Just back from the most amazing 5-day, 4-night Eastern Island cruise on the Bonita motor yacht and 2 days on Santa Cruz.
We are in our 50's and travelled with 2 adult kids and 1 teen kid.
Booked last November with Happy Gringo. Found their website particularly good as we could filter our search to include only boats that had triple cabins (usually it will cost extra to take a single cabin and we needed to accommodate 5). Can filter by dates, cruise length, itineraries and cost. We opted for 5 days as it was expensive to pay for 5 persons! Company were excellent and replied to all emails and what's-apps immediately. I only used the company for the cruise. I booked the rest myself.
Flew Dublin-Amsterdam-Quito with KLM. Spent first night in Hacienda Jimenita near Quito airport. It was beautiful and I felt I had arrived in an oasis of calm. We rented the Mirandes house as it could accommodate 5 of us. llamas in grounds, hummingbirds at breakfast and fantastic food. So peaceful there. We had time the second day to take a taxi into the historical centre of Quito and it was great. Had a fantastic lunch in the Hotel Plaza Grande.
We had to fly to Guayaquil on our second night as Quito runway was closed for renovations and we needed to make sure we would get to Galapagos to catch our boat. We stayed in the Wyndham Garden at the airport. It felt safe and was clean. Opposite a huge US style mall.
Flew early next day to Baltra and boarded our boat with 11 others. It was fantastic. Had one double room on top deck and one triple cabin below deck. Very spacious and clean cabins. Crew were brilliant. Guide, Victor Hugo, was first class. He spoke in England and Spanish and was so knowledgable. Always in the water with us and showed us everything. Visited Santa Cruz islands, Floreana, Espanola, San Cristobal and back to Bachas beach on Santa Cruz. Snorkelled 1-2 times a day and hiked most days. Always met back on-board after our trips by the amazing Diana with snacks and warm drinks. The food was excellent and the whole crew took our safety very seriously.
Saw everything we wanted to see including the Waved Albatross's mating and with their chicks. Blue-footed Boobies and their chicks. Flamingos, Pelicans, Frigate birds. Hammerhead sharks, white-tipped sharks. Swam with turtles and sea-lions. Loads of marine iguanas and all types of land iguanas. Giant tortoises in the Highlands. Even saw a solo penguin in Floreana (much to my delight!).
Bonita had long wetsuits. We wore rash vests under them but were not cold-ever. We even snorkelled one day off the beach in our swimsuits and it was lovely! I agonised over getting reef-safe sun cream. I found boots sol-tan the best, even though I had Blue lizard with me (too thick and white). In the end, used vey little sun screen as we were protected with the wetsuits and temps weren't that high. Did not get sea-sick once (none of us!). We had brought loads of meds but didn't need them. We had one rough crossing one night between Floreana and Espanola but no-one got sick. Interestingly the kids in the triple cabin below deck didn't even notice the rough crossing. They had a lot of engine noise but actually liked it- more white noise for them! Bonita had free Kayaks and SUP's which we used one afternoon. Had walking poles for hikes and ponchos for rain (it only rained briefly one day). It was a really exciting trip. Met lots of lovely people on the boat and had the nicest crew and guide we could wish for. Really good wi-fi on board and everyone could be connected if they wanted to be! I had purchased a global e-sim from Airalo which worked really well everywhere. Rest of family used boat wi-fi if they wanted to.
Highly recommend the Bonita- it had everything and more. Espanola was definitely a highlight and it was great to see the amazing waved Albatross and their chicks.
We spent 2 days in Porta Ayora at the Acacia Hotel at the end. This was really chill and great after the cruise. We spent the time relaxing, eating in nice restaurants and also went to the Charles Darwin Research Centre to see the tortoise hatchery as I knew this was not included in our cruise itinerary. We also walked to Tortuga Bay and got the water taxi home.
Amazing trip. We then flew back to Quito and directly to San Jose in Costa Rica for a week- which was equally amazing!
