Flora…vacation begins!

[shipster60]

2 hours ago, kent4489 said:

Thanks.

We have a driver/guide for Monday. Day trip to Mindo Cloudforest.

Would you mind sharing who you booked through. I’d love to hear if you would recommend them after you go. We have a full day in Quito as our flight doesn’t leave until midnight. We will need to leave the hotel about 8. I hope to find something to do during the day, but don’t want to duplicate what Celebrity provides before we leave for Galapagos. 

[kent4489]

2 hours ago, shipster60 said:

Would you mind sharing who you booked through. I’d love to hear if you would recommend them after you go. We have a full day in Quito as our flight doesn’t leave until midnight. We will need to leave the hotel about 8. I hope to find something to do during the day, but don’t want to duplicate what Celebrity provides before we leave for Galapagos. 

I booked ToursbyLocals…. Vivian. She has been fantastic with communication. Sorry, I don’t know how to link, but should be easy to find. This will not be at all like we experienced on the city tour provided by Celebrity. Our Celebrity guide in Quito was awesome…if you have him, you will love him. DiegoTorres. When I told him that we booked with Vivian, he said he knew her and then he emailed her to let her know that we had toured with him on the city tour. He could not do a private tour.

[kent4489]

Well, Saturday night. Lots of tears tonight as every passenger was in awe of the week. I’ll be brief….

Today, we went to the Darwin Research Center, very interesting. By the way, I had a fleece and it was a long walk from the bus in a light rain. Make sure you wear a rain jacket. We ended up buying jackets at the research center. Nice quality and a nice souvenir. Glad we had them for the tree planting, which was really nice. By the way, I had read that someone suggested bringing disposable gloves and it was nice as we kept our hands clean. Not necessary, but several people were asking where to get the gloves and I had to tell them that we brought our own. I would highly recommend doing so. Another thing I red was to bring higher socks for the boots. I forgot and only had low cut. I got a blister on my ankle from the boots, so bring higher socks!

We really enjoyed the lunch and show at the ranch. Then walking among the tortoise… it was an all around wow day. 
This evening, again wow. Unbelievable that they introduced the entire crew. Tears!!! The pics from this week were flashed on the big screen and again, amazing. Such a very lovely gift to take these memories home with us. Lastly, our fellow passengers, again, wow! All very lovely people. With 42 of us, it was easy to bond and get to know everyone. I really feel this is something that will be very difficult to duplicate.

 

[shipster60]

6 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

Well, Saturday night. Lots of tears tonight as every passenger was in awe of the week. I’ll be brief….

Today, we went to the Darwin Research Center, very interesting. By the way, I had a fleece and it was a long walk from the bus in a light rain. Make sure you wear a rain jacket. We ended up buying jackets at the research center. Nice quality and a nice souvenir. Glad we had them for the tree planting, which was really nice. By the way, I had read that someone suggested bringing disposable gloves and it was nice as we kept our hands clean. Not necessary, but several people were asking where to get the gloves and I had to tell them that we brought our own. I would highly recommend doing so. Another thing I red was to bring higher socks for the boots. I forgot and only had low cut. I got a blister on my ankle from the boots, so bring higher socks!

We really enjoyed the lunch and show at the ranch. Then walking among the tortoise… it was an all around wow day. 
This evening, again wow. Unbelievable that they introduced the entire crew. Tears!!! The pics from this week were flashed on the big screen and again, amazing. Such a very lovely gift to take these memories home with us. Lastly, our fellow passengers, again, wow! All very lovely people. With 42 of us, it was easy to bond and get to know everyone. I really feel this is something that will be very difficult to duplicate.

 

You have been so helpful, thanks for taking time to do this. I have used Tours by Locals before, I’ll definitely check out Vivian. Do they give you boots at the Darwin Center or are you taking about your own boots? 

[calsnoozie]

8 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

Well, Saturday night. Lots of tears tonight as every passenger was in awe of the week. I’ll be brief….

Today, we went to the Darwin Research Center, very interesting. By the way, I had a fleece and it was a long walk from the bus in a light rain. Make sure you wear a rain jacket. We ended up buying jackets at the research center. Nice quality and a nice souvenir. Glad we had them for the tree planting, which was really nice. By the way, I had read that someone suggested bringing disposable gloves and it was nice as we kept our hands clean. Not necessary, but several people were asking where to get the gloves and I had to tell them that we brought our own. I would highly recommend doing so. Another thing I red was to bring higher socks for the boots. I forgot and only had low cut. I got a blister on my ankle from the boots, so bring higher socks!

We really enjoyed the lunch and show at the ranch. Then walking among the tortoise… it was an all around wow day. 
This evening, again wow. Unbelievable that they introduced the entire crew. Tears!!! The pics from this week were flashed on the big screen and again, amazing. Such a very lovely gift to take these memories home with us. Lastly, our fellow passengers, again, wow! All very lovely people. With 42 of us, it was easy to bond and get to know everyone. I really feel this is something that will be very difficult to duplicate.

 

Kent4489 - can't believe it has been a week!  Thank you for sharing daily.

 

Adding disposable gloves to the suitcase list and double checking hiking socks!

 

-Sue from California

[NoWhiners]

22 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

Make sure you wear a rain jacket.

 

 

Would a poncho work or is a jacket more convenient?

 

Thanks for all your tips, I am taking copious notes!

[kent4489]

10 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

 

Would a poncho work or is a jacket more convenient?

 

Thanks for all your tips, I am taking copious notes!

A poncho is fine! Actually, we had ponchos from Celebrity, but left them on the bus and forgot to put them on. You will get the ponchos on the day you arrive on the ship. 

