Finally time for our honeymoon. Destination: Galápagos!
The honeymoon is supposed to be the ultimate vacation for newlyweds. This created a true first world problem for us. We have had so many great experiences already while travelling, how could we find something that would exceed that?
Although we do not have an official bucket list there are three destinations we often dream about visiting: Antarctica, Angel Falls and the Galápagos Islands. We are not typical beach lovers, but we still thought that a bit of sunshine and heat would be nice on our honeymoon. Antarctica was therefore not the right destination for this trip. Angel Falls is, as some travel geeks (or people who simply love the movie Up!) might know, in Venezuela. And with the political climate being what it is that is not really a place you want to be right now.
Therefore only one destination remained: The Galápagos Islands! But could this place really exceed every single trip we have ever undertaken? In short, the answer surprisingly enough is «yes», let us explain why!
We had already heard that the animals on Galápagos were very tame, but we assumed that the experience would be much like the safaris in Africa where the animals didn’t mind people from a distance but weren’t that eager to come too close either. As we arrived in Galápagos we were transported to the harbour, because would be spending the next week on board a yacht. Immediately after disembarking the bus we saw a pelican resting just a few meters from us. How exciting!
This, it would turn out, was just the beginning. On board the ship we set sail and soon reached Mosquera Island. We were told that here, we could swim with sea lions. In Namibia we found the sea lions reasonably interesting, but also lazy and incredibly smelly. Expectations were therefore not too high for Mosquera Island, but to our surprise the sea lions were acting very differently here. They spent plenty of time in the sea and thus didn’t smell at all. And although people must keep a distance of at least 2 meters from wildlife, no such rules applies to them.
Sea lions are often called the dogs of the sea, and we couldn’t agree more. If you blow bubbles in your scuba mask or splash with your flippers they immediately approach you to play. Tora thought she bumped into someone with her flippers, but it turned out that was just a sea lion biting on to them.
We have never before experienced wildlife this playful and unafraid of humans. It felt a bit like being in a zoo, but with no fences or the feeling of being cordoned off.
Further on the experiences were lined up. The next day we jumped back in the water to snorkle along the coast. First, we encountered a sea turtle. Then, a white tip reef sharp appeared! Have you ever swum with a shark? We’re not talking about cage diving, but actually swimming freely with a shark just a few meters a way.
The iconic animals of the Galápagos Islands just kept on coming. The giant tortoises, marine iguanas and of course blue-footed boobies were spotted in many places.
But visiting the Galápagos Islands is an experience not just limited to the animal wonders. The landscape is also truly remarkable. On every island we visited, the landscape changed drastically, despite being located within just a few kilometers of one another. One was just a white sandy beach with some black rocks. The next one had a lush forest, mountains and a climate like the rain forest. Then, a volcanic island suddenly appeared, that just as well could have been the set for a movie about Mars. And lastly, an island with cacti, dry plains and desert landscapes.
All of this, in a groups of islands with a land area barely half the size of Connecticut.
It is not easy to describe in words what this place feels like. We could say fantastic, amazing and impressive. But those words are not even close to describing what we experienced. Without the intent of making a bragging list we will compare it with what we have experienced while travelling so far and say it like this: We have been among the 500 northernmost people in the world in a Russian ghost town in Svalbard. We have been standing in a wedding dress and tuxedo on Mount Everest Base Camp. We have seen some of the most impressive landscape our mountainous country of Norway has to offer and hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We spent a month in Africa, where we were chased by an elephant, saw the largest waterfall in the world and experienced wildlife like we never had before. We have visited a country with fewer annual tourists than North Korea and seen cultures we previously did not know existed. We have flown a distance equivalent of 10 times around the world in our lifetime and visited nearly a third of all the countries in the world. And among all of this, the best week we have ever had was the one we spent in the Galápagos Islands!
Despite the struggle to put these amazing experiences down in words we will make some attempts in the next few weeks to describe in more detail the adventures of our journey, along with tips for those that want to visit these exotic islands. This article will be updated accordingly with an overview of those writings.
Have you been to the Galápagos Islands yourself or want to go there? Add a comment below with your experiences or something you wish to know about these amazing islands.
