September sits at the heart of the Galápagos garúa season, the cool, dry half of the year that runs from roughly June through November. It is the month when the Humboldt Current reaches its strongest influence over the archipelago, pushing cold, nutrient-dense water up the western flanks of Isabela and Fernandina and redistributing marine life … Read more
You do not need a tour to snorkel in the Galápagos. That surprises people, because the whole archipelago has a reputation for being locked behind permits and guides, and much of it is. But half the beaches on this list sit within walking distance of a hostel, cost nothing, and hold sea turtles, white-tip sharks … Read more
Most people arrive in Puerto Ayora with a vague plan and about five days. Then a hostel owner, three tour agencies on Avenida Charles Darwin and a guy with a laminated menu all tell them something different, and by dinner the plan is gone. The day tours out of the inhabited islands are not interchangeable. … Read more
A sea lion pup once fell asleep on my dry bag in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno while I was still holding it. Nobody around me looked up. On San Cristóbal that is a Tuesday, and it explains something the brochures never quite land: the species list is not what makes the Galápagos extraordinary. The indifference does. … Read more