A family trip to these magical islands unlocked our best vacation yet. Pictured here on Bartolomé Island. Photo by Leigh Taveroff/Postmedia

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The water was warm and I was busy watching the fish and one curious little octopus unfurl from a crevice below me when I heard a squeal. All of a sudden I felt something move fast beside me, and I heard the squeals turn into a clear, shrill, “Sea lions!” I quickly moved my head back into the water and looked down to see three of them doing somersaults to my left.

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We had slipped off the Sea Lion Yacht near Bartolomé Island, and within minutes a sleek, little flash zipped past our group — a Galápagos penguin, small and speedy. The sea lions continued to twirl around us, curious and playful, weaving between us and the penguin as we tried to follow it, hoping to get a closer glimpse. My four-year-old daughter couldn’t stop giggling, full of excitement for what we were witnessing. We floated there as we spotted another penguin climbing up the nearby rocks to sun itself.

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Metropolitan Touring’s Sea Lion Yacht takes travellers on day trips around the Galápagos Islands. Photo by Leigh Taveroff/Postmedia

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“Mommy, there’s a turtle below us!” she said, clinging to her life raft. I poked my head under to see a green sea turtle rising up from the reef below, with two blacktip reef sharks circling even deeper. A marine iguana was spotted next, looking like it was trying to win a race as it glided across the top of the water, its tail swinging behind it. A snorkelling trip to remember, we were all in awe of the biodiversity we’d already experienced in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, on the second day of our family trip.

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The rare and endangered Galápagos penguin. Photo by Leigh Taveroff/Postmedia

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After a meal and a snooze on the Sea Lion Yacht, we came ashore on Santa Cruz at our home for the next few days: Finch Bay Hotel. The hotel is a sun-drenched paradise that overlooks the rugged shoreline of one of the most populated islands in the Galápagos. You wouldn’t know it here at Finch Bay, which felt like our own little sanctuary. We stayed in one of the Evolution Suites, and I still dream about the bathroom. The tub sat beside a floor-to-ceiling window that looked straight out over the ocean, with cactus, flowers and bright green plants in the foreground.

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The dreamy bathroom in our suite at the Finch Bay Hotel. Photo by Leigh Taveroff/Postmedia

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The suite was complete with warm wood, soft linens and a big balcony where we drank iced coffee and had downtime from the sun. The pool was a short walk from our room, although the regular stops to watch sunning iguanas or salamanders clinging to the walls slowed down our pace. It had a shallow ledge next to the deep end, perfect for our entire family to enjoy — if we weren’t at the beach (right in front of the pool) we were here.

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Meals at Finch Bay were a highlight: fresh ceviche, grilled fish with citrus and herbs and breakfasts of papaya, passion fruit and fresh pressed juices plus lots of kid-friendly options. Birds visited every common space — finches, mockingbirds, herons and even a lava gull one lucky day — much to my toddlers’ delight. The staff was attentive, and no request seemed too big.

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No trip to the Galápagos is complete without viewing the blue-footed booby. Photo by Leigh Taveroff/Postmedia

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The morning before the penguin sighting, we boarded the Sea Lion Yacht for North Seymour Island. We found blue-footed boobies performing the theatrical courtship. I’d seen it in a David Attenborough documentary, but they were right in front of us and we watched as they lifted their bright feet and honked to their mate as our naturalist guide explained the ritual. Frigatebirds showed off their red throat pouches all puffed up like balloons when a male tried to impress a female. We walked along trails where land iguanas lounged all around us, blending into the clay. On the return trip we snorkelled again and found a different set of creatures: huge schools of small reef fish and stingrays gliding across the sand.