Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
The Origin is the newest boat in the Galapagos and is AMAZING!
- More about your Oliver Guide: Caren Orum
- Trip type: Family, Beach
- Activity level: moderate
- Ideal length of trip: 7 DAY BOAT TRIP PLUS TRAVEL DAYS
to & from
Do it better than us! (We booked late and didn’t have a lot of options.) We went SFO-Houston-Quito with a stay over; then on to Guayaquil and the Galapagos. If I had to do it again, I’d fly to Guayaquil and stay over there. The altitude (9,500 ft.) nearly killed us in Quito. It was nice to see the city but not enough to make up for the lack of sleep/oxygen. Our boat-mates who stayed in Guayaquil had a great stay there. It’s actually the biggest city in Ecuador. When looking at itineraries, don’t forget Copa Airlines (a partner of United).
Where to Stay
We booked through Geo Ex. They were fantastic and handled all of our land arrangements, guides, etc. The tour company who ran our boat is Eco Ventura. They have three boats: the Eric, the Letty and the Origin. The Origin is the newest boat in the Galapagos and is AMAZING! All three of these boats hold 20 passengers and about 11 crew members. The Origin is very high service (I’m sure the others are too). Our cabins were spacious and were cleaned three times a day, and there was laundry service which proved essential! My cousin was on a boat called the Eclipse (40 passengers) and loved it. That boat is being renovated right now, so it will be worth checking out. Everyone thinks their boat is the best, but ours was! 🙂 Did I mention it’s brand new and has a hot tub?? 🙂