Andes mountain in Ecuador

“We loved so many things that occurred during our visit to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, but I will share a few.

Our first night aboard the Petrel, we moved from San Cristobal to Espanola. When we awoke in the morning, there was a sea lion on the top deck. We failed to get a picture, but subsequently got a picture of the hitchhiking frigate bird. Our grandchildren are writing a story as part of our travel log entitled, “Hitchhikers in Evolution.”

Frigatebird in the Galapagos

I was incredulous when snorkeling on Bartolome and suddenly seeing a Galapagos penguin dart past me and grab a small reef fish.

Swimming with penguins in the Galapagos

I was delighted to watch the grandchildren as they listened attentively to the guide and performed activities, such as snorkeling and kayaking, that they did not regularly perform. I loved learning about eco-friendly agriculture from Reyna Illingworth on the Illingworth coffee farm.

Finally, I loved the tour of the mangrove lagoon on the north side of Santa Cruz, seeing many forms of wildlife swimming or wading in the lagoon, and especially seeing a flock of blue-footed boobies flying over the lagoon and diving on the small bait fish in the shallow water. It was a Walden Pond experience.”

—  Bernard Hindman | Classic Galapagos: The Natural Habitat Experience | July 2017

Galapagos Walden Pond

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Dancing aboard the Petrel in the Galapagos

All photos by Bernard Hindman.