Clothing and insect protection
Hello, for this trip does it make sense to spray your clothes with permethrin for mosquito and insect protection? Also, should I plan to wear long sleeves for sun and insect protection? How about long pants versus shorts? Thank you!
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We almost always wear long sleeves for these kind of trips. The islands are on the Equator so the sun is intense. You can always roll up your sleeves. We are going again in the summer and I will also take thin shorts for the wet landings so they dry more easily. Don’t forget a broad brimmed hat. Oh gosh, I look so young from all this sun protection 😂😂😂😂
No harm in spraying your clothes, they are protected through many washes so you could use them for other trips. If you cover up with long sleeves, you need less repellent on your skin.
Thank you for the great input! What kind of foot wear do you use and then change into for the wet landings?
We used water shoes for the wet landings and had a waterproof bag with the shoes/socks/towel that we would use and change into once on shore.
Here is a picture on the beach shortly after a wet landing. You can see people drying off and changing into walk they plan to wear on land and some various bags,
A few other pictures showing clothing on shore.
A picture certainties paints a thousand words! I’d like to point out the photo where the people are walking on the lava rock. This can be sharp and jagged, so a closed toe shoe with a good sole is always recommended by the tour guides. I think it’s called so,etching like ah ha lava…yes it can be really sharp if you miss your footing.
We do the same as Sam, water shoes and then change for wet landings. I take fully enclosed shoes, sneaker style, or closed toe sandals. Personally, I would never wear the very open type of sandals that I see a couple of the women wearing in that first photo on the islands. The tour directors do not encourage them because of the lack of protection from stubbing your toes on rocks. I still remember the family who took just flip flops on our first time in Galapagos, the guides were not happy at all. It really slowed the group up as they tried to navigate the islands with the challenging terrain.
British - the open toed sandals you are referring to were their waterproof shoes used to get to the beach. They were waiting for a place to sit to change into their walking shoes like seen in the other photos.
In the same picture you are referring to you can see Naturalists at the left of the photo. They are wearing a variety of sandals. 😆
Ah yes, but closed toe, the sort I was referring to.
Another photo to reinforce about walking on the lava!
Thank you all for your terrific input - the photos are VERY helpful and informative!
@Smiling Sam These pictures are AMAZING - SO HELPFUL! I also want to add the @British is my "go to" person for shoes (and other things too but since we are talking about shoes!)- she totally nailed it for our Safari in Africa. @Smiling Sam what time of year was your trip? Also, it seems that most people with walking sticks are only using one- is that because they were limited in number or is one most appropriate (I'm asking because we just purchased sets of two for our upcoming trip- should we return one and just split the set?). I'm looking very carefully at your photos- there is a water bottle carrier that a lot of people have- is that something that they give you or is that a good thing to have that we should purchase? There's a lot of "stuff" around the necks :-). Our trip in in April so super excited!
Fayeron - Our trip was in March.
I can’t provide any insights on walking sticks. I’ve never used them and as such haven’t paid much attention to any of their usage details.
I am going back to Galapagos in July. I’ve been in December and March too, there is not much difference, though some animals are more scarce at certain times of the year.
Unless you are really unsteady, then one stick each is sufficient. There is definitely a learning curve even just using one stick. You might want to practice…..when walking, don’t let the stick go behind you and never point with one in your hand, I’ve almost been tripped up and blinded by people doing those things….. We never used them the first two times we went, but we are older now and have some from hiking on a Patagonia tour, not the Tauck one, more challenging. So as we are older now, we might take one each. No restrictions on how many sticks you use…there could be a restriction on metal points, I can’t recall.
Tauck seems to give out water bottles on every tour these days, most are really heavy even when empty, I’m anticipating we will get then there again.
We always have binoculars and a camera, whether phone or big camera round our necks on these kind of tours. The first time we used buffs was in Galapagos, we love them, great for shielding the neck both from sun and cushioning of the the stuff slung round your neck.