Galapagos Islands visitors Bureau

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Galapagos cruise trip really should be high on almost all peoples destination checklist. For many, the Galapagos Islands brings a prodigious amount of interest to those seeking one of the handful of surviving awesome fauna encounters on this planet. With its ferocious, organic beauty and remarkable fauna, the isolated Galapagos Islands should be visited by cruiser, and more specifically, a high-class cruise giving the best level of accommodation on board. Traveling in a Galapagos small catamaran ensures that you will gain access to several of the best visitor sites, some of which are closed to greater cruise lines.

When is the right time to travel to the Galapagos?

Because of the confluence of cool water currents from the west, the Galapagos islands has an strange dry and gentle climate for the tropics and it is generally classified as sub-tropical. As a result Galapagos travel a year-round holiday choice. Galapagos temperature is considered equatorial, cooled down because of the Humboldt Current, and is also recognized by two principal seasons:

The warm, wet period

Late December to June is considered the warm and wet period, with March and April usually actually being the hottest and wettest weeks. Close to December, the trade winds fall down and the weather equator shifts south towards the Galapagos, creating the westward-flowing current to slow down, minimizing the upwelling and letting hotter water coming from the Panama Current to wash the archipelago. Galapagos weather conditions are known by rain clouds which form in the event the inversion breaks down, and the air gets warm and rises, producing regular mid-day rains. Even during this season; interestingly, the low levels receive restricted rain.

The colder, dry season

This time of year, also known as the “garua season” runs from later part of the June to December, when it is relatively dry and cool with increased cloudier atmosphere and periodic drizzle or mist (garua) during the day. August is the coolest month. During this dry season, Galapagos conditions are relaxing, water temperature is lower and you will find generally clouds around the greater hills. Line of sight is normally reduced in the water because of plankton, but this mix of conditions brings in a much bigger action in water and food is abounding. Simply because Galapagos weather conditions are not very hot during this time of year, it is also the breeding period for a lot of sea birds and shore birds, marine iguanas, sea lions and fur seals.

The Galapagos Islands are probably the most well-known wildlife-watching destination on the planet.

This remote archipelago is a land of lava formations, cactus forests, lush green highlands, turquoise bays and quintessential tropical beaches. However, best of all, it is overflowing with wildlife at every turn. Within minutes -sometimes seconds- of landing onto this dot in the center of the Pacific Ocean, you can be face-to-face using more strangely fearless and curious creatures than anywhere else on Earth.

Roughly 620 miles from the coast of Ecuador, and slap-bang on the equator, Darwin’s “Enchanted Isles” consist of a bunch of 13 “appropriate” volcanic islands (larger than four square miles) and six smaller islands along with at least a hundred islets. Each one has its own unique atmosphere, identifying landscape and inimitable wildlife.

You may see everything from penguins living in the tropics and boobies with glowing blue feet to tool-using woodpecker finches and man frigate birds turning their wrinkled throat sacs into extraordinary, fully inflated red balloons. One day you could be seeing time-worn giant tortoises from the misty highlands, and the next you could be snorkeling with sea lions from crystal-clear water. You might be sunbathing on black lava rocks adjacent to prehistoric-looking marine iguanas or sitting with waved albatrosses as they perform their bill-circling, swaggering courtship displays (they look quite like Samurai warriors doing Lord of the Dance).

There really is nowhere else quite like it.

All this said, 170,000 vacationers visited the Galapagos past year therefore, not surprisingly, it is beginning to feel a little crowded. It is a high-profile location and lots of individuals want to view it for themselves. The consequence of such an attack is that wildlife tourism is much more closely controlled in the archipelago than anyplace else in the world. You’re only permitted to visit tiny pockets of this federal park, so you can disembark (from small boats) only at predetermined landing areas, you must walk just on clearly marked paths in strictly disciplined little groups, and you must come with local certified guides. Regulating tourism with this kind of military efficiency might feel intense, but it is vital under the circumstances. Ultimately, however, there needs to be a limit and at the long run, visitor numbers will have to be capped.

How to Get to the Galapagos Islands</h3

The Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport at Guayaquil (GYE) receives flights from U.S. cities of Miami and New York, European cities of Amsterdam and Madrid, and important cities of Central and South America. Mariscal Sucre International Airport of Quito (UIO) receives flights in the U.S. via Atlanta, Houston and New York; from Europe through Madrid and Amsterdam; also out of many Big cities in Central and Southern America. We advise you to arrive at Ecuador at least two times before your Galapagos Cruise begins and grab your international flight home at least two days after your stay in the Galapagos. It’s possible to take benefit of these two times by visiting Quito, Guayaquil, or their environment. Once you’ve your flight to mainland Ecuador, becoming to the Galapagos Islands is simple. Located nearly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Ecuador’s coast, the only way to travel is by airplane. Whether from Quito or Guayaquil, there are numerous flights every day that take passengers into the archipelago. You can land on Baltra Island or at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island. TAME, AVIANCA and LAN are the airlines which run these paths. If you’re flying from Quito, you will almost certainly have a brief stop in Guayaquil on your way into the islands. Reserve your Galapagos tour before you buy flight tickets to ensure correct dates. Check with your Galapagos tour or cruise company for advice on booking your flight to the Galapagos including optimum arrival times to the Islands according to cruise/program plans.

Many visitors visiting Galapagos are amazed to be greeted by desert-like vegetation–many are expecting a continuation of the lush greenery they witnessed on mainland Ecuador. In reality, nearly all the archipelago’s land area is covered by the brown and gray vegetation frequently located in deserts. The Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Dry Belt, and in average years only the greatest altitudes of the larger islands receive enough rain to support tropical vegetation.

The flora of Galapagos can be grouped into three significant vegetation zones: the coastal zone, the more arid zone, and the humid highlands.

Coastal plants are found in the narrow zone near the shore and are distinctive due to their tolerance to sour conditions. Mangrove trees are among the most frequent plants found in this zone, and they serve a significant function since the breeding sites for many birds, like pelicans and frigate birds. They also provide much needed shade areas for iguanas and sea lions, in addition to refuges for sea turtles.

The dry area has become easily the most broad zone in Galapagos and is comprised of plant species that are highly adapted to drought-like states, such as succulent cacti and leafless shrubs that flower and grow leaves only in the brief rainy season.

Located above the dry zones are the very green and lush, humid zones. In parts of the zone, Scalesia trees form an extremely dense forest in the humid zone, using their branches adorned with mosses, liverworts, and epiphytes–non-parasitic plants which use bigger trees just for support. The humid zone is only located on the bigger, higher islands. Nearly all islands in the archipelago don’t rise in elevation over the arid zone.

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