After months of planning, we were finally underway! However, the first day was somewhat strange. Hopefully, this was not an omen for things to come! We arrived for our 730AM flight out of LAX. For unexplained reasons, my wife's ticket would not be accepted by the computer. After several failed attempts by the ticket agent, a supervisor finally …

After a nice breakfast in the hotel, our Adventure Life driver picked us up at the Hotel Eugenia and drove us to the airport. I can't complement Adventure Life enough regarding the transportation to and from the airport which was always on time. The guides were very friendly and helped us all the way through check-in.

All of the flights we …

Genovesa is one of the northern most islands and consists of two parts. The first part is essentially a large caldera approximately 1 1/2 miles in diameter. The outer wall has collapsed, allowing sea water to fill the caldera, creating a large sheltered bay. The remaining walls of the caldera rise high above the water and join the second part of …

In the morning, we made a dry landing on Fernandina and began a two hour hike. As if on cue, a large Marine Iguana stood posing for at the start of the hike. He stood like a statue as our guide, Luis, gave us an introduction to the island. After walking along a trail through Mangroves, we emerged along a large lava flow on which were sunning …

In the morning, we made a wet landing on a black sand beach and went for a walk along a trail while we were told the story about the previous settlers on the island who operated a salt mine. Unfortunately, goats and pigs were introduced and eventually threatened to destroy the natural wildlife on the island. Relatively recently, the National Parks …

That night, we did not have to sail and slept much better anchored in a bay off of Pinnacle Rock on Bartolome. This is a beautiful location and was used in the movie "Master and Commander".

Unfortunately, our daughter, Megan got sick in the middle of the night with some type of stomach virus and decided to stay on the ship while we …

Today was tortoise day! In the morning, we had a chance to see Giant Tortoises in the wild and in the afternoon we visited the Darwin Research station to view the captive breeding program.

We awoke in the morning to find our ship anchored in the harbor off Santa Cruz, one of the two main inhabited islands, with a population of approximately …

The morning hike on Espanola was one of the most beautiful of the trip due to the rocky cliffs along the coast which created a fantastic vista. This island is the only place in the world where the Waved Albatross reproduces. Some pairs were nesting on eggs while others were tending to their rather homely-looking chicks. Courting pairs displayed an …

After breakfast on the ship, we took our last panga ride to the pier on San Cristobal. The sea lions appeared to be sprawled out on the stairs just where we left them a week ago.

We boarded a van and were taken to a cultural center where we had a chance to view displays which summarized the history of the Galapagos.

We then had some time …