TRAVEL TALES:Enjoying the Galapagos routine

What is on your list of dream trips?

It is always reassuring to realize that you have some goals and that you are actually attaining some. The one we seem to do the best with is our list of dream trips.

Several years ago we took a cruise that was going to take care of three trips that were high on our list of dream trips — the Panama Canal, the Galapagos Islands and Machu Pichu. As it turned out the cruise did stop in Ecuador but not long enough to see Galapagos. This little error was a blessing in disguise because you need at least a week on a specific Galapagos Tour.

The selection of your tour, as always, is complicated by your needs (what things do you like to do?) and your resources (money and time). The good news is that there are Galapagos tours to fit every possible combination of needs and resources. We selected going on a ship called Xpedition.

Xpedition was specially designed and built to operate in the Galapagos. It is a “mini cruise ship” and accommodates nearly 100 passengers. Everything about the ship, service, staterooms, dining, crew and tours are excellent. The ship carries four military-type zodiacs (like the Navy Seals use) that are used to take on two off-ship tours daily. The morning tour leaves at 9 a.m. and the afternoon tour leaves at 3 p.m. The tours offered are either “High, Medium or Low Intensity” and you select which you want. All tours have a tour guide who is an Ecuadorean native, college-trained naturalist.

The daily routine goes like this: Every night the ship moves to a new location, arriving about sunrise. Breakfast at 7 a.m. Your tour leaves at 9 and returns to the ship at noon. The ship moves to a new location while you enjoy a grilled-fresh fish lunch either on the sun deck or some other lunch in the main dining room. Your second tour leaves at 3 p.m. and returns at 6 p.m. You leave and return from the ship’s “fantail,” and upon your return you are always given a cold towel from ice chests. You leave the “fantail” going up to the next deck where you confidently pass through the bar. Cocktails are served and dinner begins in the main dinning room at 8 p.m. At 10 p.m. each evening there is a program in the lounge to discuss the day’s activities and the plans for tomorrow.

We found the ship’s routine great. You had choices as to the level of your activity, and at the same time you were seeing the wonders of the Galapagos. The guides who took you on your tours were not only knowledgeable but were fun and always sharing their personal experiences. The after-dinner sessions in the lounge each evening were really great in answering your questions on what you saw during the day and prepared you for the next day’s adventures.

The other passengers were seasoned travelers of all ages. There were no children, and several people were either coming from or going to serious South American trips. We found our fellow passengers interesting to be with because of their past experiences of places visited and how to travel. Most all of the passengers were taking digital pictures, so this too brought us together.

On our daily tours we had noticed that our guides had their own digital cameras and were taking pictures. At the end of the final dinner on the ship the leader of the guides announced that the guides had a gift for each of us — it was a disc of the hundreds of pictures the guides had been taking each day on our tours. This gift and our own pictures have given us incredible memories of our dream trip to the Galapagos.

is a Newport Beach resident.

runs Thursdays. Have you, or has someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation? Tell us about it in about 400 words, accompanied by photos that do not have the Daily Pilot in them, and send it all to Travel Tales, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; by e-mail to dailypilot@latimes.com.