There was a day trader named Honcho.
Honcho Extreme to be exact.
6 months ago he won a contest to visit Jordan with us.
He also won a 1 year free training program to learn how to day trade via The Day Trading Academy where we teach traders how to become financial independent.
Six months later Mr. Honcho has something incredible to celebrate. Via our inner circle of traders he decided to start making money with penny stocks. While we won’t get into technicalities of the strategy used he is up over $200,000 since the beginning of the year.
This of course was an excellent reason to commemorate the year correctly.
We decided to visit the Galapagos Islands to celebrate and it couldn’t have been a better trip. We have to thank Quasar Expeditions for inviting us and for having an excellent experience. We would certainly recommend them for an unforgettable experience to one of the most unique places on Earth.
There are a total of 13 main islands and 6 smaller ones. The cruise itineraries are split into two distinct regions, the south east islands (bottom right) and the north west islands (top left).
The central islands may be included in parts of these two itineraries.
One thing that isn’t commonly mentioned is that a cruise isn’t required to visit the Galapagos. Most visitors do take a cruise because it is easier. Quite honestly, it is not the same experience without being on a cruise.
Just make sure you do on a cruise.
The ocean was mostly calm and we didn’t have many rough seas. We maximized time on the beautiful MY Grace Yacht by traveling after dinner and arriving at our destination in the very early morning.
The visits and time spent on islands is very strictly controlled by the authorities. Tourists can only stay at locations between certain park hours and itineraries are scheduled in advance to maximize conservation.
I plan on sharing best practices and things you need to know about visiting the Galapagos Islands soon.
One rule of thumb is to make sure that a small ship is selected. This is one of the reason why we loved our trip so much onboard the MY Grace. Not only was there exceptional food, service, and 72 year olds jumping off the top of the yacht, but there was a small group of people.
This ensured that we were able to actually enjoy our time with nature and the animals rather than spending time with other tourists. I would high recommend choosing a ship that has no more than 20 people. There are actually ships that have up to 100 people on them! Can you imagine that?
This would be okay for a place like Antarctica but not for Galapagos.
There are two main airports that receive international flights from Quito and Guayaquil in mainland Ecuador. We arrived on the island of San Cristobal and left from the main airport on the island of Baltra.
We arrived around midday and immediately boarded the boat and headed on our way to San Cristobal. I do expect that most companies maximize time by having half days on the first and last day of the trip.
We were very lucky to able to see absolutely everything. I can also attest to having one of the best tour guides on the yacht that was making sure we would stay far away from other ships. This made it a very serene and exclusive experience.
We even want to charter the yacht in the future for our day traders and do the northern route. Who wouldn’t want to visit and dive with a huge number of Hammerhead Sharks?
Here was our full itinerary:
- Day 1
- San Cristobal Islandz: PM – La Loberia
- Day 2
- Espanola Island: AM – Punta Suarez/PM – Gardner Bay
- Day 3
- Floreana: AM – Post Office Bay/PM – Post Office Bay & Punta Cormorant
- Day 4
- Santa Cruz: AM – Highlands/PM – Tortoises Breeding Center
- Day 5
- Santa Cruse: AM – Las Bachas/PM – The Channel
- Day 6
- Rabida: AM – Red Beach/PM – Sullivan Bay
- Day 7
- Bartolome: AM – Summit & Pinnacle Rock/PM – Shore Line Walk
Look forward to sharing all of the unique experiences while we were on the cruise. Everything from swimming inside a school of fish, snorkeling with sharks, a baby sea lion coming up to us and flirting, giant tortoises, and incredible sunsets.
One of the most exciting highlights for me was the fact that the Galapagos Islands was the last major tourist attraction to visit in South America. Every single country and every major attraction. The Galapagos Islands is definitely on the top of that list.
Until next time.. stay safe my friends.
Dear Marcello,
Thank you very much for sharing your experience with other people.I just have a question, when its the best time in year to visit Galapagos Irlands ?
Thank you and wish you all the best, many regards from Austria, Isabela 🙂
Really year round is great because the climate is mostly the same sits the islands sit on the equator
Ha ha, I love the picture with the sea lion on the bench. It is my dream to go to Galapagos 🙂
Hey Marcello, were you able to trade during the trip? Just curious.
Charles
In Galapagos no my man.. the internet on the cruise ship definitely wasn’t fast enough and we weren’t on land for very long
Awesome Marcello, make every day count! I am off to Prague, Athens and Cannes…all boring lame places compared to your adventures….thanks for sharing you do an outstanding job on the blog and it is most inspiring for sure! Your YouTube channel is cool as well, especially the live trade and recaps.
Omg we went to the Galapagos and it was beautiful. We also had a private bout with a caption and a crew. We slept right on the bout and had daily excursions. We when on the beaches and hiked. We also went snorkeling with sharks. It was an amazing experience of my life. Also it was not as expensive because 1 more person came with us who we did not know. I hope every one gets to go there. Btw it very remote area and my son made a wood bout on a beach and took it to the bout. Then they did not let him take it to the next beach because of some regulation.
hi marcello,
i would like to see the galapagos islands sometime.hopefully i will see you there sometime.i
enjoy the photos you took.
Thanks Frank!
Thank you for this post! So timely for me as I leave tomorrow for a 10 week trip to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile. The Galapagos is something I have had on my “bucket list” forever! I am going to book my trip once I am in Ecuador so that I have some flexibility. This report has me even more excited!
Great post! Love the photo of the boat with the hot tub.
Thanks for sharing your adventure on Gallapagos Islands. I am interested to hear your stories with the giant tortoises and sharks. Plus there is a lot of sea bird life on the islands. Be interested to see pictures of those.
Great itinerary…I did something similar. Funnily enough after scoring some big gains as well (working for a broker)…:)
Love that picture of you sitting on a bench next to a seal. I still can’t comprehend how friendly all these animals were….