Since I can’t go anywhere due to the coronavirus pandemic, I figured why not tell some of my favorite/most memorable travel stories.
Next up, when I saw famous actor Harrison Ford in the Galapagos Islands.
Back in 2016, my family took a trip to the Galapagos Islands for spring break.
It’s an incredible place with some amazingly diverse flora and fauna.
From sea iguanas to the iconic blue-footed boobys, the Galapagos is one of the most unique places I’ve been.
However, the rarest creature I saw there wasn’t a native, in fact it was actor Harrison Ford and his wife Calista Flockhart.
The Galapagos are a pretty small and remote place. They’re an hour and half flight from Guayaquil, on the mainland of Ecuador, and only about 15-odd companies are allowed to operate cruises that go to the uninhabited islands that are mostly untouched by humans. Each boat has a max of around 100 people, but most are much smaller and the boat I was on only had 20 people.
The boat left from San Cristobal Island, one of the four islands in the Galapagos with permanent inhabitants and one of two islands with regular commercial flights to the mainland and headed south to Isla Española, the oldest in the Galapagos. When we arrived the next morning, we had to disembark our larger boat and get into a smaller, inflatable boat called a Zodiac to get onto dry land. There were maybe 2 ships around, but the seas were empty that day.
Our two native guides (whom I forget the names of) then proceeded to lead us on a hike around Isla Española, when, about halfway through, one of them said in a hushed voice, “Guys, so one of my friends is guiding on another boat, and he said that Harrison Ford is in his group and they’re here today.” We couldn’t believe our ears and thought he was lying when he said that.
We continued our hike, looking out for anyone that remotely looks like Han Solo or Indiana Jones, in other groups, when, all of a sudden, our guides stopped us and said, “There he is!” And there he was, a mere 300 feet in front of us, examining a blue-footed booby with his tour group. Naturally, everyone in our group played it cool by immediately pulling out our phones and cameras and taking photos of Harrison. Well, if anyone asks, we were taking photos of the bird his group was examining.
This was a the bird I was taking a photo of in order to get a photo of Harrison Ford
Eventually, our guides decided to be more ambitious and PASS his group. We would get even closer than ever to the Harrison Ford (and Calista Flockhart, can’t forget about her). However, we decided it was best to play it cool and let him enjoy his Galapagos vacation when we passed within 6 inches of him.
Harrison Ford (left) and Calista Flockhart (right). It’s definitely them all right
But wait! The Harrison Ford saga in the Galapagos isn’t over yet! That afternoon, we went on a snorkeling excursion off Isla Española and Harrison’s group happened to be there too. It was harder to pick him out when all our faces were underwater, but eventually, we found someone who we’re 90% sure was him. He seemed old and grumpy (if you’ve ever seen an interview with Harrison Ford, you’ll know he’s grumpy), was wearing a very nice watch and had a white swim shirt on. I swam as close as I felt comfortable getting (I didn’t want to disturb him too much, he was on vacation!) and tried to get a good look at his face to confirm that this guy was in fact, Harrison Ford.
Some of the seals we snorkeled near
For the rest of the trip we looked out for other Star Wars actors and, unfortunately, we didn’t run into Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher (this was before she passed away). Anyways, I have officially been snorkeling and hiking with Harrison Ford in the Galapagos, in what is probably the randomest travel experience I have.
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