Galápagos Day 3: Hiking to the Top of Bartolomé Island & That Iconic View

June 14, 2022Ecuador

“I am very anxious for the Galápagos Islands. I think both the geology and the zoology cannot fail to be very interesting.” ~Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle It’s the most iconic photograph of the Galápagos Islands. Like the blue-roofed whitewashed hillside houses of Greece’s Santorini or the unmistakably stunning Eiffel Tower in Paris, the … Read More

Galápagos Day 2: Cruising the Red Mangroves & Hiking to Darwin Lake

June 9, 2022Ecuador

“The natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself.” ~Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle Our zodiac had been bouncing along the Pacific at a steady clip for about ten minutes when suddenly groves of trees appeared in the open waters, lining both sides of a narrow … Read More

Getting to the Galápagos: The Enchanted Islands of Ecuador

June 1, 2022Ecuador

Getting to the Galápagos Islands is not the easiest of travel tasks. The Pacific Ocean archipelago lies about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, with 19 islands and dozens of small islets spread across both sides of the equator. Visitors must first travel to Quito or Guayaquil and arrange a flight to one of … Read More

Galápagos Day 1: Black Sand, Red Sand & Wildlife Everywhere

May 31, 2022Ecuador

“Love the earth and sun and the animals.” ~Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass Early morning light was washing over the golden grassy landscape of Santiago Island, creating a soft and moody scene. Lava rock in wavy, striated sculptural formations lined the back side of the beach, with low-hanging branches spilling over onto the black sand. Our … Read More