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Glorious Galápagos
Glorious Galápagos
Celebrity Cruises brings travelers up close and personal with nature’s best.
When the young Charles Darwin’s sloop first came within view of the rugged coast of the Galápagos Islands in the summer of 1835, he was wowed by a landscape like nothing he had seen. Gnarled black lava fields, ghostly Palo Santo trees, moss-coated Scalesia forests, and creatures so bizarre, they seemed plucked from a dream. Making landfall, the curious British naturalist quickly began noting all the oddities around him: magnificent, giant tortoises lumbering through the brush. Marine iguanas diving for algae. Countless new bird species, completely unphased by his presence. Each little island felt like a distinct planet in another universe, all untouched by the world Darwin knew. Those journal entries were the start of a series of biological discoveries that would reshape science forever.
With Celebrity Cruises, travelers can seek out this same sense of transformative wonder in a place still virtually as wild as it was in Darwin’s day. The all-inclusive expedition can be experienced aboard Celebrity Flora, the first ship of its kind custom-built for the Galápagos—and the first resort at sea in the region to receive a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Rating.
“Gnarled black lava fields, ghostly Palo Santo trees, moss-coated Scalesia forests, and creatures so bizarre, they seemed plucked from a dream.”
And in the laid-back seaside city of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, the Charles Darwin Research Station keeps the legacy of ecological discovery alive, even offering the unique opportunity for a personal encounter with the enormous, gentle Galápagos tortoises that first captured Darwin’s imagination.
Some 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador, the Galápagos is a volcanic archipelago of 18 major islands and more than 100 small ones, each its own wild, scenic case study in ecological evolution. Birders from around the globe make the pilgrimage here to see iconic Blue-footed boobies, red-throated frigatebirds, and rare waved albatross. Yet with Celebrity Cruises’ offshore excursions, there’s something to entice every kind of adventurer, from hikes through misty, primeval, highland forests to naturalist-guided wildlife expeditions; from coral-reef snorkeling to white-sand beaches.
Join Celebrity Cruises for a rare, life-changing experience.
VIEW FINDER
Glorious Galápagos
Glorious Galápagos
Celebrity Cruises brings travelers up close and personal with nature’s best.
When the young Charles Darwin’s sloop first came within view of the rugged coast of the Galápagos Islands in the summer of 1835, he was wowed by a landscape like nothing he had seen. Gnarled black lava fields, ghostly Palo Santo trees, moss-coated Scalesia forests, and creatures so bizarre, they seemed plucked from a dream. Making landfall, the curious British naturalist quickly began noting all the oddities around him: magnificent, giant tortoises lumbering through the brush. Marine iguanas diving for algae. Countless new bird species, completely unphased by his presence. Each little island felt like a distinct planet in another universe, all untouched by the world Darwin knew. Those journal entries were the start of a series of biological discoveries that would reshape science forever.
With Celebrity Cruises, travelers can seek out this same sense of transformative wonder in a place still virtually as wild as it was in Darwin’s day. The all-inclusive expedition can be experienced aboard Celebrity Flora, the first ship of its kind custom-built for the Galápagos—and the first resort at sea in the region to receive a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Rating.
“Gnarled black lava fields, ghostly Palo Santo trees, moss-coated Scalesia forests, and creatures so bizarre, they seemed plucked from a dream.”
And in the laid-back seaside city of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, the Charles Darwin Research Station keeps the legacy of ecological discovery alive, even offering the unique opportunity for a personal encounter with the enormous, gentle Galápagos tortoises that first captured Darwin’s imagination.
Some 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador, the Galápagos is a volcanic archipelago of 18 major islands and more than 100 small ones, each its own wild, scenic case study in ecological evolution. Birders from around the globe make the pilgrimage here to see iconic Blue-footed boobies, red-throated frigatebirds, and rare waved albatross. Yet with Celebrity Cruises’ offshore excursions, there’s something to entice every kind of adventurer, from hikes through misty, primeval, highland forests to naturalist-guided wildlife expeditions; from coral-reef snorkeling to white-sand beaches.
Join Celebrity Cruises for a rare, life-changing experience.
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I have always been a Geography and Map Fanatic. I own a very large and well-utilized National Geographic Atlas in which I have recorded many notes and personal trips and routed out my journeys by ships, planes, trains, and cycling. I refer to it frequently in putting together my clients' trips and itineraries, as well as my own.
Going back to the time when I was a little girl, I have either lived just a few yards from the ocean or relatively close to it. I liked watching ships and wanted to know what life was like on the other side of the ocean. I was fascinated that my Grandmother came to the US on a ship as a teenage girl together with her sister from Ireland. Before my grandparents met in the US, my Grandfather from Ireland worked as a cowboy and copper miner in Montana at the turn of the 20th Century. They had many National Geographic issues at their home which I loved looking at. These impressions, plus taking my first cruise, all eventually led me to the cruise and travel ...