[kent4489]

28 minutes ago, shipster60 said:

You have been so helpful, thanks for taking time to do this. I have used Tours by Locals before, I’ll definitely check out Vivian. Do they give you boots at the Darwin Center or are you taking about your own boots? 

They had boots ready for us for the tree planting.Then clean ones after the lunch and show for your walk among the land tortoises. No need for boots at the Darwin Center. They will ask onboard early on for your shoe sizes. They have them in bags with your suite number when you stop for the tree planting.

[kent4489]

30 minutes ago, calsnoozie said:

Kent4489 - can't believe it has been a week!  Thank you for sharing daily.

 

Adding disposable gloves to the suitcase list and double checking hiking socks!

 

-Sue from California

I can’t believe it has been a week already too. We have loved our dining server (all of them, but we’ve had a special one). She even walked us to our cabin tonight.

Yes,  the socks… the only thing I really wish I had brought…and I knew about it before hand, but forgot. We did receive Galapagos socks as a gift this evening, but after we got back.

Weve met some wonderful people onboard. I thought we were all going back to the JWMarriottfor a farewell dinner. Turns out several are staying at the EB Hotel near the airport as they have flight leaving tomorrow night ot early on Tuesday. Now, I’m not even sure who will be at the Marriott tomorrow night.

[NoWhiners]

I have one question about wet landings and shoes. Can anyone tell us if they think crocs would work for these? I wear these all the time when we go to rocky lakes and they seem perfect but I may not understand the underwater surface! They are so light, we could switch if needed on lava rock walks, to a better shoe.

[kent4489]

10 hours ago, NoWhiners said:

I have one question about wet landings and shoes. Can anyone tell us if they think crocs would work for these? I wear these all the time when we go to rocky lakes and they seem perfect but I may not understand the underwater surface! They are so light, we could switch if needed on lava rock walks, to a better shoe.

I would think crocs might be a little difficult. We wore Tevas with the sturdier soles. Some people wore water shoes then changed on the beach to hiking shoes. I didn’t want to bother. 

[sippican]

Any hint of the rumor that Xpedition cruises have been cancelled through October?

[NoWhiners]

20 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

I would think crocs might be a little difficult. We wore Tevas with the sturdier soles. Some people wore water shoes then changed on the beach to hiking shoes. I didn’t want to bother. 

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I read on other posts it's only about a foot of water to walk up onto dry beach. Is the underwater floor very rocky or slippery? I am just trying to understand why a sturdier sole is an advantage for a beach landing, but I may not understand the underwater surface very well.

[calsnoozie]

Kent4489 - would you recommend bringing trekking poles?

 

-Sue From California

[NoWhiners]

Just now, calsnoozie said:

Kent4489 - would you recommend bringing trekking poles?

 

-Sue From California

 

I thought I read on the X Flora page that they provide these?

[Pilgrim70]

I’ve enjoyed your post. It has brought so many wonderful memories of our cruise taken in early August. 
might add Celebrity did provide walking sticks. Great help. They did state the walking sticks were not good for the lava walk. 
Had water shoes for wet landings. Just kept them on for the walks. Worked fine. 

[shipster60]

Now that I’m actually pulling things out to pack I have questions. What kind of hat is best for ladies?  I have a straw hat that stays put in the wind well and I also have a dry fit type ball cap like runners wear. Or do I need something else?

[sanger727]

4 hours ago, NoWhiners said:

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I read on other posts it's only about a foot of water to walk up onto dry beach. Is the underwater floor very rocky or slippery? I am just trying to understand why a sturdier sole is an advantage for a beach landing, but I may not understand the underwater surface very well.

I don’t think the sturdy sole is for the water landing. My understanding is that once you get on shore the walks/hikes are mostly over volcanic rock. So need the ‘water’ part of the shoe for the landing and the sturdy part to hike over the rock 

[sanger727]

Couple other questions. I know u said you could have used the longer socks and rain jacket. Is there anything you brought that you didn’t need? Also, would a dry bag come in handy or is it not really necessary.

Edited September 12, 2021 by sanger727

[NoWhiners]

Just now, sanger727 said:

I don’t think the sturdy sole is for the water landing. My understanding is that once you get on shore the walks/hikes are mostly over volcanic rock. So need the ‘water’ part of the shoe for the landing and the sturdy part to hike over the rock 

 

Thanks for this. I was thinking of wearing crocs for the water, then changing into a sturdier shoe once on land. Some advised against crocs for the water part and I was trying to understand the limitation for them.

[sippican]

24 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

 

Thanks for this. I was thinking of wearing crocs for the water, then changing into a sturdier shoe once on land. Some advised against crocs for the water part and I was trying to understand the limitation for them.

 I used the inexpensive water shoes for wet landings, then changed into my hiking shoes. 

[NoWhiners]

Just now, sippican said:

 I used the inexpensive water shoes for wet landings, then changed into my hiking shoes. 

 

Thanks, good to know it can be done.

[sippican]

7 hours ago, calsnoozie said:

Kent4489 - would you recommend bringing trekking poles?

 

-Sue From California

 

My DH and I are hikers. The poles onboard were wooden with no rubber tips. We found them useless and are packing our own collapsible poles (make sure they have tip covers) this time. 

[calsnoozie]

41 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

My DH and I are hikers. The poles onboard were wooden with no rubber tips. We found them useless and are packing our own collapsible poles (make sure they have tip covers) this time. 

sippican - thanks, just put the poles in the "pack in suitcase" pile!

 

-Sue from California 

[kent4489]

12 hours ago, sippican said:

Any hint of the rumor that Xpedition cruises have been cancelled through October?

I have no idea. Sorry.