Galapagos Frequently Asked Questions

The Galapagos National Park licenses each vessel to a fixed itinerary — so charter durations match the published GNP rotations, not custom day counts. The three real product cuts are the eight-day week (Saturday-to-Saturday or Monday-to-Monday — the full licensed rotation, covers either the Western islands or the Eastern-plus-Northern islands), the four-day intro (Friday-to-Monday or Monday-to-Friday — Central and Southern islands, the right length for guests adding Galapagos to a Latin America itinerary), and the back-to-back twelve-day charter (an eight-day plus a four-day on either end, the same vessel and crew, covers ninety-five percent of the licensed Galapagos product on a single charter). For most guests, eight days is the right answer — the wildlife density and the volcanic geology reward the longer week. For first-time Latin America travelers pairing Galapagos with Quito, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu, the four-day Central-and-Southern intro is the cleaner fit. The twelve-day combination is the right answer for guests who want everything in one trip — Western for the marine iguanas and Galapagos penguins, Eastern-plus-Northern for the waved albatross and Kicker Rock, all on one charter.

The base rate covers the entire yacht for your party, captain and crew, a Class III licensed naturalist guide (the highest park-issued guide tier — multi-language, biology background), all meals and a full open bar, panga tenders, snorkel gear and wetsuits, kayaks, paddleboards, and the licensed itinerary fees the vessel pays the park. Park entry, the Galapagos Transit Control Card, the hyperbaric chamber contribution, ferry transfers between airport and yacht, and crew gratuity are itemized at booking and paid separately — not taken out of an APA float during the charter the way a Caribbean or Mediterranean trip handles operational costs. The numbers are known at booking and don't move during the trip. Crew gratuity is customary at ten to fifteen percent of the base rate, paid on disembarkation.

Three structural differences. First, every vessel runs a pre-approved park itinerary — the charter buys out the entire licensed yacht for your party (eight cabins, sixteen to twenty guests depending on the boat), but the route is fixed. The naturalist clears each landing with the park officer at every stop. Second, every charter carries a licensed naturalist for the duration — a separate role from the captain, running the daily program (panga before breakfast, guided landing in the morning, snorkel from the panga before lunch, afternoon zodiac cruise or beach walk, briefing the next day's plan over dinner). Third, all vessels are motor — sailing yachts are not park-licensed for inter-island travel, and the published itineraries cover long inter-island transits overnight while guests sleep. The trade-off: you give up the design-your-own-week flexibility of a BVI or Croatia charter; in exchange you get a wildlife encounter and a geological experience that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Galapagos has two seasons rather than the four-season Mediterranean register, and both work for charter — the choice is about which wildlife events you're after. The warm and wet season runs December through May — sea temperatures in the mid-to-high seventies Fahrenheit, calm seas, the lushest scalesia and palo santo vegetation, marine iguana hatchlings emerging through March, green sea turtle nesting on the south-facing beaches December through March, and the warmest snorkel water of the year. Afternoon rain showers are typical but brief. The cool and dry season runs June through November — Humboldt-current upwelling drops water temperatures to the high sixties and low seventies, drives the highest marine biomass of the year (best snorkeling productivity, the highest density of feeding sea birds and sea lions), and brings the waved albatross to Española from April through December for the courtship and chick-rearing window. Whale shark season at Wolf and Darwin (technically a separate diver-only liveaboard product) is also June through November. For first-time guests we recommend December through April — the warmest water, the most consistent weather, and the calmer-water snorkeling without the wetsuit. Returning guests and serious wildlife enthusiasts often book August through October for the upwelling-driven feeding behavior and the Española albatross window.

Yes — and for first-time Latin America travelers, we recommend it. Quito sits at the start or end of most Galapagos charters (LATAM and Avianca operate the daily domestic flights to Baltra and San Cristóbal from Quito and Guayaquil), and the old town is a UNESCO-inscribed colonial center worth one or two nights either side of the charter. From Quito, the Ecuadorian Amazon is a one-hour flight plus a river transfer (Mashpi Lodge and Napo Wildlife Center are the HNW options, three to four nights) — pairs naturally with Galapagos for guests who want both the marine and terrestrial expedition experience. South of Quito, Peru opens — Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and the Inkaterra and Belmond properties run a separate three-to-five-night module that we coordinate with our Peru partners. The full sequence we book most often is Quito (2 nights) → Galapagos charter (8 days) → Cuzco and Machu Picchu (4 nights), with the second leg running on Belmond Andean Explorer or Belmond Hiram Bingham depending on the schedule. The charter side is the constraint — Galapagos charter departures are Friday or Monday only, so the surrounding land program fits around the yacht's published embarkation dates.

Different Galapagos. Both are full eight-day weeks; both are worth booking; most guests pick one and come back for the other. The Western route (R1 on our page) runs Baltra → North Seymour → Genovesa → Fernandina → Isabela west coast → Santiago → Bartolomé → back to Baltra, and is the right answer for guests who want the youngest, wildest, most-endemic Galapagos — the marine iguanas at Punta Espinoza are the largest in the archipelago, the Galapagos penguin and the flightless cormorant exist only on Fernandina and Isabela's west coast, the Sierra Negra caldera (the second-largest active volcanic crater on Earth) hikes from a south-Isabela landing, and Tagus Cove's nineteenth-century whaler graffiti sits above the anchorage. The Eastern-plus-Northern route (R2) runs San Cristóbal → Española → Floreana → Santa Cruz → North Seymour → Genovesa → Bartolomé → Santa Cruz, and is the right answer for guests who want the bird-and-courtship Galapagos — Española's waved albatross sky-clapping (April through December only), the original wooden mail barrel at Post Office Bay still in use after two hundred and fifty years, Kicker Rock's hammerhead-shark snorkel channel, and Genovesa's red-footed booby and great frigate bird colonies. For one trip, Western is our default recommendation — wildlife density is highest, the geology is most active, and the marquee shots (Pinnacle Rock at Bartolomé, marine iguanas at Fernandina, the Sierra Negra caldera) are all on this route. For repeat travelers or guests who time the trip to April-through-December specifically for the waved albatross, Eastern-plus-Northern is the right book.