Hundreds of lizards lying on rocks, basking in the sun. Some with their little arms around each other. Darling claws. Psycho smiles. The Galapagos is paradise for lizard lovers. On a recent four-night Galapagos cruise with Hurtigruten, I saw lava lizards, land iguanas and my favorites, marine iguanas.

Why a Galapagos cruise?

When I’ve told people about cruising the Galapagos, people often ask why not stay on land. The Galapagos is a delicate ecosystem with many permitting issues for visitors. It’s much easier to let the cruise company figure all that out. Plus, the ship will travel at night so you’ll often wake up in a new place. This is very efficient. Hurtigruten did a fabulous job with comfort, too. There were always well thought-out vegan meals with lots of fresh vegetables. The ship even had self-serve laundry and two jacuzzis!

Learn more about cruising the Galapagos with Hurtigruten

And there were so many other animals besides lizards. We saw Galapagos penguins, flamingos, sea turtles and sea lions. Frigate birds soared over our ship. One of my highlights was snorkeling with a gazillion little fish. It felt like I was part of their school.

To get an overview of my trip, read my article published on USA Today’s Outdoors Wire site. Or, if lizards intrigue you, check out my article in Inhabitat . It delves into the intimate lives of marine iguanas.