Galápagos Christmas Iguanas + Elusive Hammerheads

Let Erin and Phil book this same experience for you, personally! We started ABC Trips to offer our bespoke itineraries to those seeking authentic culture, epic landscapes, and uncompromising luxury. 👉🏼 https://abctrips.com Okay, last chapter in this 4-part series, and the Galápagos saved some of its best cards for the end. First stop: Española, home to the most colorful marine iguanas in the archipelago. Their colors literally come from their diet — red algae gives them red splotches, green algae gives them turquoise, and the ones eating both look like someone flicked paint at a dragon. Locals call them Christmas iguanas. Once you see the red-and-green, you can't unsee it. Española is also a straight-up nursery — baby sea lions everywhere, so many you have to actually watch your feet so you don't trip over one. And the boobies keep coming: after the blue-footed and the rare red-footed earlier in the trip, here we met the Nazca booby. No cartoon feet, but stunning. Bonus: a colony of them is called a "boobery," which is the funniest word I've learned all year. Then the albatross put on a show. Danny said it's rare to catch them dancing, and there they were — line-dancing, clacking beaks, doing this whole synchronized courtship bit. Even if you're a self-declared bird-skeptic like me, that one gets you. For the last dive, Colt and I picked the "Rambo" option — stronger currents, bigger swell, but the best odds at hammerheads. On the way out we spotted possible hammerheads and multiple manta rays, so hopes were sky-high. We ended up with something like six sharks, eagle rays, stingrays, sea turtles, schools of fish — an absolute banger of a dive. The one that got away? A hammerhead I should've jumped in with when I had the chance. Which just means we have to come back. Twist my arm. We closed on North Seymour with nesting frigatebirds — the males with those wild red throat balloons — plus more blue-footed booby babies. Final Big 15 tally: we got all but two. Not bad for one week. And that's the pitch, honestly. Colt gave the trip a nine out of ten and said his favorite was the island "filled to the brim with iguanas." Erin's favorite part was the tortoises and mine will always be the extended underwater session with those playful sea lions. Galápagos is definitely one of our most popular experiences for solos. But if you've got kids, hear me: this is one of the great family trips on earth. Every single thing HX builds into the day works whether you're eight or eighty. So here's the move. If you're a nature person, an animal person, an adventure person — the Galápagos needs to be at the top of your list, and HX does it right: all-inclusive, expert ranger-guides, three routes to match whatever you want to see. Tell us your dream and we'll build it. Get a quote at abctrips.com — and come find the few species that we missed. While you’re at it, be sure to check out our upcoming hosted trips, where you can travel with us and start collecting free ABC Trips and Club7 travel merch. Browse our unheard of last-minute deals on vacations, resorts, and adventure cruises around the world: https://abctrips.com/