Galapagos Islands Small Boat Cruises

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Visit Galapagos Islands Ecuador can be a truly tropical paradise, one of the most outstanding creatures around the world can be found on the Galapagos Islands. A holiday to Galapagos could be the voyage of their existence for the majority of tourists. The wild animals in Galapagos you will encounter can’t be found in other regions, but in this place ocean and land wildlife and wild birds are more approachable.

You can easily find Boobies, giant tortoises, iguanas among others, could be found really near throughout your activities. If you like surfing or diving, sea lions will be playing with you and below them, turtles and tame sharks could be encounter.

When is a good time to go to the Galapagos?

The Galapagos Islands, situated in the Pacific Ocean, about a thousand kilometers west of Ecuador, have a very particular climate, warm and semi-arid, with an incredibly hot and relatively rainy season coming from January to May, and a cool and dry time, but also foggy and misty, through July to November.

The areas of the Galapagos are dry, except in the bigger islands, which receive much more rain. As was documented by Charles Darwin, who as you may know analyzed the peculiarities of the species living in the isles, their climate is much cooler than a person would likely expect from a place based at the Equator, as a result of Humboldt Current, which reaches the area after circulating in the water west of South America. Anyway, here the weather is variable from one year to another, because there are different water flows that meet or alternate in the region (additionally there is a hot current coming from Central America, which runs at a little distance and is extra active in the years of El Niño), which means conditions are hard to forecast.

On the coasts, the rainfall amounts to under 600 millimeters (20 inches) every year, so it’s not abundant. This is actually the common rainfall in Puerto Baquerizo; we can easily see the simple fact that in the hot period, few millimeters per month accumulate, thanks to mainly to drizzle and dew development.

When to go

Generally, the Galapagos could be traveled to all year round. However, the perfect time to go to Galapagos, in case you also wish to go swimming and take sunbathes, runs from February to May, because it’s the hottest and sunniest, even though there might be several rains or thunderstorms in the evening.

The low-temperature season, from July to November, is usually suggested to explore the outdoors, because it rarely rains on the plains and the temperature is pleasurable, even though you need to take into consideration mists, haze and gloomy skies. From September to November the sea can be a little rough, and this could bother those who have problems with motion sickness, during catamaran travels from one isle to the next.

What to bring

From December to May (warm cycle): light clothing, a lightweight sweatshirt for the evening hours, light raincoat or outdoor umbrella for rainfall showers; sun cap (after all, we are at the Equator). For hiking in the hills and the Vulcan Wolf, a bit warmer sport shirt and raincoat, walking footwear.

From June to November (low-temperature cycle): light outfits, t-shirt or sweater and light coat for the night.

For the reef, gear for surfing, water shoes or rubber soled footwear.

Galapagos Islands Cruise Itineraries

Every accredited vessel sailing the Galapagos follows a 15-day route approved and established by Galapagos National Park. During this period of time, a boat might not go to the same site twice, with the exclusion of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz. How lines segment the 15 times can fluctuate, but four-, five- and eight-day choices are the standard. Passengers can frequently combine these sections into 11-, 12- and 15-day cruises.

All boats basically follow the same protocol, irrespective of itinerary: Island visits and extra-curricular tasks are done throughout the day, and the majority of navigation is done immediately.

All cruises start or end at one of two islands with a airport: Baltra, a U.S. military outpost during WWII turned Ecuadorian air base, or San Cristobal, the Galapagos’ second most populated island and home to the capital of their province, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

Because the approach to cruising has been standardized, picking the proper itinerary has a lot to do with cruisers determining which visitor websites are on their must-visit lists. Port research — particularly photo searching — is key. Keep in mind that the more the cruise, the farther west the boat will reach. That’s not to say the western islands are far better — it is a matter of personal preference. When you rail is also an important consideration.

There’s one main exception: “Live aboard” ships carrying experienced divers are the only craft to see the northern islands, Darwin and Wolf, prime places for ski lovers. At Darwin, where there is no landing website, schools of hammerheads are known to congregate.

Most passengers will spend a day or two exploring Quito or Guayaquil pre or post-cruise. It is basically necessary, provided the flight logistics.

The most popular months for Galapagos cruises are between June and August and again in the middle of December to January. Plan ahead if you wish to visit during the peak tourist times. Visiting out of those periods will still offer plenty of experiences and wildlife experiences, but costs may be lower with fewer other tourists around.

With minimal variation in air and water temperatures throughout the year, and numerous species which are not migratory, an Isabela Island cruise is an excellent experience at any time. Ordinarily, however, the waters are better between January and March, which makes this a perfect time for enthusiastic snorkeling enthusiasts. The driest months are typically between August and December, perfect for beach lovers.

Visit the Galapagos in January to watch green sea turtles coming and laying eggs on the shores, and in April to see the eggs. July is the prime month for visiting whales off the western coast of Isabela Island. Bird spotters will likely prefer to see Isabela Island between August and March, once the number of migratory birds is at its summit. October is the breeding interval for fur seals, although brown nodes are sexually active in November. December is the best month should you want to witness the hatching of giant tortoises.

Before linking any Galapagos cruises, you will initially need to make your way to mainland Ecuador. International flights generally arrive at the country’s capital city of Quito, even though it is also possible to take a long trip to Guayaquil. Flights to the Galapagos Islands leave every day from the Quito and Guayaquil.

Baltra Island gets the busiest airport around the Galapagos Islands, however flights arrives too on San Cristobal. Your tour operator will normally arrange transportation from the airport to a cruise departure point from Baltra or from San Cristobal. Isabela Island Tours normally depart from Puerto Ayora, an important port on Santa Cruz Island.

Galapagos Animals

The Galapagos penguin is the sole available from the northern hemisphere and to breed in the tropics.

A Galapagos tortoise can weigh around 595lb (270kg) with a carapace length of 4ft (1.2m) and outlive many humans.

The endemic Galapagos fur sea lions would be the smallest one of the world’s seven species of fur sea lions

The Galapagos Islands are home to the world’s largest cormorant and the only one struggling to fly.

Galapagos has one of the world’s rarest ecosystems where the herbivores at the peak of the food chain are reptiles.

Galapagos Swallow-tailed gulls are the only gulls on earth to feed at night time.

The Galapagos boasts the world’s largest and just red-footed booby colony.

The Galapagos is one of the few areas of the world where turtles continue to be a frequent sight. More than 400 species of fish have been recognized from the Galapagos, with 41 species unique to the islands.

At 30cm in length and with a large pair of venomous jaws, the endemic centipede (Scolopendra galapagoensis) is one of the Islands’ most feared creatures.

A lichen poll in June 2010 by the Charles Darwin Foundation discovered more than 60 new species in the Galapagos with a estimated ten species new to science.

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