Goodbye Quito, Hello Galapagos
After breakfast of local fruit at the hotel and mandatory health check, vaccination cards checked, Covid test, blood oxygen check, we headed out for the 45 minute ride to the airport.
Our bags went out last night. Airport security check at the airport was quick and easy. Celebrity made every step very easy. The only limitations for our carry-on - no plastic water bottles (they’re not allowed in the Galapagos), no sharp objects and no fresh fruit but you can bring water in a bottle through security. The chartered flight was delayed 2 hours bringing the previous week’s Flora passengers back from the Galapagos. Our charter flight was direct from Quito to Baltra so we made the 600 miles out to the Galapagos in under 2 hours. Baltra was used as a military base during World War II and has little to offer tourists.. We got through the screening for banned items and waited in the adjoining lounge for our bus to the ship tender dock. As luck would have it, we were last to be called. After a short but very bumpy ride we arrived at the Flora tender dock where we were given life jackets and boarded the small 15 person tenders for the short journey to the ship. Between arrival at the airport we got to see some of the local wildlife. It started to rain just aswe arrived at the Flora.
We were in our beautiful cabin within a few minutes of arrival, had time for a quick lunch and safety drill just in time for a talk by the cruise director/certified Galapagos Naturalist’s on what to expect from the cruise. Being the last tender on the ship we still hadn’t unpacked. We had a short time for that before getting fitted for our snorkeling gear.
Just before dinner there was a captain’s toast and the cruise director’s talk for planning our first day of activities. There were different options to choose from. Tomorrow we will be doing a hike followed by snorkeling in the morning on Santiago Island followed by a tender ride along the coast of Rabida Island and more snorkeling. We ended this day with a nice dinner of local red snapper and Then headed to the room to wind down for the day.
