WanderingWhy…

We apologize to everyone for taking so long to post. Access has been fairly limited and when we finally found decent access yesterday we spent most of it responding to emails explaining why we haven’t posted. We didn’t realize we had such a fan base! Thanks to everyone for following along and reading our stories–it means a lot.

So, we have spent the last 2 weeks in the Galapagos islands!! A dream come true. I never thought I would see these islands… most people probably have no idea where they are and it seems like a place you would use to describe something really far away–like Timbuktu. It’s tough to put our experiences there into words, let alone one post.

The Galapagos islands are touristy, hyped-up, and very expensive. This is all true. It is also true they are worth every single cent. We spent half of all the total amount of money on this trip so far just in the last two weeks there. It hurt but it was worth it. The islands are best seen by getting yourself on a live-aboard boat. We could have tried to cheap out here but there is the risk of a crappy boat breaking down. So since you are already spending the kids college tuition (and why the hell not? you had loans didn’t you?), you may as well bump up a few hundred bucks more and get a good boat.

Being sick the week before the trip gave us time to shop around. The CarpeDM travel agency was located inside the hostel we stayed at, so we got some base pricing and shopped around hard. After all our research, we came back around and spoke with Paul at CarpeDM. We can’t say enough good about this new company–straight forward and honest, very helpful and not the least bit pushy, I wish all travel agents and salesmen were like this. Being sick it was really pleasant not to have to deal with the “If you sign up today before this amazing deal is gone forever and you never see another one like it you’ll get an additional 10% off and your wife won’t think you are a loser.” type of sales bullshit. Paul is a good honest guy and we wish him much success with his new business. If you do ever go to the islands, don’t book it from the States as the rates are already 50% cheaper here without shopping around.

So, we got a great deal on a first class 8-day trip aboard the gorgeous “Nemo I” catamaran. Smaller boats are the way to go with more access to your guide for questions and not having to “tender-in” to the islands which really sucks in my opinion. We were very fortunate as our boat normally held 12 guests but there were only of 8 of us. But being on a small boat you hope to get along with everyone living in such close quarters for the week.

Everyone on the boat got along great–so great that most of us continued to travel together after the cruise was over. Among us was a couple from the UK, Jerry and Sue, doing a little travel in Ecuador. A fellow American, Tony, from Maryland, achieving a 25 year dream goal of seeing the islands. A young couple from Australia (big surprise to run into some Aussies wandering outside of OZ–NOT!), Mark and Ruth, also doing some extended travel like ourselves. And Tamar, a dutch girl about our age also traveling long term–and solo! Gotta admire that.

I’ll go into more detail of our experiences in a later post, but typically our days on board we were all spoiled very nicely. Usually we were up early and exploring an island with our Naturalist, Juan Carlos, before the heat and other crowds showed up. Before or after lunch we usually had a snorkeling session. Somewhere in there we usually got a nap during the heat of the day, and then explored a second island before dinner and some nice conversation among us. A lifestyle you could really grow into to say the least.

The morning we left the boat Dawn was a bit misty-eyed and heavy-hearted. That’s when you know you’ve had one of the memorable times of your life. Much like a drug-addict chasing the first high or a relationship that’s near it’s end, if you tried to do it again it just wouldn’t be the same. It’s better to leave the great memory alone and not taint it…. and great memories–that’s what life is all about.

Bookmark To: