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Connor Passe

Travel By Sea

Galápagos

24 February – 6 March 2025 · Round trip from Baltra, by way of Quito

An Intrepid small-group trip on the motor yacht Grand Daphne, with a night in Quito at each end. We flew from Quito to Baltra and spent eight days cruising the central and western islands, crossing the equator round the north of Isabela: the red-sand beach on Rábida, snorkeling at Punta Albemarle, Tagus Cove and Urbina Bay on Isabela, the marine iguanas at Punta Espinoza on Fernandina, the farthest west we went, the sea caves at Punta Vicente Roca, and Pinnacle Rock from the top of Bartolomé. We finished with frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies on North Seymour, the Charles Darwin Research Station, and wild giant tortoises in the Santa Cruz highlands.

Cruise · By Sea

The Grand Daphne, a motor yacht, with Intrepid

  • 8 days aboard
  • ~333 nm
  • 8 islands
  • 14 sites
  • equator ×2

The chart

A chart of the route. Each stop on it is a button that reads out its day and note, and the same stops are listed day by day after it.

The cruise

Day by day

    • Quito, Ecuador Flew in Feb 24; NH Collection Quito Royal (Intrepid joining point); welcome meeting Feb 25.

  3. Wind from the W, 1–5 kn, gusts 7, force 1–2 Waves 0.3–0.4 m, smooth,open water nearby

    • Baltra (Seymour Airport) Flew Quito → Baltra; boarded the Grand Daphne.
    • Las Bachas Beach, Santa Cruz Afternoon walk and snorkel on the coral-sand beach.

  4. Wind from the WNW, 1–10 kn, gusts 15, force 1–3 Waves 0.3–1.4 m, moderate; swell from the WSW, 10 s,open water nearby

    • Rábida Island Early-morning landing: red-sand beach and flamingo lagoon.
    • Punta Albemarle, north Isabela approx. Long sail northwest across the equator; afternoon snorkel off Isabela's northern tip.

  5. Wind from the W, 1–7 kn, gusts 15, force 1–3 Waves 0.2–1.4 m, moderate; swell from the WNW, 7 s,open water nearby

    • Tagus Cove, Isabela Morning walk and snorkel.
    • Urbina Bay, Isabela Afternoon walk (giant tortoises) and snorkel.

  6. Wind from the NW, 0–7 kn, gusts 15, force 0–3 Waves 0.6–1.1 m, slight; swell from the NW, 10 s,open water nearby

    • Punta Espinoza, Fernandina Morning walk and snorkel; the westernmost point of the trip.
    • Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela Afternoon panga ride and snorkel along the sea caves; crossed the equator again that night.

  7. Wind from the SSE, 1–8 kn, gusts 11, force 1–3 Waves 0.3–0.7 m, slight; swell from the NNW, 10 s,open water nearby

    • Puerto Egas, Santiago Morning walk and snorkel on the black-sand coast.
    • Buccaneer Cove (Caleta Bucanero), Santiago Afternoon panga ride and snorkel.

  8. Wind from the SSW, 1–7 kn, gusts 13, force 1–3 Waves 0.3–0.5 m, smooth,open water nearby

    • Bartolomé Island Summit climb with the Pinnacle Rock view; snorkel.
    • Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) Midday and afternoon walk and snorkel.

  9. Wind from the SW, 1–8 kn, gusts 13, force 1–3 Waves 0.3–1.1 m, slight; swell from the WSW, 12 s,open water nearby

    • North Seymour Morning walk among frigatebirds and blue-footed boobies.
    • Puerto Ayora / Charles Darwin Research Station, Santa Cruz Afternoon in town; research station (also early morning Mar 5).
    • Santa Cruz Highlands (giant tortoise reserve) approx. Wild giant tortoises, then Baltra → Quito flight.
    • Quito → home Flew UIO → DCA.

Key to the chart

  • Traced from photos
  • Estimated, no photo for a long stretch
  • A photo’s GPS fix
  • The equator
  • The yacht
  • Port
  • Landing
  • Snorkel
  • Panga and snorkel
  • Land excursion
  • Approximate position

The booking, the dates and the flights come from email, and each day’s visitor sites from Intrepid’s published itinerary; about 350 geotagged photos put every site on its day. The yacht moved between the islands overnight, so the long legs between them are estimated, and dashed. Where a straight line between two photos would cross land, the route goes round by sea, as the boat did, and a photo taken ashore marks where the boat lay off.

Each day’s wind and sea are the models’, read for every hour on the water where the boat was then: the wind from ECMWF’s IFS, the waves from Météo-France’s MFWAM, through Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Where a day says open water nearby, the boat lay at anchor or went ashore, in water calmer than the model’s, or was in a channel the wave model has as land, and the waves are the nearest open water’s, within 30 km; where the route is dashed, so is where they were read. A ferry’s crossing is read along the ferry. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information; doi.org/10.48670/moi-00017.