I’ve written a lot about various islands and wildlife our group has encountered in the Galapagos islands, but I’ve been vague about our primary mode of transportation: the G Adventures yacht. Allow me to give you the ten-cent tour.

The boat holds sixteen passengers (two per room), plus bunks for the crew down below. Each room has its own minimal bathroom with shower. There’s a dining area and a lounge / bar deck. It’s a compact ship that fits our group of ten people perfectly (keep in mind we are six people under capacity).

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Here’s a view of the “snorkel ledge” where we climb into the pangas that take us to shore (you can see one filled with passengers off to the right).

Room number 5 is my home for the week.

Since our group is not at capacity, I luck out and get the room to myself. Score!

The rooms are simple and sparsely decorated. My bed is comfty and has its own reading light. There’s a nightstand to the right of the bed that you can’t see in the photo, but it holds my book and alarm clock. During one rocky night at sea those items fly off the shelf three times before I give up and leave them on the floor.

Our tour guide rings this bell to alert everyone that it’s time for the next activity.

We are welcome to borrow wet suits for our twice-daily snorkeling excursions. Would you believe I actually brought my own wet suit from home? I purchased it years earlier while working as a lifeguard on a freezing mountain lake at a Utah summer camp. I figured why not bring it along for snorkeling? But it turns out G Adventures has me covered.

Here’s a shot of me and Sarah on the back deck preparing to snorkel.

The panga drivers help us into the raft. They “drive” us to shore for shallow water snorkeling, or sometimes bring us near large rocks for deep water snorkeling.

Sometimes we snorkel right off the back of the boat.

After our morning underwater excursion, we get back on board and head to the afternoon destination.

There are always fresh bananas on board for the taking.

The upper deck has a lounge area and bar.

Each afternoon crew member Jimmy pours drinks and offers snacks.

The quimbolitos are my favorite food item of the whole trip. They taste like pound cake stuffed with raisins and baked into banana leaves. Like very rustic muffins.

Approaching the golden hour.

In case you’re confused by the GAP logo, our boat was not sponsored by the American clothing store. But that would be a fun marketing strategy! G Adventures used to be called Gap Adventures until they underwent a name change a few years ago.

The captain lets me sit in the driver’s seat long enough to snap a few shots.

I do “laundry” by borrowing a bucket from a crew member and swishing around some detergent with my dirty clothes. I brought clothes pins from home to hang my clothes to dry outside.

Our group enjoys Jimmy’s cocktails night after night.

Before dinner our guide reviews the itinerary for the next day and draws our route on the map.

On the first and last nights of a tour, there’s a celebration to bid each group hello or good-bye.

The guys in the kitchen to a great job. I have no complains about the food, which they pass into the dining room via that little window to the left of the sink below.

And here’s what the dining room looks like. It’s not fancy but it gets the job done. It also doubles as a game room after hours.

Jimmy brings out all of the food and later collects our dishes. He’s the best.

Here’s a variety of the dishes served:

And here’s Jimmy in action, receiving food from the kitchen to set out for our group.

A closer shot of our meals:

Jimmy cuts a freshly baked and frosted cake for our final farewell.

We celebrate the last night with a dance party. Whooo-hooo!

And there ends the tour of our yacht.

G Adventures has several boats in rotation, some of which are more luxurious than this one. But I was very happy with our accommodations for the week — it was my first time on any sort of “cruise” and I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of our time at sea. I didn’t even mind the occasional rocky night, as it’s a part of the experience. Listening to my iPod was a great distraction from the choppy waves. While I managed to avoid getting sea-sick on the yacht, a few other passengers had to take meds (I brought along Bonine just in case).

I loved being a part of our small community. Eating meals, going to shore for excursions, and lounging on the deck for happy hour created a very friendly environment. We weren’t always together — there was plenty of down time for naps or reading in bed at night. But I liked living in close quarters. It was sort of like being in a college dorm again, for one week in paradise.

I’d love to try another small boat cruise experience in the future!