... the most expensive zoo ever visited. These islands are part of the UNESCO national park. Because of this, the whole procedure to get in needs some paperwork and have high costs (see fees at the end of this page). Only 3 islands are authorized for cruisers, San Cristobal, Isabela and Santa Cruz. And only one anchorage per island. The entry laws/rules changes regularly. Today it’s not possible to visit these islands with your boat without the help of an agent. You need to start the procedure with him at least 1 month before your arrival. Our buddy boat and we asked offers by several agents. We did not receive a final price, just lists with prices, every agent naming similar points a bit differently and the prices was on some points the same, on some others totally different. It has 3 different entry options:
No matter which option you choose, you will need to have a fumigation certificate. As the prices doesn’t vary a lot, and that we did not wanted to be kicked out after some days, we choose the multiple islands entry option.
Our conclusion: We consider our visit as “the most expensive zoo ever visited”. The islands are beautiful, it have many animals that we can see close. But for people who travelled with their boat around Caribbean like us, except of the sea lions and penguins, we did not see animals we didn’t encounter before. We think it may be good to calculate if a visit from Ecuador by plane would not be a cheaper solution. As you need to book a lot of tours to see around the islands, we think that a live aboard tour may be interesting to look for. For divers, I would consider seriously about a live aboard tour. The day dives tours costs between 150-200 USD, and don’t forget the costs of changing islands, as the good spots are around every island. The whole entry procedure is meant to protect the islands of new invasive animals and plants. But the way it is done by cruisers arrival (more details hereunder) looks like to be more an occupation for personal as it changes from authority-person to authority-person and from boat to boat. Many things make no sense to us: Hull control: not every boat is checked and we doubt that they do the same procedure theatre for the ships bringing food and fuel from the mainland. Changing islands papers and control: why organising Zarpe between islands which costs and why making controls that was already done on the other island? It gave us the impression to change country! Medical control: not every boat is checked and we’re asking us on which law they can take medicine out of date away. Cruisers cannot replace them easily there and may need them during the crossing to French Polynesia. Garbage separation: we totally agree with this, but doubt of the efficacy on how they do it. In San Cristobal we had to leave our trash by the agency, nobody asked which kind of trash it was. In Isabela we saw a truck taking all the trash together. In Santa Cruz it had separated trash, but people just fill it like they want. Need of black water tank: we agree with this except of the fact of not allowing the rare cruisers who has no black water tank. When you see the thousands of sea lions hanging around in San Cristobal and knowing the mess they can leave on your boat, some boats without black water tank is nothing! National Park fees paid several times: We paid 100.-/person by entrance,
which you pay also if you come by plane. By booking tours, a certain amount of
the price is for the National Park fees! That’s the reason why kids pay the
same price than an adult, and why a ½ day snorkelling tour costs 100$. A park
ranger’s coming on the pier controlling all the tour boats, and they have to
pay per Person, no matter if kid or adult. We was told
about the reason of the changes of entry rules and prices. Galapagos has more
and more tourists visiting them each year and they try to minimize this. A
person working in a tour agency since 19 years told us that the problem isn’t
the cruisers, but the tourists from the mainland that has tripled! With the food/animal/plant restriction, we heard that here the problem isn’t the cruisers, but the locals!
CRUISERS INFORMATION Inspection at your arrival: A lot of people (8-12) will come on board to check different things, fill in some papers, everyone and everything on the same time. Hull: You will need to have a clean hull (no alga, no barnacle…), a diver will come to check it. It is recommended to make a last cleaning on the way. Don’t forget the thruster tube if you have one. We stopped at the equator and did a last clean as it had no wind/waves. We cleaned it well in Las Perlas and was surprised to see that during our passage, the hull covered itself by green alga. Garbage: You need to have it separated and well designed. I’ve read once something about different coloured bags and did not find it any more. We did not receive any information about this from our agent. So I put coloured bags in several buckets and tape a paper mentioning which garbage it is. It was fine. In Santa Cruz I saw 3 garbage buckets: green for organics, blue for recyclable and black for not recyclable. Engines: Somebody will have a look at them and see how you do, if you have oil leaking. We had baby diapers under it and they said it was the best. Black water tank: you need it to be allowed in these waters. They will have a look at it and ask you about the capacity. Food: we heard many thinks about the food accepted
and not. It’s a bit difficult to know, as it seems that it depends of the
person who’s processing your inspection. For sure, no oranges, chilies, berries
and passion fruits are allowed. We heard about bananas as well, but friend of
us could keep their. No fresh meat, frozen looks like ok, but I heard they took
frozen beef away (not the whole lot!). No fresh cheese… By the inspection, they
asked us if we have seeds, this looks like not to be allowed. They also asked
if we have pasta from Panama, they said it may have bugs in it. Medicine: a doctor comes on board to check the board
medicines. We had none. Animals: No alive animals are allowed. Friends of us had no problem as they registered their dog as a service dog. But only one agent (Bolivar) was OK with it. Plants: No alive plants are allowed. They will control the bilge, your security equipment, go more or less thoughtfully through your boat to find any dead insect. The whole check is to preserve the national park of the entry of new animal species. So I was really surprised to see a lot of cockroaches, cats and dogs running through the streets. The check varies up to who comes on board and how motivated they are.
