National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Baltra and North Seymour Islands

From Ecuador

Check photos here.

It was a big trip to Ecuador for most of my family. After all of the really long trips to and from Australia it wasn't as bad for me. It was 4+ hour flight from PHX to Miami and then a long layover and a 4+ hour flight to Ecuador. The unfortunate thing was that the flight from Miami to Ecuador was greatly delayed. We eventually took off and made it to the hotel in Ecuador. It was the Hilton. It was a big change for me being used to the cheapest hotels and hostels. We didn't get much time to enjoy it though. We got in at 2am and our wake up call was for some extra early time like 5am.

It turns out that my brother-in-law, PJ, and nephew, Brody, sleep like the dead. They had the bolt on in their room and either didn't hear the phone or the ringer was off. Poor Erica was pounding on the door trying to wake them but couldn't get them to get up. She eventually got a key from the front desk but because the bolt was on she could only open the door a few inches. That seemed to help and eventually she woke up one of them and got them going in the morning.

We all had breakfast and then assembled to leave for a flight to the Galapagos Island. It was a typical case of hurry up and wait. Eventually we were told the flight was delay and we had until 9am. I went back to the room and slept. Long flights might not get to me but lack of sleep makes me a bit grumpy.

We eventually landed in Baltra on the Galapagos Island and took a "panga" (zodiac) out to the big ship. This in itself was a bit of an adventure - Dad walking with a cane, PJ can't swim, and Austin (age 5 and not an olympic swimmer) given a life jacket that he could swim in. The ship was great. Dad and I shared a "suite". We had lunch, a lifeboat drill and headed out for our first hike on North Seymour Island .

Now I have to say from here on out that the term hike was used throughout the cruise and the word "walk" was a better description. However, whether a walk or a hike the activity was filled with close encounters with animals. Sea lions met us at the spot the pangas dropped us off. We saw male magnificent frigate birds with their large red neck pouches. We also saw blue footed booby birds. The blue footed boobies were doing mating dances and nesting. North Seymour is one of the only Islands with land iguanas. We saw one or two on the island.

It was great that the staff fit in all of the day's activities even though the flight was late.