Advice needed for Galapagos Islands and Antarctica

denismulcahy

Hi All,

Im traveling around South America for just over 3 months and im trying to finalise my route, but the 2 main things i want to see while im over their is the Galapagos Islands and Antarctica.

I looking for advice on the cheapest was of doing these has anyone here every done them. I know with the Galapagos flying myself is the cheapest way and try to bargain a boat. Any other advice from someone who has done this and with Antarctica i have never met anyone who has done this so any advice would be great, and i know the 2 of these things will not be cheap but i don't know if i will ever be in that part of the world again.

Thanks Guys

dory

One way of doing Galapagos a bit cheaper is to hang around Quito until a deal comes up. I was there around Christmas and lots of deals were popping up (people must have been staying home for the holidays). A week's trip was $999 which is pretty good.

As for Antarctica, you can't do much hanging around here because Ushuaia is freezing! I found a free trip online by going to a yacht crewing website and finding a guy with a boat looking for someone to crew around there. I couldn't go because he wanted someone for 6 months. It's a very long shot but worth a try.

cailinoBAC

I was going to go to Antarctica, to do the classic antarctica trip. It was the cheapest I found at $3500 in a triple in November or March. But first the dollar strengthened, then they added a fuel surcharge of $580, then when I contacted them the berths in triple were gone and in a twin it was $5100 (plus surcharge) and I just couldn't justify it any more. There was so much else I could do with that money. So I'll just have to leave it for another time, hopefully before it's totally mainstream though!
Still want to do galapagos though. Have to do more research. Saw something about this website www.happygringo.com. Going to check it out myself.

tea

I went to Antarctica at the end of the 2006 season (Feb '06). What they told me is that the ships are least likely to fill at that time (along with early November) (the very start and very finish of the seasons).

If you're determined, you could head to Ushuaia around late Feb and wander up to the offices of the companies themselves (only some of the ships have offices there though) with a pile of USD cash. If they ships aren't full, they will take pretty much any reasonable offer for a bed on it, as long as you promise not to tell anyone what you paid. Caveat: Some seasons are very busy, and at those times you could wait weeks and not find a ship at all, at any price.

All that said, I've not done it myself, but that was coming from the people who worked on the ship. Plus, as the ship wasn't full, I later found out that they'd sold 6 beds on it for less than half the lowest advertised price to walk-ins a few days before departing.

Ritchi

How much would you expect the Galapagos to cost? And how long would someone spend there. I've seen flights there for about $400 or so from Quito.

fits

Flights to the Galapagos are 380 dollars. Theres pretty much no variation in that. That is the rate. It was 5 months ago anyway it may have gone up since.

If I were you and you're not too stuck for time. I'd fly out there and try to get on a cruise from the main port. There will be people going around asking you if you want to join a cruise and there are several agencies based in the main town (forget its name). edit:just checked. Main town is Peurto Ayora and you need to fly into Baltra for there.

One thing to watch out for though is that your flight back works out with the cruise as there are two airports, and the cruise might drop you off on a different island.

I got a fairly cheap deal in Quito but I reckon you could do it cheaper the way I've suggested. My cruise was 750 dollars for 4 days on a first class boat. Then the flights were 380 and the 'entrance tax' to the islands was another 100 dollars.

Feel free to ask me more if you've any questions.

It also might be worth in addition to the cruise, to take a ferry and stay on some of the other islands. Isabella is supposed to be lovely. Puerto Ayora was even quite nice. the tortuga Bay beach was just beautiful tbh.

0utpost31

Any special equipment needed for antarctica?