Excursión de un día a la isla Isabela y Tintoreras en Galápagos

We used this tour operator, which may be out of Quito to organize our private transfer from Baltra to the hotel and the return trip. We also used this operator for our tour to Isabella and Tintoreras. I was able to book this all through Viator/TripAdvisor. The reviews are middle of the road and I would agree with that sentiment. For example, why did the tour operator send an email to change our pick up time for our tour from 6:30 to 6:10? Why not a phone call? Or why not tell us a week in advance? But the email was sent just the night before. I was not ready for that limited communication. And upon our return from the tour, we had no ride home. I expected this to be included and I will need to double check the tour to see if that just not a service provided. Luis was our driver the entire time and he was nice but he did not really speak English. I expected the tour operator to notice our matching name because the private transfer had to be booked separately for both ends of the trip. Instead, I received an email that our private pick up was to be at a different property. I had to send several emails to work out that the pick up needed to be at Maidith Galapagos Inn. Is there really that many employees processing these requests to not notice names and properties? When you book the return, there was no way to request my specific property so I had to leave it blank. But I was able to include Maidith on the pick up. That could be a TripAdvisor issue but I’m not really sure. On our Isabella tour, I requested English and did receive that the entire time. Tito was great! He was passionate about the islands, conservation, and we understood him the whole time. He had great energy when it was time to snorkel but I did struggle to keep up with him. He was really knowledgeable about the wildlife and shared many stories with us. On our short walk about on Tintoreras, I found a hermit crab. He was able to get the crab to come out of his shell, so adorable. This tour was $457 for two people. The private transfer was $137 for two people one way. Luis was great with this. He held my backpack, took care of our bus tickets, ferry tickets, and our luggage. On our next trip, we will use this service again because it would be hard to work that out on our own.

Bad experience. Expensive ride that's not worth it. Don't take that walk. There was a lack of organization and communication. Two days before the tour, we were asked if the trip to Las Tintoneras could be kayak (at first we saw no problem, even because the other option would be to cancel the tour, but it was a terrible choice, because the lack of communication was already present in the messages). It was not explained that the route would be completely altered in relation to what was in the description of the tour. Our experience: we stayed more than 1 hour waiting in Puerto Ayora. After 2 hours by boat, we arrived around 10:00 and walked in the warm sun for almost 2 hours, visiting only free attractions, which were: the reserve of giant turtles, the lagoon of flamingos and a beach that has the insular sign, where we passed quickly, but managed to take a 5 minute dive after convincing the guide. After that, there was lunch, quite simple, in an acceptable restaurant. Then we had the bad experience with the kayak ride. In the conversation about the change of itinerary, we asked the exact duration and more details, and was informed that would be 2 hours of duration, but without further explanations. The guide (who did not even present himself) was impatient, did everything in a hurry, but explained only the basics. The tour, which was informed to last 2 hours, did not last even 40 minutes! The “snorkeling” mentioned in the advertisement was on a shallow beach, where there was absolutely nothing to see and, besides, there were only 25 minutes left, because the exit from the island was at 15:30 – that is, everything was very busy. Bad experience. Don't trust this agency. Tip: There are several agencies on the island with similar tours and much cheaper (but the payment is only in cash). In addition, they explain straight the script, without deception. There, we closed a tour with the Magical Tour agency, and it was wonderful.

