Galápagos giant tortoises are the only remaining wild population of large tortoises in the Northern Hemisphere’s tropical Pacific, and they are far easier to see than most visitors expect. Unlike the archipelago’s marine species, tortoises are terrestrial, slow moving and concentrated in a small number of accessible habitats, which means a well planned day can … Read more
A Galápagos naturalist cruise is priced per person, per night, in a market where the number of vessels is capped by law. That single regulatory fact explains most of what confuses first time buyers. There are roughly 60 to 70 authorised passenger boats in the archipelago, itineraries are approved by the National Park rather than … Read more
Diving in the Galápagos operates under a two-tier system that has little to do with comfort preferences and everything to do with regulation. A small licensed fleet of dive liveaboards holds permission to visit Darwin and Wolf, the two remote northern islands where hammerhead aggregations and seasonal whale sharks concentrate. Everyone else dives from a … Read more
September falls in the middle of the Galápagos cool season, the months when the Humboldt Current pushes cold, nutrient-dense water north along the South American coast and into the archipelago. Sea surface temperatures drop to their annual minimum, skies turn overcast, and the ocean becomes markedly more productive than it is during the warm months … Read more
Two of the most requested snorkeling day tours in the Galápagos depart from different islands, sit roughly 90 kilometers apart, and deliver almost opposite experiences in the water. Kicker Rock, known locally as León Dormido, is a vertical volcanic monolith rising from open ocean off San Cristóbal, where snorkelers float above a channel more than … Read more