Coming from Panama City, we entered the Galapagos Islands at the beginning of December 2021, with the help of the Agent “Yachtgala – Galapagos Yacht Services“. Yachtgala has offices on all main islands, however I was advised to enter in San Cristobal, Wreck Bay. The procedure was well organized – even when having seven officials on board!

Note that payment must be done in advance and Yachtgala does not loan the money in advance. For Credit Card payments they charge 12% surcharge.  Here are the  prerequisites for entering that we experienced:

• Ship registration
• Ship insurance
• Zarpe from last port (Panama)
• Fumigation certificate
• Underwater cleaning certificate
• Passports
• Crew list
• Full vaccination papers 2x !(European certification or vaccination passport)
• PCR test negative, not older then 24 hours before departure from last port

Official Checks Onboard

The Health department entered the boat first and checked our health status, including taking our temperatures while a diver checked the hull underwater.

The Environment department checked for any fluid/ oil in the bottom of the boat, especially the engine rooms.

The Biological department checked any corner of the boat for the import of anything which is not allowed.  It is recommended to comply with the official list of “not allowed products“. They find will find everything!

They looked in any original packed packages of noodles and rice to find any parasites they do not want to have on land. They even asked us to clean the soles of our shoes!  They really fear we bring anything onshore which might have an impact on their biological environment.  We should accept this and even better support them as best as we can.

During the whole process they were very polite and explained the WHY! of everything they were doing.  We did not get punished and nothing was taken from us!  They only thing we had to do was isolate some conch shells from the Caribbean Sea, some rice and noodles in which they thought there might be some parasites. It was all closed in a box which we gave them and then taped with a quarantine marker, which we can open, after we have left the Galápagos Islands.

Exploring the Galapagos

When sailing between the three islands – don‘t book Baltra, it’s uninteresting – you always need to request a Zarpe at least 24 hours before. Clearance in at each island will have an inspection again, but quite shorter. Sometimes they just check the paperwork again.

There are many activities in the Galapagos Islands so it’s hard to make a recommendation. However I visited each of the three main islands for not less than 5-6 days. From Cristobal I had a unique excursion to Isla Espaniola. The wildlife is great there. Kickers Rock for diving should be done with some experience. At Isla Isabella I made the tour to the volcano. It takes 5-6 hours and gives a good geological impression, while the tour to “The Tunnels“ is perfect for snorkelling (many many turtles and some seahorses) and coastal impressions. Santa Cruz is the most busiest town for provisioning and dining! The diving tour to Seymour let us see many hammerhead sharks, sting rays, tunas and other fishes.

Helpful Tips

Our agent helped also to get spare parts and repairs in an urgent situation. However we felt, that some local people (watertaxi, taxi, diving shops etc. ) were much more helpful. To get any water is difficult. So we ordered drinking water containers (20 ltr) to the pier and transported it/ filled up on our own.  Officially no fuel & diesel to fill up at Santa Cruz habour.  We had little to fill up, so we used our jerrycans + taxi.  We suggest doing all water and re-fuelling at Cristobal. On a first view, it does not look easy, but it’s the easiest of all the islands!

Finally: Yachtgala is a reasonable agent but make sure you clarify all pricing in advance! For us it seems that we found an expensive agent, but finally we got 20% off, because I am member of the TransOcean Club.

The wildlife is really unique here. But prepare yourself in advance for what will be interesting for you. There is just too much to see everything.

Have fun in Galapagos! You will never forget it in your life!

Peter Kraus
SV Once Around

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About the Author

German sailor Peter Kraus is circumnavigating the globe in his BaltiCat 42 catamaran Once Around.

Starting from Croatia in September 2018, he crossed the Atlantic in December 2019 via the Canary Islands and Cape Verde to Barbados. He then sailed to Grenada, the ABC islands and from Columbia to Colon, Panama, where he was stopped by Covid for 21 months.

In November 2021 he was able to transit the Panama Canal arriving in the Galapagos Islands in December 2021.  His next stop in January 2022 is Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.