A great time to visit the Galapagos this year

Now is a great time to visit the Galapagos with Worldwide Holidays. We have some fantastic special offers for Galapagos cruises with some saving customers up to £750! We only have certain dates available so it really is first come 1st served.

25% off the Santa Cruz

The 46 cabin M/V Santa Cruz was built exclusively for Galapagos Islands with its flat bottom build the boat can travel much closer to the islands than other larger cruise ships. The Santa Cruz has gained worldwide recognition for its excellent standards, including superb service, expert crew, the most knowledgeable multilingual naturalist/guides and menus that feature the very best international cuisine and celebrated Ecuadorian dishes.

You can explore this amazing boat in detail by visiting our new 360 degrees virtual tour page. You can browse some of the cabins available or take a stroll along the Sundeck and Jacuzzi

Worldwide Holidays are able to offer you 25% off the Santa Cruz allowing you to explore the outstanding Galapagos Islands much closer than other boats can offer.

2009 prices held for 2010/11

Planning a Galapagos trip for 2011? Prices for 2011 are held for early bookings on some Galapagos products. A visit to the Galapagos Islands is an inspiring experience for most – the “holiday of a lifetime”. Immediately on arrival, you sense that you have landed in a place like no other on earth. We would be happy to put together a tailor-made  itinerary for you and help plan the perfect trip. You can request a brochure or contact us for a qoute and we will be happy to help.

Peru, Ecuador & Galapagos Islands updates

Hola everyone..

Some updates…

* Peru: Good news for Machu Picchu, the train service will start operations again on the 1st April. Hurray!!

* Ecuador: We have some excellent Galapagos Island cruise offers for this year, which is saving clients up to £750 per person. We only have certain dates available so it really is first come 1st served.

This year & 2011 are going to be big years for the Galapagos Islands as a huge change is due to be implemented from January 2012. The Galapagos National Park has issued a notice to all Galapagos operators informing that, as of January 1st, 2012 all Galapagos vessels must operate with 15-day/14-night itineraries, which can be cut into two 7-night itineraries or as two 6-day/5 night and one 5-day/4-night itinerary. The purpose of this measure is to re-arrange all itineraries in an orderly way, to control the number of persons visiting a determined visitor site at a given time. So basically a boat will only be able to visit a particular visitor site / island once every 2 weeks rather than every week as they currently do.
I urge anyone that is thinking of visiting the Galapagos Islands to do so sooner rather than later. 2011 rates are going to be higher than 2010, by approx 10% & discounts are not likely.

We also have some wonderful specialist Ecuador & Galapagos itineraries for clients interested in Geology & Photography. Here are the PDF details for each programme. Please do let me know if you would like full details.
Ecuador & Galapagos Geology Tour

Ecuador & Galapagos Photography Tour

Take Your Family on a Galapagos Cruise – Under 18’s Get 50% off with Worldwide Holidays

Worldwide Holidays is now taking bookings for special family cruises to the Galapagos departing in July. A 50% discount for children aged 6-18 now makes this adventure holiday of a lifetime more affordable. With the children’s Galapagos discount extended to include older children up to the age of 18, this makes for the perfect trip for families with older children too.

On these special Galapagos family tours, age-appropriate activities are scheduled for both teens and younger children. You will be snorkelling in a real sea aquarium and swim with playful sea lions and giant sea turtles. You will enjoy exciting Galapagos treks with experts while strolling by incredible and unique animals only found in the islands. And what better surroundings to learn about the evolution of the species while participating in the Young Pirates workshops led by specialist naturalist guides?

Cruise Galapagos on La Pinta

La Pinta is the newest boat to cruise the Galapagos Islands, with its arrival in March 2008. It is now the top boat sailing the waters, with wonderful guides & excellent accommodation. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin, there are now a number of special offers for a cruise on La Pinta or one of its sister yachts that sail around the Galapagos Islands.

Lonesome George of the Galapagos Islands ends his celibacy!

Our recent ‘blog’ reported the excellent news about the Galapagos Islands, Lonesome George – a tortoise thought of for decades of being the last member of a virtually extinct species, possibly becoming a father – further news has been released regarding the finding of yet more eggs!