Inspection in Isabela: When we arrived in Isabella, we had a small inspection. They wanted to see our security equipment and made some pictures of it. It gave the impression as the same inspection in San Cristobal had no importance.
Departure inspection: We left Galápagos from Santa Cruz, in order to avoid the fees to let the officials coming to Isabela. These fees are 140.00$ and we learned too late that you can organise the departure between different boats and share these fees. 2-6 persons
come on board to inspect your vessel. They look everywhere to make sure you
haven’t token illegal stuffs from the country (f.ex. turtles).
Anchorages: San
Cristobal: Wreck bay, Puerto Bequerizo Moreno Isabela:
Puerto Villamil Santa Cruz:
Puerto Ayora
Watertaxis: The use of dinghies are not recommended. In San Cristóbal the sea lions love to get into them to sleep, in Isabella you need first to know where to go through the reef, in Santa Cruz it has no safe place to let your dinghy. Watertaxis
are organised on every island and respond on VHF 14. At night you’ll have to
ask how long they work because it may change from one day to another. In San
Cristóbal our agent told us that they work till midnight but one day they
stoped at 7pm, another on 9 pm. In Santa Cruz they work 24hours per day.
On the 3 weeks we was there, we (2 adults + 3 kids) mostly, but not only, used watertaxis. We spent about 140$ for watertaxis, (unexpected fees).
Internet / local sim card: You can buy
Claro Sim card which costs 8$ then you pay 5.- for 1GB valid for 2 weeks.
Shopping / eating: It has fruits and veggies markets on San Cristóbal and Santa Cruz (La fería in Santa Cruz on Saturday is best, go with a taxi 1.50/ride). It has a supermarket in Santa Cruz near the dock. The prices varies, some stuffs are normal price and some others are expensive. On the 3 islands you’ll find local restaurants with local prices (not on the waterfront). They offer menus for 4.- to 8.- USD. Usually it contains a soup, a main plate and a juice.
Visits on the islands: It is not possible to visit the whole island by yourself. Many places you need to book tours, which are expensive. It has many tours operators, prices may vary a little bit, but not a lot. The last minute prices panels are just to get you, we didn’t see any price difference, and sometimes, they was already booked!
Fuel: It looks like that each agent has his island to refuel. Ours did it in Santa Cruz, he organized a taxiboat which came to pick up our jerricans and brought them back a bit later. We heard from other cruisers that it was complicated on this island because it’s far away. We also organised through our diving center some fuel in San Cristobal. We went with them to the station with our boat papers. We was told that cruisers has to go through agent, the fuel is not for tourists! We’ve got our fuel, but the guy was not happy. Some agent ask a 50.- for the fuel permit, some agent it’s part of the agent fees. Anyway, you won’t pay the fuel price indicated on the fuel pump but the tourist price which is nearly 4 times more expensive.
San Cristóbal island: Activities you can do without a tour:
Tours we made:
Isabela Island: Activities you can do without a tour:
We met a nice “taxi truck” driver that was very helpful. His truck has places for 18 people and his prices are OK. He speaks only Spanish: Octon: +593 96 864 70 94, he has Whatsapp. It has a kayak tour bringing near to the anchorage to see penguins (Tintoreras). We are not allowed to go by our own. We were told to pass by with the dinghy early morning or late afternoon when no tour is there. It’s nearly on the way to the main dock by low tide. You’ll see some buoys near the island, just next to the fishing boats anchorage. The penguins are on the rocks. Tour we made:
Santa Cruz: Activities you can do without a tour:
Don’t miss: Have a look at the fish market. We made the funniest video, as sea lions, iguanas and pelicans try to get fish from the market ladies. Go on the dock at night time and look in the water on both sides. You’ll see plenty of juvenile sharks and may see some rays, turtle and sea lions. Tour we made:
Fees:
 Electronical sea maps can be displaced! left: Navionics OK, right CM93 (2005 & 2012) displaced on OpenCPN Up: Santa Cruz, down: Isabela Information: April 2019 Are these information useful? Thanks to offer us a drink!
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