This was a terrific trip.
Galapagos Islands
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Feb 2 - Feb 13, 2026
This was a terrific trip. From a logistics perspective, everything ran very smoothly. The transfers were arranged and happened as they should. People met us when they were supposed to meet us. Everyone was friendly and lovely. Ariel answered all of my (many) questions quickly, accurately and with great patience. It never took more than 30 minutes to hear back from him no matter what time of day I sent my message. (I never expected him to answer at any time of day or night - I was just sending my questions as I thought of them). The only slight issue was that I have food restrictions and the chef on the boat didn't seem to know that. Once I brought it to their attention, he made sure that I had something to eat at every meal.
Jose was our guide in Quito and he was a pleasure - very knowledgeable and flexible. His English is excellent.
After Quito we were on the ship Anahi for a week in the Galapagos where Luis was our guide. I cannot commend the crew of the Anahi enough. Happy and friendly and very hard working. The boat was always sparkling clean, there were ample towels, they were snacks waiting for us when we would return from a hike or a snorkel. Everyone was very knowledgeable about the wildlife in the Galapagos and went above and beyond to ensure that we got the most out of our experience there.
Luis was a great guide - like everyone on the ship, he's local and that makes a big difference. He was also very knowledgeable and energetic. He did all the hikes and dives with us, even when he wasn't feeling well one day. He was available any time we needed him for anything and always smiling.
I would highly recommend using KimKim and sailing on the Anahi
Hotel Reviews
The hotel was clean and lovely. It included breakfast which had lots of options. The staff were friendly and helpful and the location was very good.
Everything about this ship was great. It holds 16 passengers which is a great number for a trip like this. We were on and off the boat frequently so there was no waiting in line for a tender ever. We had 2 zodiacs and were able to embark and disembark in no time. There was a dining area for our meals, an indoor 'living room' near the dining area, an outdoor partially covered bar and sitting area as well as a lounge area up top. The lounge area could get very hot so we weren't up there much. The food was plentiful and good.
Activity Reviews
This was very fun. All the 'experiments' on the equator. We also learned a bit about the indigenous population. Our guide spoke English fairly well but she spoke quickly and was hard to understand at times because of the accent.
The itinerary changed and we didn't actually go here.
We hiked to Sierra Negra volcano which was amazing to see. The hike wasn't hard at all but it was about 6 km.
The panga ride to the nuke was amazing - we saw so many birds and lizards - marine iguanas, penguins, flightless cormorant, blue footed boobies, pelicans. The hike itself was a bit challenging. It was all irregular lava rock with lots of cracks and crevices. It was also very very hot up there
Great snorkelling - awe saw sea turtles, penguins, sardine balls and a ton of fish. It rained very hard after the snorkel so our afternoon hike was cancelled as it was very steep and slippery after the rain and wouldn't have been safe, We watched a Disney movie about sea ions instead!
The walk in the morning was fine. e saw a couple of fur seal pups but not much else. The snorkeling after that was amazing, Warm calm waters, tons and tons of fish - it was like swimming in an aquarium. We also saw sharks, sea turtles, flightless comerants swimming, marine iguanas eating.
More of the same amazing things - penguins, sea ions, giant sardine balls, blue footed boobies from the panga. We also went kayaking and snorkling. Again it was like being in an aquarium - so many fish, sharks, star fish etc
This island houses several icons Galapganian bird as well as many many sea lions. It did small a it like kitty litter because of that but there was so much to see
It was interesting to see but I feel like it was all things we could have learned while seeing the tortoises out in the wild
this was a long walk over lava fields. The main attraction here was the marine iguanas although there were some seal ions and lots of Sally lightfoot crabs. There were hundreds and hundreds of marine igunanas and we learned a lot about them. We did some terrific snorkeling that same morning too
Very interesting and it's always fun to learn about a new city and culture. There were just too many churches in the tour - lots of amazing architecture but too many
We did a panga ride around the mangrove lagoons which was great. We saw a ton of wildlife there and the weather was perfect.
Zodiak ride was great - saw some cool cliffs, caves and birds, The snorkelling was good too but to as good as some other spots. Later in the day we crossed the equator and got to go to the bridge to watch the latitude change to 0.0.0
The market was fun as was seeing and learning about the cities and villages along the way. We had a short boat ride around the lake.
Beautiful island with red sand. We saw pink flamingos, did a fairly easy hike to a beautiful view. Sea lions playing at the shore line.
This was amazing but hard. The views are spectacular and it's a great sense of accomplishment to make it to base camp. But the air was thin for someone coming from sea level, even though we'd been in Quito for a few days by then. The walk u to base camp was hard work
We did a short walk around the area - lots of giant tortoises and land iguanas. We learned a lot about both species. we also did a quick snorkel at the beach. There wasn't a ton to see in the water but it was nice and refreshing. There were some sea Lions, pelicans and iguanas on the beach
Amazing snorkling - swam with sea lions
So many Giant tortioses! And they're really big! The lava caves were also very cool