The tour started with a hotel pickup at 6:10 AM in Puerto Ayora. We then headed to the dock where the speedboat departed for Isabela Island at 7:00 AM. Although many reviews mention a very bumpy ride, our experience was smooth and without any issues. The boat also had Wi-Fi, which worked well and was quite useful during the journey. After about a two-hour ride, we arrived at Isabela Island. A guide received us at the dock with a list of names. There were many sea lions resting around the dock, which was nice to see upon arrival. From there, we took a small boat ride to explore nearby areas and look for wildlife, including Galápagos penguins. We then stopped at Islet Tintoreras for a short hike of about 20 minutes across lava rocks. During the walk, we were able to see sharks swimming in the clear water channels between the rocks. Next was about an hour of snorkeling. It was an enjoyable activity, though it would have been helpful if the boat had initially stopped in shallower water to make it easier for non-swimmers like me to enter the water. Those who could not swim chose to stay in the boat during the snorkeling session. After snorkeling, we returned to Isabela Island for lunch, where vegetarian options were available. The tour then continued with a stop at the Flamingo viewpoint, where we saw a couple of birds. We also visited the turtle breeding center, where we could see many baby tortoises as well. After completing the activities, we returned by speedboat and arrived back in Puerto Ayora around 5:00 PM. There was no hotel drop at the end of the tour, but this was not an issue as we were able to walk back to the hotel through the lively boardwalk street. Overall, it was a hectic but enjoyable full-day island tour within the Galápagos National Park, offering opportunities to see wildlife, walk on lava landscapes, and experience snorkeling.

I had an incredible time! Our guide, Roger, was extremely knowledgeable, passionate, and approachable. :)

Roger is a very good guide. He is very knowledgeable. He seems to be very passionate about his work. The tour was good. We saw some golden rays, a penguin, and boobies from the boat. We also saw another ray and a turtle while snorkeling. Unfortunately, the water was too murky to see the sharks, but it’s not possible to control the weather conditions. It was also interesting to learn about the preservation effort of the giant tortoise.

This was unfortunately one of the most poorly organized tours I’ve ever taken in the Galápagos. We were instructed to arrive at the port at 6:10 AM, yet the tour didn’t actually begin until 11:00 AM because we had to wait for another group that arrived an hour late. That meant nearly five hours of wasted time, which is a huge loss on an island where every hour counts. The listing also failed to mention hidden fees for the small boat transfer, which we were required to pay on the spot. Because of the delays, the activities were severely rushed. Snorkeling was cut to about 30 minutes instead of the promised hour, and we spent only a few minutes viewing flamingos and turtles (and not even the Isabela turtles advertised). I also paid $20 for a wetsuit that I barely used because the activity was shortened. Despite confirming in advance that I needed a vegetarian meal, I was served lentil soup containing meat. This is unacceptable, especially after I double-checked this with the guide. Other smaller issues—slow communication beforehand, no offered pickup, unnecessary early check-in, and a cramped boat with no windows—only highlight the general lack of care and organization. Overall, the experience did not remotely match what was advertised. For the price of this tour, I expected professionalism and proper time management. Instead, it felt like a day of waiting, rushing, and disappointment. I cannot recommend this tour and urge others to consider alternatives.

Isabella Island is beautiful, but the company that took us there was awful. I would give 5 stars for the island and 0 for the tour operator. We rode for 2.5 hours each way in an outdated boat at very high speed and breaking hard against the waves. Not the right ride for such a boat. On the way back, they picked up more passengers and gave us two seats for three people, which was very unsafe given the continuous hard breaking against the waves at very high speed. The name of the boat was Brithany and the name of the tour operator was Perfect Destiny. This was a very unpleasant experience although the island is beautiful and I recommend the visit but with another tour operator.

Nice guide who took care of the guests very well, did speak English well, yet did not deliver a lot of background knowledge. Tour layout is disappointing. Entire time of guided tour was just about 3 hours. Rest was transportation and lunch. And within this time a lot of time was lost. because the tour layout is bilingual (english and Spanish), so everything was said twice, with half off the group standing around being bored. For Tortuga farms -the longest of only 2 stops before lunch- you do not need to go Isabella, those you find on Santa Cruz as well. Long and very bumpy boat ride to and from Isabella. Better go Isabella for a night or 2 and book the tours there.

"It was worth every minute of browsing! Isabela is another world. The tour of Tintoreras Island was spectacular: we saw penguins swimming alongside the boat, blue-footed boobies and, of course, sharks lounging in the canals. We ended the afternoon watching flamingos in the lagoon. A super complete tour and our guide made the walk very interesting."

Roger was an amazing guide. He gave his full attention to every one of us. He explained everything fully and answered any questions. He was the ultimate guide! The island is beautiful. I just wish we had a longer time there.