The Galápagos is the rare place where wild animals simply ignore you, letting you sit an arm's length from a blue-footed booby without it so much as breaking stride.
Charles Darwin's finches get the credit, but it is the tameness of everything here that actually stuns first-time visitors. Sea lions nap across footpaths and beaches without moving for passing boots, marine iguanas pile onto black lava rock in stacks of a dozen, and blue-footed boobies perform their high-stepping courtship dance a few feet from where you stand.
Every island specialises in something different, which is why island-hopping beats staying put: Española for the extraordinary tameness of its birdlife, North Seymour for frigatebirds with scarlet throat pouches inflated like balloons, and the highlands of Santa Cruz for giant tortoises grazing in the wild. Snorkelling adds a second layer entirely — sea lions loop and dart around swimmers with an almost puppyish curiosity.
Book through a licensed operator with a fixed itinerary, since the national park strictly regulates which sites each boat may visit and when, and pack reef-safe sunscreen — nothing else is permitted in the water here. Visit between June and December for cooler water, better snorkelling visibility and albatross courtship on Española.
