Galapagos Tour Operator - Adventure Associates
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On my most recent travels, I had the opportunity to discover some of the world’s most incredible wildlife, trace Charles Darwin’s historic voyage, and scuba dive for the first time. While I could have planned the trip myself, I don’t think I would have had nearly the experience if it were not for my Galapagos tour operator, Adventure Associates. Now I don’t want to sound like a big advertisement, but when it comes to Galapagos travel, there are a lot of choices – and this tour operator really took a lot of the hassle and planning out of the trip.
To understand the benefit of a Galapagos tour operator you need to know a few of facts about the island chain:
- Galapagos is both a Marine Reserve and a National park. It is under the strict protection of the Ecuadorian government and has been for over 75 years.
- There are a lot of rules/laws on the Islands that are hard to keep straight. Some rules are common sense (like don’t litter), but other rules include the requirement to always be accompanied by a qualified guide and never walk of the marked trail.
- Most flights do not accept more than 44 pounds (20 kilos) of baggage
Having a tour operator lay out all the information, rules, and packing limits and arrange a custom trip for me was super valuable. They told me for instance that the reason you can't walk outside the markers is that you could unknowingly kill marine iquana eggs, which are buried under the sand.
Ultimately, a tour operator is nice in the way that a cruise is nice: the big decisions are made for you but you can expand and seek advice easily once you arrive at your destination. They set me up with the best places to scuba dive, had a qualified and very funny tour guide show me around the islands, and knew where the neat endemic species could be found. While I do not normally use a tour operator when I travel, the Galapagos Islands are such a unique destination with many rules, that it would have been a headache not to.
Galapagos Penguins
Please do not re-use or redistribute these photos. Thanks!
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Ohh yes, the language barrier can sometimes be frustrating. I found that most tour guides spoke English well, but I did converse in Spanish a lot. My dad is from Ecuador so my Spanish was not too bad, just out of practice. Thanks for reading my hub!
LRobbins 2 years ago
Hi Emme, I would agree with you about using a tour operator. I normally don't do this either but the Galapagos is different. We did a liveaboard which was great and then did a few day tours where the quality was sometimes dismal, i.e. the "tour" consisted of a taxi driver who spoke no English telling you a bit about the sites and I only speak rudimentary Spanish so I agree with you.