I woke this morning at dawn, rubbed my eyes and sat up to the windowsill – land! Giant, sheer faces of ice surrounded the ship on all sides, and big chunks of ice floated past my window. The sun barely shone through the mist and clouds, giving the entire scene a feeling of twilight in a different dimension.
At 8:30 AM we geared up in ALL of our layers and headed for the mudroom for our first kayaking excursion. Anchored in icy Fournier Bay, we took off in our sea kayaks, encountering two napping humpback whales in the first few minutes! Sleeping at the surface, or “logging”, is a very common behavior for humpbacks, and allowed us to get very, very close to the leviathans without waking them up.
We all stopped paddling about 500 feet from the two black masses resting at the surface, and we listened. Every 30 seconds a huge, deep hiss would echo off the ice, occasionally from the two whales in front of us, but also from both sides and behind. there were whales everywhere. At one point it seemed we were surrounded by deeply breathing whales. We also saw crab eater seals lounging on various ice bergs as wells as two leopard seals, well over 15 feet long. We paddled farther into the bay toward Mt. Frances, while shrouded in clouds we were told it is the tallest peak on the peninsula, 9,628 ft coming straight out of the ocean. As we entered the brash ice, three minke whales popped out of the water, seemingly charging each other for sport. A crab eater seal became quite curious of us, and poked his head out of the water at the bow of one of the kayaks and then dove directly under mine, the water so clear that I could see his whole body gliding and spinning under the surface. This afternoon we visited Cuvervlle Island, the largest Gentoo Penguin rookery in the world.
The agent had great response to questions and coordinated well to create an itinerary that met our expectations.
Bob Sunshine
1 day ago
Very responsive to all questions
Teresa Cardoso
2 days ago
Kelly and Rhenee were excellent to work with on planning our trip. The logistics all worked smoothly and everyone was friendly and on time. Our accommodations were very good, particularly the incredible Patagonia Camp in Torres del Paine! Our guides on every excursion were outstanding and made the hikes memorable! Overall we had a wonderful trip with incredible memories!
Scott Gibson
2 days ago
Adventure Life is definitely a first-class safari tour company, and our representative was Franny Friesz. First of all, she responded immediately after we contacted Adventure Life. We told Franny that we had never been on a safari, and she was more than eager to offer a mountain of information about the trip. She informed us fully about all the ups, downs, and all arounds! She even prepared a number of packages for us to review -- even after we made changes to the areas we wanted to explore. Friendly, helpful, professional, and extremely knowledgeable -- these words describe Franny, and what a wonderful trip she prepared! We couldn't have asked for better service than Franny of Adventure Life. We HIGHLY recommend her and her outstanding company! Bon Voyage!
Prima Burke
3 days ago
The staff at Adventure Life made planning my family's trip to the Galapagos Islands as easy as possible. They listened to what we were hoping to experience and made thoughtful suggestions about how to accomplish our vacation goals while meeting the needs of travelers ages 17-76! They patiently answered questions and follow up questions in the months leading up to the trip. They helped us trouble shoot and customize the trip in every way possible. The logistics involved in traveling from Boston to the Galapagos are innumerable. The Adventure Life staff helped us arrange every detail and the team they assembled in the Galapagos was tremendous. I have never done a trip this big before and after working with Adventure Life this time--would not hesitate one second in working with them again.