After finishing packing just after midnight, the 4AM alarm came a little too soon! Groggy and excited, I started my long journey to Quito. My flight from Missoula to Minneapolis was plagued by a 2 hour screaming tantrum compliments of the toddler sitting directly behind me- but my Minneapolis to Atlanta flight was much nicer and I was able to get …

Our wake up call cane at 6:30 today and we got up and enjoyed the nice shower. We went down to breakfast in the indoor patio (beautiful!) and were met by plates of fresh local fruit and a shot glass full of yogurt. While they made us fresh eggs and bacon (yum!), you poked around the buffet spread of cheeses, fancy deli meats, cereal and pastries. …

We moved locations during the night and it was super rocky. Thanks to my Bonine pills, I never felt even the slightest bit sick! We didn't bring any sort of clock with us, so Miguel was kind enough to knock on our door at 6:30 and by 7:00 we were feasting on omelets, toast, fruit, yogurt, cereal, potatoes, juice and coffee.

After breakfast we …

This morning I woke up with the sun by stayed in bed until the breakfast bell. After filling myself up with banana pancakes, I sunblocked up and headed out for Cerro Brujo.

Along the way we did another panga tour along the giant cliffs and even rode into a tiny cave.

We went into 'the Cathedral', and really cool cove and then went …

Someone was looking out for me today, because just as we were getting up, giant clouds rolled in- I was going to get a much needed break on my sunburns!! We had a great breakfast and headed to shore. We had traveled to Espanola over night and we made our first landing there amongst lounging sea lions and piles of marine iguanas.

These marine …

This morning was so overcast that the sun didn't wake us up...the breakfast bell did! We rushed down and ate super quickly and then ran back up to our cabin to get ready for the landing on Floreana! First, we headed to Punta Cormorant to see the Flamingos. Leonidas warned us that there may not be any but only about a minute into our walk from …

Ros woke us up at 6:00 this morning we could pack and be ready to go by breakfast at 6:30. We ate quickly, said our goodbyes to the crew and brought our bags downstairs. We hopped in the pangas and rode away from the Millennium for the last time. We headed to a different dock tucked in the red mangroves and unloaded there.

We walked to the …

Today was the first official day of the IGTOA conference. Amanda and I joined the group for an amazing breakfast at the Patio Restaurant- the chocolate croissants and ceviche were my favorites! After breakfast, Amanda headed back to the room and I headed to the conference.

All morning long we listened to speakers from organizations that IGTOA has …

Since last night ended so late, we got a late start to the day. The IGTOA members met again to discuss changes to be made in the coming year. We discussed best practices and what each responsible tour operator should be doing (or not doing) in the Galapagos to help protect the precious archipelago.

After our meeting, we all took a tour of the …