dileep Posted November 2, 2008 Author #26 Share Posted November 2, 2008 LOL...Our pre-cruise docs showed that we would be on MV Flamingo but when we arrived in Guayaquil we learned we were actually on MV Eric. No biggie since the vessels are identical. We shadowed MV Letty for most of our trip but never saw MV Flamingo at all. :D:D We had no idea which boat we were going to be on until we checked in in Quito. The Flamingo shadowed us the whole way. The Sky Dancer (for scuba divers) was with us in some places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted November 3, 2008 Author #27 Share Posted November 3, 2008 We studied Lonely Planet's Watching Wildlife - Galapagos Islands to read about the various islands and what you see where. This allowed us to pick our must see islands - Tower, Espanola, North Seymour. Then it was a matter of finding a reputable tour company that had a decent ship and an itinerary that visted those islands. I highly recommend the book if you are seriously considering visiting the Galapagos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted November 4, 2008 Author #28 Share Posted November 4, 2008 http://www.ecuaworld.com/galapagos/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldsc Posted November 7, 2008 #29 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Sorry, but it is weird (or even dishonest) that 2 pages about the same itinerary are not consistent! If you only read the first page and booked it, you would feel "cheated". We had a glass bottomed kayak, but it was not very good. I do not snorkel either. If you are dumb enough to book a trip after reading only 1 page of a multipage trip description, you deserve anything that happens to you. DON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted November 7, 2008 Author #30 Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) If you are dumb enough to book a trip after reading only 1 page of a multipage trip description, you deserve anything that happens to you. DON there is such a thing called false advertising! Edited November 7, 2008 by dileep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldsc Posted November 8, 2008 #31 Share Posted November 8, 2008 there is such a thing called false advertising! Even big ship cruises do not always go where advertised. If you do adventure cruising, the destination depends upon conditions and the best knowledge of the captain. We did an Antarctica cruise and changed our landing sites several times because of weather. If you want to be sure where you will be at any time, do a week at a Mexican all-inclusive. DON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jade13 Posted November 8, 2008 #32 Share Posted November 8, 2008 (edited) Even big ship cruises do not always go where advertised. If you do adventure cruising, the destination depends upon conditions and the best knowledge of the captain. We did an Antarctica cruise and changed our landing sites several times because of weather. If you want to be sure where you will be at any time, do a week at a Mexican all-inclusive. DON Don, I agree. We went with Metropolitan Touring (owns a few ships) and were on the Santa Cruz (loved it) and there were many changes. I knew beforehand because I was in direct contact with the company, but some did not. First, the Baltra airport was closed for renovations so we did not go to Balta. Second, there was a Volcano on Fernandina Island so we did not go there either. We did however go to a few places that seem to be rarely visited by tourists and each and every Island had different species found nowhere else in the World. Dileep is not correct regarding only really small ships going to Tower Island (perhaps rules have changed), so in a way it sounds like that company could be using that as a sales tactic if they are telling prospective clients that only their small yacht can go to Tower (which by the way was not at the top of our list of favorite Islands it did have a lot of birds, but for our interests our first choices would include the two Islands with the tortoise breeding centers). I thought it more interesting that Dileep did not know which boat they would be on until they checked in. That wouldn't work for most people. Edited November 8, 2008 by Jade13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted November 8, 2008 Author #33 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I thought it more interesting that Dileep did not know which boat they would be on until they checked in. That wouldn't work for most people. Letty, Flamingo, and Eric are identical (of course with small differences) and I did not care which of the 3 boats we would be on. The itinerary was identical too. We did know which stateroom we had on which deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jade13 Posted November 8, 2008 #34 Share Posted November 8, 2008 We did know which stateroom we had on which deck. Well, that's good :) We always book a specific stateroom too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheelbelle Posted December 3, 2008 #35 Share Posted December 3, 2008 dileep, Thank you for posting all of this. 3 friends and I are booked on one either the Eric, Flamingo or Letty [the travel agency has not assigned us to a specific yacht yet] in May 2009. We will be doing this portion of our trip after doing Machu Picchu and the Amazon in Peru. We cannot wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted December 5, 2008 Author #36 Share Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) dileep,Thank you for posting all of this. 3 friends and I are booked on one either the Eric, Flamingo or Letty [the travel agency has not assigned us to a specific yacht yet] in May 2009. We will be doing this portion of our trip after doing Machu Picchu and the Amazon in Peru. We cannot wait! We did not know which ship we were on until we were at the airport in Quito. The Eric was refurbished while we were out on the Letty, and the Letty is being refurbished now. You will have a great time. Take some Meclzine with you if you think you may get sea sick. all my pictures are now at http://community.webshots.com/user/dileepann long videos of Peru and Galapagos at http://everydayexplorers.nationalgeographic.com/search-results.php?keywords=dileep&search-categories=All+Videos&submit=%3CSPAN%3ESearch%3C%2FSPAN%3E Edited December 5, 2008 by dileep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheelbelle Posted December 13, 2008 #37 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Dileep, I don't snorkel either. Was that an issue for you regarding things to do? Also, re: "wet landings"--would Teva sandles be okay for that? I would assume it would be as they are good for kayaking etc. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted December 14, 2008 Author #38 Share Posted December 14, 2008 (edited) Dileep, I don't snorkel either. Was that an issue for you regarding things to do? Also, re: "wet landings"--would Teva sandles be okay for that? I would assume it would be as they are good for kayaking etc.Thanks! We had a good time even though we do not snorkel. We were glad that we bought Keen sandals similar to Tevas. They are the best for wet landings and walking on the lava rocks. Don't leave home without them! Make sure to take the ones with closed toes. Edited December 14, 2008 by dileep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted December 16, 2008 Author #39 Share Posted December 16, 2008 I had posted slideshows before, but now I have real videos San Cristobal Genovesa Genovesa Darwin Bay Isabela Fernandina Bartolome North Seymour Santiago Chinese Hat Santa Cruz Espanola - Gardner Bay http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuiNlNw0tKE Espanola - Point Suarez http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRX6ZiSpauk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheelbelle Posted January 11, 2009 #40 Share Posted January 11, 2009 dileep, Were you in Peru before your Galapagos cruise? If so, did you do any hiking on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted January 11, 2009 Author #41 Share Posted January 11, 2009 dileep,Were you in Peru before your Galapagos cruise? If so, did you do any hiking on the Inca trail to Machu Picchu? Yes, we went to Peru first and we did not have time for any hiking and besides I am not in good enough shape for it. We lost a day due to a strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheelbelle Posted January 16, 2009 #42 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Thanks, dileep. I was just going to ask about hiking boots, etc. I will go to another forum to ask that. How were your hotels in Lima and in Quito and any other cities you visited? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted January 19, 2009 Author #43 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Thanks, dileep. I was just going to ask about hiking boots, etc. I will go to another forum to ask that. How were your hotels in Lima and in Quito and any other cities you visited? Hotel in Lima was OK but noisy. The one in Quito was fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted April 13, 2010 Author #44 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosewood jo Posted September 5, 2014 #45 Share Posted September 5, 2014 going in may 2015 on the Isabella 2 and soooo excited...any tips or packing advice...watched all your videos!!!!! great thanks...jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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