Floating just below the ocean’s surface and face-to-face with a Galapagos sea lion, my first thought was: “Holy cow, she makes this look easy.”
The sleek, dark brown sea lion was blowing bubbles only a few feet from me, pausing for a moment to consider my mask and snorkel. The two of us were swimming in the Pacific Ocean, right next to Kicker Rock, a popular snorkel and scuba destination just a short boat ride west of the Galapagos island of San Cristobal.
Apparently satisfied with her examination of my snorkel gear, the sea lion took off again, turning summersaults and racing fluent circles around me and the other snorkelers in our small group — all while exhaling a shimmering trail of playful bubbles.
Propelled by no more than casual flips of her fins and tail, the sea lion’s surprisingly effortless appearance during our Exoticca snorkel tour was a sensational example of those intimate wildlife encounters so many travelers hope to enjoy during a Galapagos Islands vacation.
Trips of a Lifetime, With Value in Mind
A global tour operator headquartered in Barcelona, Exoticca has been running trips in Ecuador and the Galapagos for more than a decade, according to John Vavrina, the company’s senior vice president of commercial sales for North America, who said the company’s products appeal to travelers averaging about 55 years in age and looking for the trip of a lifetime.
“But rather than be the person who’s saving up their whole life for a trip of a lifetime, they're looking for a value where they can afford that trip every year, doing different destinations,” Vavrina said. “So, this year, [the client is] doing Egypt. Next year, they're doing South Africa. The year after, they're doing Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. It’s not that they can't afford more; it's that they truly want to continue to have that experience over and over again."
In August, I joined 10 North American travel advisors on an Exoticca Amazon Adventure & Galapagos Discovery fam tour, which featured stops in the Ecuadorian capitol city of Quito, as well as time in the country’s Amazon rainforest and three nights in the Galapagos Islands. According to Exoticca’s website, the tour operator sells that 10-night tour starting as low as $1,799 per person at press time (though prices vary by departure city, date and promotion period) — a rate that includes air and is commissionable to advisors up to 16%, according to Vavrina.
Exoticca’s Amazon Adventure & Galapagos Discovery tour spends time in Quito, Ecuador.
Credit: 2024 Exoticca“And what we offer is either three-star accommodations throughout, four-star accommodations throughout or five-star accommodations throughout,” Vavrina noted.
Toni Brunson, a longtime travel advisor and Cruise Planners franchise owner in Frisco, Texas, told me after the trip that she thought our Exoticca tour through Ecuador was “awesome.”
“It exceeded my expectations, by far,” Brunson said. “And I thought the Amazon was one of the most magical places I've ever seen.”
Itineraries That Highlight Captivating Culture
Brunson said some of her favorite moments came during our visits to a few different Indigenous Amazon villages, where we learned traditional dances, sampled local cuisine and even tried our aim with blow dart guns (presented to us as another traditional component of life in the village).
Brunson was quick to note, however, that she really appreciated the insight provided throughout our multi-day Amazon visit by our Exoticca guide, who was raised in an Indigenous Kichwa community.
“Having his insight — and not just as a tour guide, but his insight as a local Indigenous person — it just provided so much in-depth information,” she said.
Vavrina said Exoticca not only uses local guides for all its products, but the tour operator takes the concept of authenticity one step further.
Time in Indigenous Amazon villages are a focus of Exoticca’s Ecuador tours.
Credit: 2024 Shane Nelson“If you're in Lima, Peru, with us, for example, you’ll have a local guide there,” he said. “But when you go to Cusco, you get a new local guide, because even though the guide in Lima is a Peruvian, they're an expert in Lima itself — not in Cusco.”
Brunson also thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent in the Galapagos, and described the Exoticca Ecuador product as a wonderful option for nature and animal lovers.
“And for food lovers,” she added. “There was so much local cuisine that we tried while we were there that was really amazing.”
Breakfasts are included in the tour’s package price, but most lunches and dinners are not, which is an approach that Vavrina says allows Exoticca to offer its clients more freedom with their time.
“You can go off and do what's important to you,” he said. “So, you can go eat at whatever restaurant you want to try local cuisine at — and in Ecuador, maybe that means trying guinea pig. Or maybe that means, ‘Hey, while they're eating, I'm going to go get Instagram pictures.’”
Galapagos by Land, Instead of Sea
Whether it was the soaring, snow-covered slopes of the 19,347-foot active Andean volcano Cotopaxi or the buzzing tapestry of nighttime sounds pouring out of the Amazon rainforest — or even that time I needed to make way for a slow-moving, but persistent, giant Galapagos tortoise — the stunning natural wonders of Ecuador definitely did not disappoint.
Exoticca guides help vacationers see Galapagos giant tortoises, some of which can live up to 170 years.
Credit: 2024 Shane NelsonVavrina told me Ecuador has been one of the tour operator’s top-selling destinations for years, and having now enjoyed some of the country’s remarkable natural beauty and cultural diversity firsthand, it’s easy to see why.
He also noted that while Exoticca does offer some variance in its packages to the destination, including cruise offerings and multi-island visits in the Galapagos, the August tour that I took — which featured three nights on San Cristobal, an inhabited island with hotel options — is the most popular.
“A lot of travel advisors selling the Galapagos Islands came to me and said, ‘The reason why we chose Exoticca is we couldn't find anybody else that stayed on the islands,’” Vavrina said. “‘All the other major operators — whether it’s a cruise line or a tour operator — they'll stay on a ship, circle the islands and get off to do excursions. You guys were the only ones I could find that actually stay on the islands.’"
Vavrina noted that many vacationers really prefer being on the island without having to rely on a boat transfer to access all the highlights, and that visitors who overnight on the island leave more of their vacation dollars with Galapagos residents and businesses by eating at local restaurants and joining locally owned excursions.
“It helps the destination, big time,” he said.
Cruise Planners’ Brunson told me, meanwhile, that she’d only send her physically fit and active clients on Exoticca's Ecuador trips, mentioning the substantial amount of walking we did during our fam tour. But the longtime travel seller — who knew very little about Exoticca before joining the fam — said she wouldn’t hesitate to book their products moving forward.
“I was extremely impressed,” Brunson said. “The crew, the staff they had on the ground in Ecuador, that entire team — they did awesome work. They took care of every detail.”
