Our first day in the Galapagos islands

It's an easy day today, we have time to enjoy breakfast before our taxi brings us to the airport.

Flying to the Galapagos takes a little bit more paperwork and steps ( this should not be forgotten or you won't be able to board the plane !) .

First you need to queue to get an immigration transit card. ( which took 20min ). It's also USD 20 per persons and cash only.

Then, you need to queue at the biosecurity and custom, where you get your luggage zip tight locked with a green band.

Only at this stage can you go through your normal check in process with the airline.

The flight from Guayaquil was uneventful and we arrive in Galapagos Islands on time. As soon as you step off the plane and walking to the main building you are already greeted by land iguanas, some are really big !

Our liveaboard company is there to pick us up. And we wait for other guests arriving with the next flight 10min later.

After that it's a short bus ride and then the dingy to the boat. There we are greeted by part of the crew and we shortly realize that it's going to be just the 8 of us ! ( For a boat that is usually for 16 guests ). This is going to be Awesome.

The afternoon is spent with a lot of briefing, rules, safety and how the dive deck works. The boat is comfortable and there is even a jacuzzi! It's probably the largest boat we have done a liveaboard on.

We have out check out dive today, a very shallow one at the back of the boat to get used to the cold and the equipment. It's cold enough that you need a 7mm wetsuit which is a massive pain to put on.

As we surface and finish our day, we have already seen a beautiful ballet of cormorant and tiny birds by the boat side. At night a few pelicans are fishing around the boat.