Why the Galapagos is the Ultimate Family Vacation

All kids love animals and all kids want to have fun. There are few places more fun than the Galapagos Islands, because it is the best place on the planet for kids to safely get close to animals in the wild. Even teens are disarmed by the amazing animal encounters they experience while on nature hikes, snorkeling or kayaking. As a grandparent there's nothing like watching your grandkids marvel at a hundred year old ET-like tortoise or delight at a sea lion pup licking their toes! That is until you find yourself eye to eye with a young sea lion blowing bubbles in your snorkeling mask or watching an unconcerned green sea turtle glide past you as you effortlessly float above an underwater pasture. Abundant shoals of colorful tropical fish that grow large in the rich Galapagos waters await the whole family on our twice daily snorkeling outings. We supply wetsuits and snorkeling gear for everyone.

When you get back aboard your yacht, you'll have another treat waiting for you…an oversized hot tub designed to warm up everyone in the family at the same time. Your home away from home in adventure paradise is your own 32 passenger expedition vessel, the M/V Evolution. The Evolution is designed to evoke the richness of Golden Age of Travel along with all the modern amenities including its state of the art navigation. From spacious cabins, each with its own on suite bathroom, to the common spaces like the indoor and outdoor dining rooms, main salon and sky lounge, there is plenty of room to spread out. Kids like to congregate in the main saloon during down time to play board games. You can choose between the sun deck, the outdoor dining room, the library, or have a drink of in the sky lounge.

An ultimate vacation must include an awesome guide. Our expert Galapagos National Park guides are just that and are both kid and adult friendly. One of our travelers put it this way, “I have never met such a brilliant nature guide. He has an affinity to the ecosystems that would be hard to beat and combines his natural ability, university education, passion and love for his islands into a world class guiding and education style.” The Evolution typically offers two guides during each voyage along with a cruise director serving as your concierge. You also have two dinghies for excursions.

All the above may sound good, but for Mom an ultimate family vacation has to include things like no cooking or cleaning backed by pampering and relaxation. Your cabin and on suite bathroom are cleaned twice daily during the voyage by, “a crew that knocks themselves out to treat the guests like royalty,” according to another passenger. Many vacations require you to constantly unpack, repack and move to the next destination, which is more work than vacation. Aboard the Evolution you move in once and then you're set for the week. You don't have to worry about travel logistics or getting to the next destination. Your captain and crew see to that for you while you're fast asleep in your cabin. Not only do you awaken to the smell of hot pancakes and fresh coffee (or whatever breakfast you desire) ready and waiting in the dining room, you'll also find that you have a front row seat to your next island landing site where you are already anchored. You'll never go hungry during your voyage with snacks and three square meals a day featuring a combination of both local Ecuadorian and international dishes (which have been written up on the web) from our full time chef and kitchen staff. For kids who are picky there are usually three choices of main courses at each meal and our chef can whip up kid favorites like pizza.

We haven't forgotten about Dad either. The Evolution offers a nightly happy hour in our outdoor sky lounge along with whale, dolphin and giant sting ray watching as the sun sets out over the Pacific. After dinner the whole family will enjoy cuddling up on the great wrap around sofa in the main saloon as your guide goes over the next day's animals and activities so that everyone knows what to expect when it comes to the terrain and landings. You can stay up watching DVDs on the saloon's large flat screen TV, including award winning series on the Galapagos.

There are few places where everyone in the family can do the same thing at the same time and have the same amount of fun and then go off into their own space for some enjoyable down time. That's why we hope to welcome you to the Galapagos Islands aboard the M/V Evolution.