What company leads the most active trip to the Galapagos? Or which ship/boat/yacht? It seems some have kayaking others do not. Some snorkeling, etc.
Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Keri

Keri, I will be interested to see what replies you get on this. We just planned a Galapagos trip for next November, and our research indicated that the activity levels were similar for many of the cruise ships/boats that ply the waters around the islands. That's because the national park authorities establish the permitted landing sites and and trails, and you can't deviate from that. And I think most of the boats have snorkeling pretty much every day in the itinerary, some more than once.

We ended up booking on a 16-passenger boat called the Integrity, but then also booking a land stay on Isabela Island with a private guide to do some horseback, hiking and snorkeling trips at our own activity level. We planned the trip through Latin Excursions, and they were very knowledgeable and responsive to our priorities for the trip (which pretty much revolve around photography).

Chris

I went with Lindblad on the Polaris. They offered multiple activities and different physical levels every day and their service and organization was outstanding.

Keri, sorry I forgot one other thing with respect to kayaking. Our travel agent told us that the Galapagos park officials have changed the rules about whether kayaks are allowed or not a couple of times recently. She told us that whether kayaking would be permissible when we visit in November 2008 was unknown due to the changing park rules.

Chris

Chris,
Thanks for the all the info. I have been getting confilicting reports on the Kayaking.
The description of your trip is just what we are looking for. We horseback ride whereever we can on vacation. bike,hike, snorkel, kayak, etc.
Since you are an Africa fan - We stayed at Sebora Plains Tented Camp in Tanzania (Serengeti) Their Main Lodge has a Beautiful Equestrian Center. After a pre-ride "sit- down" that made my mouth run dry wondering if we were being idiots putting our lives in danger of lurking predators. Two of us and two guides had a spectacular ride and canter on the plains of the Serengeti". We did see quite an array of wildlife, nothing threatening.

Also want to thank you for your Photography help. The 70-200 2.8 IS was a dream. And the 400 DO was fantastic. Unfortunately I did not take the 400 to the Gorillas. Our friends had 100-400 and a 185-500 so I stuck with the 70-200 and. Loved it.

Back to Galapagos I am emailing Latin Excursions. When in November are you going.

Keri

We are going Mid-November, spending about a week in Ecuador, then arriving in the Galapagos around November 20 or 21, staying rhough about December 4.

The person at Latin Excursions who is the Galapagos Expert is Hannah Shanks. She is very knowledgeable and professional, and we have enjoyed working with her so far.

Where can I find your gorilla pictures? I wish I had taken a 70-200/2.8 for that trip, but we did not own one at the time. But for the Galapagos we are really prepared -- we are taking two bodies, 70-200/2.8, 100-400 and my new baby, the 300/2.8 with TCs, plus a couple of wide-angles.

Chris

I recall Wilderness Travel in CA had a fairly active trip.

Galapagos Travel has an 11-day cruise (not 11 day trip) and a 15-day cruise that give you more time for hiking, snorkeling, and kayaking (pending the kayaking rules).
http://www.galapagostravel.com/

I've done their 11-day trip twice and there was very little down time. Sometimes a couple snorkels a day, hiking in the highlands, etc.

Galapagos Travel used to have a Darwin trip that would hike several miles a day, in addition to the walking to see the animals. I don't see it listed though. You could ask if interested.

Galapagos Travel takes 16 guests.

Chris,
Have not ever posted photos. Maybe with a Mac I can post them easily? Shutterfly?

Atravelynn, thanks for all your reponses. I will check into the Darwin Adventure.

Keri

Keri, there are several photo hosting sites that are popular:

PBase (the one I use)
Smugmug
Snapfish
Shutterfly
Zenfolio

And of course the ubiquitous Kodak Gallery. I know PBase is easy to use -- you just upload pictures through your web browser and then label them as you like. I have heard the others are also relatively easy.

If you get your gorilla pictures up, let me know, as I would love to see them. And let me know what your plans for the Galapagos end up being -- it would be interesting to run into you there!

Chris
www.pbase.com/cwillis

Cheweyhead,

We travel in the same circles--Galapagos, Glacier Bay, Africa. We may just run into each other some day!

We had a very good trip last year with Natural Habitat: http://www.nathab.com/galapagos
Terrific guides, small group, lots of individual attention, comfortable boat. A bit more pricy than some of the others but worth it, in our opinion. We did a lot of snorkling but I don't think there was kayaking available.