"Who wants to be a millionaire?” sing Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm in High Society. “Who wants to journey on a gigantic yacht?” “Do I want a yacht? Oh, how I do not.” Well, maybe those two didn’t, but their co?star Grace Kelly was certainly partial to a yacht. Just a few weeks after she had finished making the film, she became Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco and honeymooned for seven weeks aboard the 145ft Deo Juvante II, given as a wedding gift to her and Prince Rainier by Aristotle Onassis.


Now that same yacht, renamed Grace and the very picture of elegance, just like its illustrious former owner, is plying the waters of the Galápagos Islands off Ecuador, the place where Darwin was inspired to devise his theory of evolution by means of natural selection . With a new film, Grace of Monaco (starring Nicole Kidman), due to open this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it seemed fitting to explore this once-in-a-lifetime destination in that same vessel,cheap wholesale jordans, which in its heyday was not merely a yacht but a superyacht.


Princess Grace was stylish to a fault, beautiful in the extreme and never, ever flash. If she would have adored cruising the Galápagos in her own private yacht,cheap jordans, then she would surely also have appreciated prefacing the voyage with a couple of days in Quito, exploring the capital’s recently restored historic centre. As for a base, Casa Gangotena would have suited her perfectly. The white wedding cake of a Belle ?poque mansion on Plaza San Francisco has been lavishly restored to become the city’s only seriously stylish – but never flash – hotel. Its cool marble halls, exotic garden, roof terrace overlooking the baroque old town and spacious, gracious bedrooms feel serene. Even a princess, however, would have had trouble getting a drink on the days we stayed. Mayoral elections were coming up in Quito and the ley seca (dry law) was in force; in Ecuador no alcohol can be sold for two days before and one day after an election. We suffered bravely.


From Quito, we flew to the Galápagos Islands, bisected by the equator 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Grace was waiting for us, riding at anchor, sleek and white. A classic English motor yacht, she was built for a wealthy industrialist by Camper & Nicholson in 1928. By the close of the Second World War, having been requisitioned and armed at its start, she had done sterling service, receiving Winston Churchill, collecting 300 soldiers on three runs to Dunkirk, even capturing a German E-boat. Nowadays, she is once again laid out to her original design,cheap air jordans,http://www.lil-mart.ru/content/wet-n-wild-%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%B4%D0%BB%D1%8F-%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%B0-10-%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2-color-icon-eyeshadow-palette-e754a-nude#comment-56853cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, with a large saloon, outdoor dining and bar decks, rooftop sun deck and charming wood-panelled cabins. No other Galápagos cruise boat (the number permitted in these waters is restricted to 84) comes close to her for character, and she is manned by a crew of delightful locals.





Our on-board naturalist and guide, Alex Cox, grew up in the islands. His keen eye, encyclopedic knowledge and passionate commitment to conservation were key to the success of our week-long cruise. Guided hiking and snorkelling as well as kayaking are part of every day’s action-packed programme. Stay one week and you will visit 16 of the island’s 60 visitor sights; stay the next week and you would see another 16.


But first we had to get to know our 14 fellow passengers. As my friend Julia and I joined them for our briefing, I scanned the disparate group, caught her eye, rolled mine heavenwards and drew my finger across my throat.


“Would you rather be at home in the rain?” she asked, with the raise of an eyebrow.


“No.”


“Well, shut up then.”


Point taken. There’s only one permitted way to see the islands: in a group, with a guide, and 16 is a good number, neither too many nor too few. And as it turned out,cheap jordan shoes, our shipmates, ranging from Congressman to care-home nurse, offshore powerboat champion to teacher,jordans for cheap, and in age from 29 to 70 or so, were engaging, warm and funny. Drawn together by our shared experiences and our wonder at all we saw, we bonded quickly. “Hurry – get into the pangas,” ordered Alex at breakfast one beautiful morning when Grace was anchored majestically alone in Tagus Bay. A few minutes later we were within touching distance of a family of killer whales, circled by cavorting sea lions and haloed by frenzied pelicans and frigate birds. For nearly an hour we were so close to the three orcas that we could clearly see them downing one and then another sunfish. No group, however diverse, could fail to connect after that.







Three things astonished me. First, the well-documented yet still mind-boggling indifference to humans of the indigenous birds, reptiles and mammals that renders the Galápagos a Disney movie come to life. Second, the fact that each island we visited was quite different (we moved twice a day and sailed between islands overnight). Third, the volcanic landscapes: often lush but mostly starkly beautiful. Even without the 1,300 species found nowhere else on Earth that inhabit them, they would be worth the long journey.


From the moment, as we waited to board the boat, that we had to politely ask a sea lion to vacate a bench at the dock, Julia and I were hooked. A couple of hours later, we had seen, gathered together on one small rock, pelicans, displaying frigate birds, blue-footed boobies and marine iguanas, plus a huge manta ray idly flipping its wing above the surface of the water. From then on, we knew an extraordinary week was about to unfold.


