Our Galapagos adventure

We continued to be plagued by our Ecuador curse, as we were informed the night before our departure to the Galapagos that our itinerary had been completely changed because of the National referendum on the third day of our tour – the changes ensured that all crew members were able to be near a township in order to vote. Whislt I am all for people exercising their constitutional rights, we bought our tour not 3 days before, specifically because of the yacht's itinerary. Staff would have had full knowledge at that time that the intinerary woud be subject to change, and yet we were not told anything until 6pm the day before. We were seriously unpleased and wrote a very firm email to that extent. The next day our flights were two hours late, meaning our first “day” on the cruise was already cut short. Needless to say I was a little grumpy when I arrived at the islands.

But then we arrived at our luxury cruiser and all my disappointment disappeared. The Grand Odessy was superb – our room as big as a 4-star hotel room, L'ocataine toiletries, a big shower; an entire upper deck with two jacuzzi's and 4 super-king size beds to lounge on; and an extra large sofa and dining room on the lower deck. We ate our lunch (at 3.30pm) then headed to Darwin conservation centre to see Lonesome George and all the other land tortoises in the centre's breeding programme. We arrived at the centre, and bang – there are marine iguanas in their dozens on the pier. They don't move a muscle when you get near them, so you take your photos, step over them and be on your way. At the centre we also saw our only land iguanas with their impressive yellow/orange colourings.

We met our other passengers and were only a group of 10, not 16 – whereas we bought the very last cabin. It appears that as a result of their mismanagement of the itinerary changes, three other couples cancelled their tour. As a result of our complaint and the complaints of others, the owner of the yacht made the necessary arrangements and paid the fines of the crew so that the intinerary would remain unchanged. All of us on the tour were very thankful for this move, but were disappointed at how the matter was handled.