Galapagos
Galapagos-A Magical Place
Indeed the Galapagos is magical. So much so that Ecuador has made it much like Disney World. Too well orchestrated. We were only allowed to travel to 4 islands. We did three. Any further traveling a field we would need tour guide. We could walk a few places but the remote stuff one needed to "pay" extra for. That plus visiting hit the cruising kitty hard. To enter and take care of paper work we needed an agent. Once we had the agent the parade of officials ensued. Not only for above the water. They sent a diver out to check underneath the boat. One yacht was told they needed to sail 40 nm away from the islands, clean their boat bottom and then they could return. The question I always ask myself on how it was is: "Would I go again?". In this case the answer is no. Did we enjoy it? Yes. Was it worth the hassle? That might be questionable. The cruisers we met tipped the scales towards a pleasant experience. And of course for greater detail on the Galapagos try our blog.