It just kept getting better, with a remarkable sighting or encounter each time we went on land or under sea. We saw at close quarters seahorses, multicoloured fish, turtles, sea lions – both furred and smooth – giant tortoises and land iguanas in droves, hammerhead and white-tipped sharks, a short-eared owl taking out a storm petrel, penguins, eight of Darwin’s 13 finches, flightless cormorants, those cul-de-sacs of evolution shooting past us as we swam, elegant red-billed tropicbirds, all sorts of boobies and so much more. By the end of the cruise, in the little town of Puerto Ayora, we hardly so much as glanced at the sea lions flopped on the back of boats and along the seafront. The definition of luxury? The mugs of hot chocolate we were served while basking together in the hot tub on the sun deck after a lengthy, invigorating snorkelling trip.





Back in Quito, we met Grace’s owner, Dolores Gangotena, whose family home, until it was sold, just happened to be our hotel, the lovely Casa Gangotena. Dolores first visited the Galápagos in the early Seventies as an 18-year-old, hitching a ride on a freighter with two school friends. “It was love at first sight,” she told us. She and her husband, Eduardo, were among the first to start a cruise business there, and it was Eduardo who found Grace for sale, in a sorry state, in Fort Lauderdale and restored her.


With upwards of 200,000 visitors to the archipelago each year and more than 30,000 inhabitants now living on the four inhabited islands, there are many dangers facing the natural laboratory that is the Galápagos. What threatens most are imported goods. Vast amounts arrive by boat in poorly protected containers, which could hold invasive species with the potential to devastate.





The fly that embeds itself in the nests of terrestrial birds is causing havoc, as is the humble but rampant blackberry. Another pressing problem, according to Dolores, is the quality of some of the 600 guides, who must by law be locals. “It’s becoming harder to find guides with the passion and commitment we require,” she says. And without someone of the calibre of Alex, we might have felt that we were no more than tourists trotting round a nature theme park.


In April 1956, Grace Kelly sailed from New York to Monaco to begin her new life as a princess. Her steamship dropped anchor outside the harbour and her fiancé collected her from there aboard Deo Juvante II. They disembarked in Monte Carlo, 20,000 citizens lining the streets to greet them. Nearly 60 years on, the combination of that fine yacht and a superb guide turned a great week in the Galápagos into one seared for ever into our memories. Who wants to be a millionaire? I do.


Fiona Duncan travelled with Bailey Robinson (01488 689700; baileyrobinson.com), which offers seven nights’ full board (excluding drinks and gratuities) on the MY Grace, including tours, transfers, guides and local taxes, plus international and local flights and two nights’ accommodation in Quito from ?5,585 per person, based on two sharing a cabin.


Getting there


Iberia (0870 609 0500; iberia.com) flies from Heathrow to Quito via Madrid from ?664 per person return. Aerogal (aerogal.com.ec) flies from Quito to the Galápagos from ?280 return.


Getting around


Whether you stay in a hotel (most are in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island) or on a cruise boat or private yacht, you may not visit any of the islands without a guide and the correct permits,cheap retro jordans, obtained in advance. Individual travel is restricted and expensive; joining a cruise is the easiest option.


When to go


There’s never a bad time. December to May brings drizzle but also warmer water, while the Humboldt Current brings colder water and weather in the summer, but also a wider variety of fish. As for flora and fauna, there is a rich variety at all times of the year.


Where to stay in Quito


Casa Gangotena ???
A superb hotel by any standards, and certainly Quito’s finest, set in a former private mansion in the old town (00593 2400 8000; casagangotena.com).


La Casona de la Ronda ??
Recently restored 18th-century colonial mansion in pretty pedestrian Ronda, part of the old town, which comes alive in the evenings (2228 7538; lacasonadelaronda.com).


Casa Aliso ?
Quaint, cosy and charming small hotel in a 1936 house with a pretty garden (2252 8062; casaaliso.com).


The inside track


The quickest way to ask for a better price: “tiene rebaja?” (can you discount it?)


On the cruise, give yourself time off occasionally by relaxing on the sun deck instead of trips ashore or snorkelling. If you do it early on in the week you’ll have the boat to yourselves. Others will do the same but towards the end of the week.


The Galápagos is not a good drying environment: denim can take two days or so to dry so take lighter cotton clothes; also sandals that work well for both wet and dry landings.


Bring plug adapters. Ecuador uses American-style 110v plugs.


The currency is the US dollar. Avoid large denominations: $1, $10 and $20 bills are the most widely used.


Check the qualifications and experience of your guide before booking. A knowledgeable, friendly and active guide is crucial to the success of a cruise.
Visit the Telegraph Cruise Shows
Come along to the Telegraph Cruise Show in Liverpool, October 11-12 2014 and London, January 9-11 2015. Get tickets and sign up for the newsletter at www.telegraph.co.uk/cruiseshow


Read more


The Galápagos Islands: Trip of a Lifetime
Mark Carwardine offers all you need to know about visiting the Galápagos Islands, in the second instalment of our new series on the world’s greatest journeys.










