Galapagos Islands Vacation Family

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The Galapagos Island chain, located approximately 600 miles west from the continent of South America, is fairly possibly the best destination to see evolution in all of its purely natural magnificence.

Named, in Spanish language, after the species which is without doubt the most famous of the island chain: The Galapagos Tortoise; the Galapagos offers quite a few groups of little dainty islands which are created of undersea volcanoes eruptions.

Placed directly on the equator, the Galapagos gets all the rewards of such a overseas placement because the 16 islands have warm climate all through the year! If that wasn’t sufficient they are at the crossroads for two essential trade winds: The North East winds (coming from North & Central America) and the South East winds (from South America). These winds are likely exactly what begun the influx of sustainable life around the island chain – and are thought to have been the reason for the vast forests covering the higher mountains of the islands.

These island of overwhelming natural charm have ended in the evolution of countless diverse, and pretty exceptional, environments that have in turn helped the native wildlife, both flora and fauna alike, to evolve in manners that in simple terms has numerous scientists shocked.

The rest of the Galapagos archipelago is also a place of exceptional, inter-dependent, as well as really beautiful wildlife.

When is the right time to travel the Galapagos?

Due to the confluence of freezing waters currents from the west and the south, the Galapagos island chain has an unusual dry and gentle weather for the tropics and it is usually considered sub-tropical. This makes Galapagos vacation a year-round vacation option. Galapagos weather conditions are considered tropical, cooled because of the Humboldt Current, and is also recognized by two most important conditions:

The hot, wet season

Late December to June is considered the warm and wet season, with March and April usually remaining the hottest and wettest weeks. Close to December, the winds fall down and the climatic equator shifts south toward the Galapagos, creating the westward-flowing current to slow down, minimizing the upwelling and allowing warmer water from the Panama Current to wash the archipelago. Galapagos weather conditions are known by rain clouds which form once the inversion breaks down, in addition to the air warms and goes up, producing frequent mid-day showers. Even in this period; however, the small hills get only restricted rain.

The colder, dry season

This time of year, also called the “garua season” extends from late June to December, when it is dry and cool with increased cloudier atmosphere and occasional drizzle or mist (garua) through the day. August is the colder month. Throughout this dry season, Galapagos climate is nice, water temperatures are lower and you will find frequently clouds on the greater elevations. Line of sight is frequently reduced in the water because of plankton blossom, but this mixture of circumstances generates a much more action in the water and also food is plentiful. Due to the fact Galapagos climate is not very hot during this period, it is also the reproduction time period for several sea birds and shore birds, marine iguanas, sea lions and fur seals.

El Niño and La Niña

El Niño is a disturbance of the sea and atmospheric systems of the shoreline of Latin America which induces unusually hot water temperature ranges, a shift in the path of the winds, modifications in currents, and significantly more rainfall. The higher rainfall results in the destructive inundating on the Pacific, and, at the same time, causing drought in the western Pacific, as far as Australia. This phenomenon is predicted by simply monitoring variations in temperatures on the surface of the sea, wind factors, and water flows next to Ecuador.

Galapagos Islands Cruise Itineraries

Every licensed vessel sailing the Galapagos follows a 15-day path approved and established by Galapagos National Park. During this period, a boat may not visit the exact same site twice, with the exception of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz. How lines segment the 15 days may fluctuate, but four-, five- and – eight-day choices are the norm. Passengers can often combine these sections into 11-, 12- and 15-day cruises.

All ships basically follow the same protocol, irrespective of itinerary: Island visits and extra-curricular tasks are done throughout the day, and also the majority of navigation is done overnight.

All cruises start or end at one of two islands with a airport: Baltra, a U.S. military outpost during WWII turned Ecuadorian air base, or San Cristobal, the Galapagos’ second most populated island and home to the capital of their state, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

Since the approach to cruising continues to be standardized, choosing the proper itinerary includes a lot to do with cruisers deciding which visitor sites are on their must-visit lists. Port research — particularly photo searching — is essential. Keep in mind the more the cruise, the further west the boat will reach. That is not to mention the western islands are better — it’s an issue of personal preference. When you rail is also an important consideration.

There is one major exception: “Live aboard” boats carrying experienced divers are the only craft to see the northern islands, Darwin and Wolf, prime spots for ski lovers. At Darwin, where there is not any landing site, schools of hammerheads are known to congregate.

Most passengers will spend a day or two exploring Quito or Guayaquil pre or post-cruise. It is basically necessary, given the flight logistics.

The Way to Get to the Galapagos Islands</h3

Not sure how to reach the archipelago? It’s simple. Your destination is mainland Ecuador. Whether you’re traveling from the USA, Europe or any place else, you need to book an international flight to Guayaquil or Ecuador’s capital, Quito. Their isolation is just one of those qualities that make them so special. You might be asking yourself how one arrives at the islands. Charles Darwin went to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle, but modern-day explorers arrive at jet. The only daily flights to the Galapagos Islands depart from the cities of Quito and Guayaquil on mainland Ecuador. International travelers should make sure to land in the city in order to start their Galapagos adventure. From both Quito and Guayaquil, there are daily flights connecting Ecuador with cities across the Americas and in Europe. Direct flights from the US cities of Miami, Houston, Atlanta, and New York arrive every day. From Europe there are direct flights coming in both Paris and Madrid. After on mainland Ecuador, passengers carry on to one of 2 airports in the Galapagos Islands. The second airport is located on San Cristobal Island. Flights from Quito and Guayaquil fly there daily bringing people into the enchanting islands. From the airports at the Galapagos, passengers move to their cruises or resorts in the port towns of their islands. When booking a cruise in the Galapagos, it is highly recommended to book your flights together with the cruise. This ensures an on-time arrival and averts the risk of missing the cruise death. Our expert trip advisors can help you organize every detail of your trip to the Galapagos Islands. Get in touch with them now to book your flights and cruise from Quito or Guayaquil. The trip from Quito the Galapagos is about 2.5 hours, and it requires a bit less time from Guayaquil. Once you get to the mainland, you’re only a few hours away from seeing the blue-footed boobies and tortoises and swimming with sea lions.

Galapagos Facts

A bunch of wildlife, visitors can get up close and personal to some of the planet’s rarest animals. The convergence of three major oceanic waters flow brings an unbelievable mixture of marine life into Galapagos. The endemic Galapagos marine iguana is the only lizard able to float in the ocean. Darwin’s study in Galapagos resulted in the groundbreaking concept of The Origin of Species.

In 1978 UNESCO nominated Galapagos as the very first World Heritage site. The film Captain and Commander was filmed around the islands of Bartholomew and Santiago. The title ‘galapagos’, an old Spanish word for ‘saddle’, was originally used by Bishop Tomas and his team to spell out the giant tortoises but the name stuck. Due to the early presence of both Spanish and English populations in Galapagos, the Islands have both Spanish and English names.

Throughout the five weeks he spent there, he moved to gather plants, stones, insects and birds. He observed the unusual life forms and their adaptations to the harsh environment. He noted it was possible to differentiate which island a tortoise came from by the shape of their own shell. His most well-known study is of the numerous species of finches that prompted his revolutionary theory The Origin of Species, published in 1859.

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