to cruise or not to cruise ... that is the question ....

used to be the absolutely only way to see the galapagos was to get there and load on a ship ... or a boat ... the biggest the park service allows holds 100 guests ... some are for 16 or less .... in recent years a number of resorts have opened so you have a home base and can venture forth from there ....
disadvantage: you won't see as many islands
advantage: terra firma, comfort
i have children who seem quite prone to motion sickness and am reluctant to pile them onto a ship for a week .... the smaller ships are usually better cruises (less of a pack getting off on an island to explore) bigger ships tend to be stabler, less seasick enducing ....
what to do?
in picking my galapgos  trip, i was limited to dates ... i couldn't pick and choose from the whole year or even the whole summer ..... i was tied to the time my husband had vacation days ..... few cruises easily matched up to his dates except for very short ones .... that would work .... do a short cruise and then stay at a hotel/resort and do daytrips ... best of both worlds ....
so i worked on finding combination trips .... found loads ... but each had something that made me leery ... like six seater planes (i have a family of five) or six hour motor boat trips to far islands .... i'm not even the nervous sort and lots of it was making me doubtful ... maybe my family just wasn't ready for this ....
i decided to do just a cruise or just a resort ....
ok ...
decisions made make me feel better ....
so i researched cruises all over again ... had ecuadorians helping me find the right cruise for my family .... and i just couldn't do it ... conflicting times, cruises too short, too long, too big, too expensive ....
so ... resorts ... let's do a resort and have day trips ....
a must use website is trip advisor ... don't ever go anywhere without checking it ....

i looked at
finch bay eco resort .... go right to the programs tab ... way good stuff ...
red mangrove aventura lodge.... i linked you right up to the galapagos tours ... makes you want to go, right?
la casa de marita ... a little homier ... i love the about us section ....
hotel solymar .... i think i gave you a click that's the english version ....

i looked at these among others ... any catch your eye? make you think you should do a land based vacation rather than the week on a ship?