Follow @TelegraphTravel





On Tuesday, Philippe Lamberts, the Greens’ representative on the British withdrawal steering group in the European Parliament, denounced the UK as a "gangster". A few weeks before, Michel Barnier,http://www.cascsite.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=40506cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, the European Commission’s lead negotiator on Britain’s withdrawal, also fired a shot across the bows. In his words, the British decision to leave



"was a decision that came after a series of attacks on European soil, committed by young people who grew up in Europe, in our countries. It was a decision that came six months after the French minister of defence issued a call for solidarity to all his European counterparts to join forces to fight the terrorism of Daesh. Never had the need to be together, to protect ourselves together, to act together been so strong, so manifest. Yet rather than stay shoulder to shoulder with the union, the British chose to be on their own again."



These statements are part of a growing number of snipes and slurs delivered by continental politicians, which seem to be designed to reposition Britain as a kind of pariah for its temerity to leave the EU.


However, on closer inspection, it is important to realise that such claims are made without foundation. Aside the fact that the British government provided Mr. Barnier’s own country – France – with military logistical assistance in its fight against Islamist groups in North Africa, the UK is no shirker of its responsibilities as an underwriter of the defence of Europe. Not only did it take a disproportionate role in the creation and nurturing of NATO during the Cold War, for it has continued to commit its nuclear forces to the defence of the alliance ‘in all circumstances’ since 1962.


It should therefore be no surprise then that since the Russian annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014, the UK has been one of the staunchest supporters of NATO’s deterrence strategy. It has sent the largest number of troops to support its Eastern European allies, with 800 troops deployed to Estonia, 150 to Poland and Eurofighter Typhoons deployed periodically as part of NATO’s air policing missions in the Baltic and Black sea regions. In 2017, it is leading NATO’s rapid reaction force, which is designed to be able to deploy speedily to the eastern border of NATO – and the EU – to provide an additional layer of deterrence.


But more than that, the UK is unique among Western countries in its international commitments: it meets both NATO’s 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) baseline for defence expenditure, and the commitment by wealthy countries made in the 1970s to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on Official Development Assistance (ODA), otherwise known as foreign aid. No other Western country meets both.


The US President, Donald Trump, came under much fire from European countries at the beginning of the year ...uot;owed" his nation a vast amount of money for the defence and security it provides to Europe. It is even rumoured that – as a joke – he presented the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, with a bill with US$300 billion printed on it,Kicksokok.com, an approximation of the amount Germany "owed" Washington for underfunding NATO. Of course, Mr Trump was rightly criticised for his apparent misunderstanding of how NATO and defence spending work.





On another level, though, he was onto something. It is a well known fact that most mainland European countries have been underfunding their armed forces for years, an issue alluded to by all past American presidents in recent times, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Indeed, according to NATO, only Estonia, Greece, Poland, Romania, and the UK are expected to meet the target in 2017. NATO informally agreed to this target – spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence – as long ago as 2006. And it was formally accepted in 2014. Since then, only the less affluent countries of Eastern Europe – commendably – have begun to make significant real increases in their military expenditure, while the largest European countries have done very little.


What is less well known are the sums involved: with the exception of the UK, the European countries that are members both of NATO and the EU effectively shortchanged European security by US$96 billion in 2016, and by US$451 billion over the past five-year period (2012-2016). It is the largest and richest NATO/EU members that are still the leading miscreants: Germany – with its vast trade surplus – shortchanged European security by US$142 billion over the past five years (2012-2016); Italy by US$90 billion; Spain by US$75 billion; the Netherlands by US$64 billion; and France by US$24 billion. Meanwhile, insofar as the UK still exceeds NATO’s target, it spent an additional US$23.9 billion on defence over the same five-year period, meaning it provides, in effect, a subsidy towards the defence of Europe.


Further, most mainland European countries are not meeting their commitment to the world’s poorest people either, in the form of spending 0.7 per cent of their GDP on foreign aid. On average, they spend around 0.3 per cent of their GDP on Official Development Assistance, meaning they shortchanged the world’s poor by US$199 billion over the same five-year period. And again, the largest countries are the worst culprits: Germany – which has made much ado recently about the possibility of including foreign aid spending in NATO’s 2% target – shortchanged the world’s poor by US$36.4 billion between 2012-2016; France by US$36.9 billion; Italy by US$45,jordan shoes.2 billion; Spain by US$30.2 billion and the Netherlands and Belgium by US$5.9 billion between them. The UK also shortchanged the world’s poor – by US$3,http://ezyrecon.com/files/cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg.25 billion from 2012-2016 – but this was primarily in the period before an Act of Parliament was passed mandating the country to spend 0.7 per cent of its GDP on foreign aid.




This is not to say that the EU should overlook the UK’s final financial contribution insofar as London plays a leading role in their own defence. Rather, it is to assert that Europeans might be reminded of their own shortcomings.


It is all very well committing oneself to European peace, but quite another to provide the means for it to be upheld. What is very clear is that Britain – far from acting like a ‘gangster’ – is a deeply committed custodian of the European order, as it has been since the end of the Second World War.


As such, European officials and politicians might do well to offer the UK due regard and goodwill during the upcoming negotiations over the future of the Brussels-London relationship.