Galapagos Cruise Tips (Or How to Have a Better Time, Based on What I Did)

I’ll be honest:  I walked into my Galapagos trip with high expectations and very little background knowledge. I’d kinda gotten to the end of my month in Colombia and thought, “Oh man, I really need to start planning if I want to go to the Galapagos!” And after finishing the crazy booking process, I put no more thought into it. Literally.

Instead, I went to Baños to relax. And when the time came, I arrived at the airport in Baltra, checked into to my B&B on the island of Santa Cruz, and reported to the Puerto Ayora docks at the appointed time.

So yeah, in hindsight, there are some things I’d do differently… and things I’d definitely recommend you do too. So I thought I’d share with you my Galapagos cruise tips to make your experience even better!

Get a zoom lens to capture the wildlife!

I feel very meh about my photos from the Galapagos. Shooting with the kit lens (an 18-55 mm) for my Nikon D3300 gave me very little zooming capability. And even though you can get relatively close to the animals, my photos would have been much cooler had I been able to zoom in further.

I felt even worse for those people shooting with just an iPhone! Since it’s a once in a lifetime trip, don’t you want to have awesome, quality photos that you’ll keep forever?! For great wildlife pics, a zoom lens is pretty much essential.

On that note, get a waterproof camera!

Okay, I knew going in that I was lacking this; it’s my own fault. An underwater camera, underwater housing for your camera, or a GoPro would have been a phenomenal tool to have in the Galapagos. With multiple snorkeling sessions daily, you never know what you’ll capture. I’d love to have video of our group playing with the sea lions, colorful shots of all the parrotfish, and actual proof that I swam with sharks! And you KNOW that whole, “Oh, I’ll totally email these photos to you” routine never works out.

However, I will admit that it was nice to have a break from taking photos all the time, especially while marveling at all the sea life swimming around me. It was quite relaxing and supremely beautiful.

And if you don’t believe in the durability of GoPros, a Swedish guy on our cruise acutally found a GoPro on the ocean floor while we were snorkeling. He dove down, grabbed it off the bottom, wiped away the sediment, and plugged it into his computer. Sure enough, all of the previous owner’s videos and photos popped up on the screen. It still worked!

Pack Immodium, Cipro, and sea sickness pills.

I had my shit together on this one. Well, figuratively speaking. And thank goodness.

You may want to have Cipro and Immodium at the ready just in case stomach pains and/or diarrhea arise. The owner of the B&B where I stayed on my first night in the islands told me that many, many people get sick in the Galapagos. I’d gotten used to not drinking the water in many destinations, but he warned me to avoid salads and ice cream too, and he even said not to brush my teeth with the tap water! Well, needless to say, I screwed up somewhere along the way, and I was hit with sharp stomach pains on the second day of my cruise that lasted entirely too long.

Also, though I’m not prone to sea sickness (I actually find the movement of the boat to be oddly soothing), I still purchased these sea sickness pills because they really help you sleep. The boat typically starts moving between islands at night, and it’s pretty hard to sleep when you’re violently rolling around in your tiny cabin bunk listening to the sound of the engine. The pills are available in all of the pharmacies on land and they only cost between 10 and 25 cents apiece.

The beds in my cabin on the ship // One of the many boxes of wine we brought onboard

Buy boxed wine on the islands!

I’m not sure if every cruise crew will be as accommodating as ours, but typically you’re allowed to bring a bottle of wine along even on the most giant cruise ships. And honestly, after the amount I spent on this cruise, I was trying to save money anywhere I could! The Clos brand of boxed wine you find in Ecuador is not bad (seriously!). And at between $8.50 and $10.00 per liter in the Galapagos, it’s way cheaper than the $8 glasses of wine they serve onboard. (If your crew won’t be so kind as to chill your wine for you, just buy the red and sneakily imbibe.) Believe me, you’re going to want to have some evening drinks on the deck.

This seafood market in Puerto Ayora becomes a bustling dinner spot at night

Budget in some buffer days.

I can’t tell you how sad I was to go directly from the boat to the airport on the last day. After serendipitously spending one night in Puerto Ayora before getting on the cruise, I saw how cute the town was and the abundance of fresh seafood there, and I wished I was going back to get to know it a little better. But the Galapagos is expensive! I hear you say. True, but I managed to stay in a private room at the nice and well-located Morning Glory Lodge for $25 a night (little more than the cost of a dorm bed in the city) where I was able to walk to the seafood market down the street for an amazing dinner of whole fried fish.

After discovering the street full of kiosks selling even cheaper fresh seafood (they’d literally throw anything on the grill for you) and roaming the free, beautiful, clean beaches of Tortuga Bay, I just knew that I could’ve made at least one more relaxing, food-filled day out of Santa Cruz Island.

Tables line the street and there’s so much fresh lobster everywhere…

On the kiosk street, they’ll throw these seafood stews on the grill for you – shrimp, octopus, shellfish…

Any Galapagos tips that surprised you? Any that you’d add?