I'm planning to head to the Galapagos islands in May/June - can anyone recommend a decent and trustworthy agency to book through please?

Just returned today from the Galapagos. If you want a reliable company in the US, use GT Tours in Miami. Ask for Roxana. She is reliable and responsive. If you want a company in Ecuador, use Metropolitan Touring. They were absolutely fabulous. Booking yourself is a pain. The only two airlines are TAME and Aerogal. TAME makes it difficult to book airfare only with them. They want you to take a complete tour. Neither company's website is reliable in English. Good hotels on Santa Cruz - Red Mangrove Inn or Silverstein in the luxury class. Hotel Fernandina seemed popular in the mid-range.

I was going to wait until I went to Quito to book a trip to the Galapagos but in my wanderings on the internet, ran across Peter Lauffer of True Colors Travel (based in Quito). I just casually emailed him and 5 other travel agents asking about trips on Tourist Superior boats for a one-week trip (not a split 3day/4day). I was traveling solo.

Several of the agent wrote me back, all quoted me prices on similar boats . . . all offered the M/Y Samba . . . at various prices. Only Peter offered me the 1 single cabin and thus no single supplement. The others offered me the double cabins with from 50-70% extra for single supplement . . . and, they didn't answer all my questions or respond quickly.

Peter did both . . . he speaks great English and even has a toll-free number from the US if you want to talk in person.

Here is his info . . .

Peter Lauffer
True Colors Travel
Guayaquil N9-59 y Oriente, Quito
ph: (593-2)2955-939 or 2955-0345
Toll-free from USA: 1-877-829-9006
galapagostraveller@mac.com

I have typed up my travelog from my trip (Jan 29-Feb 13) and would be happy to email it if interested. It's very long and detailed, more than you ever want to know about me!

Buen viaje and hope you have as great a time as I did!

Sandy (in Denton)

I found a great little agency last month thanks to someone's post on the Lonely Planet thorntree:

Happy Gringo (www.happygringo.com) were extremely responsive to my emails, friendly, honest, and most important of all knowledgable about the various confusing Galapagos options. There's a lot of very positive stuff written about them on the thorntree and I can understand why! They also booked my hotels and gave a lot of free travel advice when I collected my tickets from them in Quito.

Some other general Galapagos tips:
1. Go 8 days if you have enough time and money - much better than the 4 or 5 day options!
2. I went on the Encantada and cannot recommend it highly enough.
3. Don't forget to ask for the discount on the airfare if you have an ISIC card.
4. Diving was a little disappointing due to poor visability.

Hey Sandy,
thanks for the recommendation.
2 questions,
how is the galapagos as a single traveler?
and is the samba a small boat? i get sea sick very easily and i am very nervous about anything other than a very large boat.
i'm interested in your blog and how much your tour ended up costing you.
thanks for the help!
Tana
here's my email: iillini@yahoo.com