets to get huge savings on cruises, land excursions and more.

Return from Galapagos Islands Cruise to Galapagos Trips