Our family trip to the Galapagos

When my father-in-law asked the family where we would like to go on a trip together, we were not expecting his suggestion.  We thought maybe Europe or New Zealand, but not these set of islands. This place has always seemed so far away, yet it's still in our eastern time zone.  It has been a dream of mine to photograph since I was a little girl, mostly because it contains a large number of animals, mammals, reptiles and birds that only live on their secluded islands.  Have you guessed it yet?  For me, as a kid, National Geographic had the most memorable photographs from this place. The place I had only dreamed of going to and now I have been, The Galapagos Islands.

Our trip was booked as family adventure.  The 11 days weree spent sleeping on a semi-private yacht, with 3 other families.  There were boys galore for our 12 year old son to hang out with and my 5 year old niece didn't seem to mind that she was the only girl, as she did everything that the boys did.  The other parents were wonderful and we felt lucky to be sharing our time with this group.

Each morning we would wake up at a different island.  After breakfast we would head out on a small boat called a panga.  Basically a dingy or raft, large enough for 12 people.  Since there were 20 people on the yacht, we had two pangas.  Half of the group would start out on a 1 to 2 hour hike of that days island and the other group would snorkel in the beautiful blue-green water with a variety of fish, penguins, seal lions, sea turtles and even sharks.  Before returning to the yacht on the panga the groups would switch so everyone could partake in the adventures.

After lunch we would have a two to three hour break to lounge on the upper deck of the yacht, watch a movie (the kids favorite thing to do), read a book, jump off the boat,  kayak or take a siesta.  Then mid afternoon we would follow the morning schedule on a different part of the island or discover a new island.

The sites varied from mostly lava rocks, to dry aired land with cactus.  Some islands had large volcanos, one was low and filled with water.  One morning we woke up with our boat inside of a water filled volcano!  It was breathtaking!

Our yacht, called The Letty, through EcoVentura.  

The crew was great and the other families were great.  

Five boys and one little girl, my niece...what a fun time!

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This is the Galapagos airport.
The tower in the middle of a field and only one plane on the tarmac,
waiting for it's guests to climb the stairs outside.