Silver Galapagos - boarding in Baltra

Baltra is the main airport serving the Galapagos Islands, with flights originating from Quito and Guayaquil. Although we booked an independent land tour in Ecuador we opted for Silverseas' pre-cruise hotel, transfers and flights for the Galapagos portion of the trip.

We were up early for our transfer to the Quito airport and our flight to Batra, which stopped in Guayaquil before continuing on to the islands. An advantage to using Silverseas' package is that they handle all of the rather complicated logistics: they have the bag inspection done at the hotel, before the luggage goes to the airport so you don't have to wait for it to be inspected upon arrival. They also take care of obtaining the required park permits and other red tape, of which there is quite a lot. 

Upon arrival in Baltra we all assembled in the airport VIP lounge before our short bus transfer to the "pier", basically a little dock where members of the  expedition staff greeted us and zodiacs shuttled us out the the ship. The luggage was delivered separately to our cabins. Other than a bit of a wait at the airport for the buses the entire operation was quite efficient.

Once everyone was aboard and  we were slightly settled in to our Silver Suite, we attended the welcome briefing with a review of the National Park rules and overview of the coming days, had the life boat drill and then were issued our snorkeling gear and wet suits. 

At 5:30 PM we all came up on deck for "blue booby" champagne cocktails and the sail away, escorted by a large number of frigate birds, swirling around the ship's funnel.


Finally, we gathered a bit later in the Explorer Room for an introduction to the Expedition staff and a briefing on our first island, Genovesa, and then it was off to dinner and a good night sleep.