Park Wardens at Galapagos National Park have now found a second patch of eight eggs. These eggs are undergoing their incubation period at the Charles Darwin Research Station where conservationists explained…… “most eggs are incubated at a slightly warmer temperature to produce a higher rate of female off-spring (tortoises lack the gender gene and temperature determines length of incubation, which determines gender). This is critical to ensure a faster recovery of the population, currently with a single member – George. The females that have shared George’s home for many years now, belong to the closest species to the Pinta Tortoise”.

We wait further news from the Galapagos!

World Famous Tortoise-species lives on…..

Great news from the Galapagos Islands – their oldest living resident, George the Tortoise is about to become a father! We recently received this press release from the Galapagos National Park.

“The world’s most famous tortoise, and the living symbol of the Galapagos National Park, has taken an important step into saving it’s species from imminent extinction.

A last member of its kind, a male tortoise was found alone on his home island Pinta in the early seventies. Soon brought to the safety of the Charles Darwin Research Station, and named Jorge, or George in English, by the park wardens that took care of him. The word soon spread that Lonesome George was a living extinction unless a female was found for him to reproduce.

Scientists have searched the Island Pinta, as well as any zoo or private collection worldwide for a partner for George. Hopes have, over the futile years, focused on the last resource to save his species. George should breed with the most similar tortoise species in Galapagos. For this purpose, George has been sharing his pen with two attractive females from island Isabela’s northernmost volcano Wolf, a race similar to George, both physically and genetically. Strangely, George has shown so far little if any attraction to these females, and hopes to save the species have again dropped systematically.

Until this week: National Park Authorities proudly announced the finding of the first fertile eggs laid in George’s pen. A new hope is standing high to save the rarest tortoise in the world from extinction”.

Watch this space for further news!!

Launch of ‘La Pinta’ in The Galapagos

February 2008 – the launch of “La Pinta” the newest yacht in the Galapagos Islands. What an honor to be on the launch of this lovely, luxurious ship as it left Guayaquil. La Pinta started service in the Galapagos in April of this year offering plush, luxury cabins, with all mod cons including ipods – which proved to be the perfect respite after a long day exploring! This yacht operates only on a 7 day cruise but I really would not want to get off any sooner!

After snorkeling with sea lions, sea turtles and penguins we than all returned to the ship to enjoy the last sunset and of course cocktails, when one of the naturalists spotted something in the water and we discovered to our amazement that we were in amongst a pod of 50 sperm whales. What a truly amazing experience, even all the naturalists on board were bowled over by this amazing sight as the pod were feeding and mating, breaching etc.

The Galapagos is one of the most amazing places on earth and has survived virtually untouched since Darwin’s discovery of the islands in 1835.. Our ground agents are in my opinion experts at making your visit the best, never to be forgotten experience.

Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

The Land of Contrasts

My last visit to this remarkable country, Ecuador was in May, I decided to concentrate on exploring more of the mainland and uncovering some of this country’s undiscovered secrets.

The highlight of my visit was undoubtedly the markets, which can only be described as an explosion of colour. I can honestly say Ecuador’s flower markets are home to the most amazing roses I have ever seen.

During my visit I was continually impressed with the standard of accommodation available, ranging from large hotel chains through to the smaller locally owned operations ensuring that every visitor is catered for. My personal favourite was the small but ever so charming Hacienda called San Augustin del Callo, boasting incredible views of Cotopaxi Volcano and consisting of just eight rooms; the attention to detail is outstanding as each room is hand-painted with it’s own unique wall mural.

When visiting Ecuador I highly recommend staying in Cuenca, the cobbled streets and colonial architecture enhance this city’s beauty, as the production centre for Panama hats no visit would be complete without getting your own made as a souvenir to take home! The city of Guayaquil was a revelation, as Ecuador’s largest city my initial impression was that it would be characterless however I couldn’t have been more wrong, a city tour opened my eyes and transformed my opinion.

My trip ended with a visit to the Galapagos Islands which I would highly recommend as there truly is nowhere else on earth that offers such a unique experience and opportunity to view unique flora, fauna and wildlife.