The last stop on our Ecuador tour was the Galapagos Islands. It's been on my husband and my bucket list for a while now and we decided we couldn't travel all the way to Ecuador without going. So we had to decide which boat to go on and how long to go for.
We decided on a ten day tour because that really only equates to a week on the boat. You have a night in Quito on either side of the tour which is included in your day count. Over a week we could go to multiple islands and hopefully see all the animals we wanted to see.
The size of the boat was also a little tricky. We didn't want a tiny boat because I wasn't sure whether I might suffer from seasickness on something so small, but we also didn't want a huge 100+ people boat because we figured it would take ages to get on and off the boat. We settled for the Queen Beatriz which was a catamaran for sixteen people.
Stairs to the second deck
Queen Beatriz
The boat was lovely and the people on it, both crew and fellow passengers, were friendly. Our room was a great size and there were plenty of places on the boat to relax. The second deck had a jacuzzi, the top deck was a sun deck with plenty of chairs, and inside there was a lounge area with a bar.
If I had one word of warning about the boat it is this; the boat travels between the islands at night. This is actually a good thing because the trips can be between 4-7 hours and you don't want to waste daylight hours in transit. However, the sea is not smooth, so it meant the crossings were like being on a rollercoaster, up and down, side to side. Every time we went over a wave we felt like we were falling and then you'd land hard again, on the mattress. And going to the toilet at night was a feat of acrobatics!
Luckily the boat movement didn't make me feel sick, it just wasn't conducive to sleep. Most afternoons, after lunch were spent having an afternoon nap, while we were anchored in the shelter of the islands.
I really think our boat was the perfect size, but if you do get seasick easily, a bigger boat is probably the way to go.
