Isla Pinzón - Day Tour - From Santa Cruz - Islas Galápagos

Good value for money and offers a complete experience

We just went on a pinzon and La Fe tour 5/26/26 that was set up by Choko Tours on 1/27/25. Choko then made a reservation with Galapagos Living. That individuals name is Richard. After I confirmed the booking I realized that I had booked the wrong date. I contacted Richard and he said he could get me another tour on the date I needed. So that individuals name and boat owner of the tour is Daniel Rivera. His boat is named ROAL. Richard booked this tour for us because his boat wasn’t available for the new date. Here's what happened. The boat has 3 outboard engines. As soon as we left port the middle engine is puffing out a smelly irritable white smoke. The boat has zero ventilation in the enclosed cabin. It also has an outside seating area from engines forward to the cabin area as most yachts do. Our eyes were burning. People felt sick light headed and headaches. We suffered for 2.5hrs in total. At our first stop La Fe after snorkeling and returning to the boat I found myself floating in a yellow foaming substance only to find out later that it was the leaking gas. Just before arriving at pinzon the engines quit. Luckily we were not on the high seas. The crew had to radio another boat to come tow us into the Bay Area. The crew had worked on the engine multiple times. After snorkeling there we had to double up on another boat to get back to port. This also happened. My buddy was sitting close to under the captains bird nest when the huge orange life buoy came loose and almost smacked him in the head. Mere inches. Daniel and Richard were waiting for us at the pier. Daniel, the boat owner didn't even want to hear about our horrible experience and a need for some kind of refund. He just walked away. Richard had to call him back to at least hear what we had to say and requested. We then made the decision to go to the tourismo govt office and filed a complaint against the boat owner. After informing Christian of Choko Tours about the horrible events he in turn contacted Richard of Living Galapagos. After they spoke they both agreed on refunding us some money of our monies, which was very honorable, since it wasn't even their boat. They just made the booking. They stood behind their reputations. On the other hand Daniel just snubbed us even after I went back into town to show him the paperwork I was going to file with the tourismo office. He just rode away on his scooter. Not the kind a man we would do future business with. We would not hesitate to book with Choko tours or Galápagos living again. If you can do it, the windrose yacht which we did for two days, was booked with Choko tours and we absolutely loved it. Kudos. Daniel and his BOAT ROAL we could do without. Later that evening we ran into another individual who was on the tour told us he too contacted his tour agent about the experience and was refunded some money, but not from Daniel. Stay away from owners who don’t back up their product when something BAD happens.

The guides were kind and the tour was reasonably enjoyable. However, I told them I was interested in swimming sea lions, and when I booked I was told I could see manta rays and swimming sea lions, but I could only see fish and a few sharks. The main thing that looked like on land was the Galapagos crab, which didn't mean much to me about going on the tour (even if I was snorkeling on the beach on Santa Cruz Island, I could see sharks and manta rays). The boat was also said to be returning to Santa Cruz Island at 3 p.m. after the engine had apparently failed on the way, but it had not arrived until after 5:30 p.m.

We arrived looking for a snorkeling suit, he told us we didn't need that suit where we were going and ended up giving us one where we did. A very good tour, reasonably priced.ñ, had others taken when arriving to the island and the tour of the 5 islands, Pinzon and so on was amazing, we saw everything, sharks, rays, dolphins, turtles... The only thing that remained was the octopus. I took another tour with Richard and unfortunately it was repeated, he unthinkingly resolved giving me a very good and different tour to not repeat the day, it was great, really honesty and transparency lived and felt. Thank you very much Richard for everything, greetings from Chile!

An experience of 10. The tour is fantastic and all the staff is 10. All the snorkeling was wonderful and the beach time very relaxing. Richard the responsible, was very attentive before, during and after. Super recommended

My family and I arrived to Santa Cruz Island without any pre-purchased tours or fixed itineraries, so we asked at various agencies and ended up purchasing the Galapagos Living day tour. The staff was super friendly throughout. Richard, who attended us, recommended the places we should visit during our stay on the island, and it is good that we followed his recommendations! The tour left on schedule and went smoothly. The transfers were effective, the guides friendly and gave us enough time at each stop to fully enjoy. Really, it was an unforgettable experience. On our last day on the island, we decided to visit the Charles Darwin Science Station and Richard helped us even with the purchase of tickets. Needless to say, he was a great support during the two and a half days we spent in Santa Cruz. Thank you to Galapagos Living and its staff for helping us at all times.

Prior to heading to the Galapagos we had researched all the places we wanted to see, but had read online to wait and book with some of the local agencies as 3rd party agencies were charging 30-40% more for the same tours. We could not be more thankful for the help we received in booking 5 different excursions. The staff was knowledgeable and did not try to sell us but rather provided accurate information that was best suited for us traveling with a 1 yr old and 7 yr old. They also provided our 7 yr old with kid snorkeling equipment and life jacket as a lot of the boats don't carry stuff for kids. And they made sure to assist the morning of with meeting in the right spot. Every excursion we went on we had amazing guides and very friendly captains who while we were snorkeling made the trips just as fun for my 1 yr old daughter by feeding the fish so she could see them too. I cannot recommend this place enough and will use them again when we return

Our tour operator, Galapagos Living, went above and beyond to make our trip enjoyable. They picked us up at our Airbnb location, we stopped to have, breakfast, then headed to our meeting area to board the boat. Wetsuits and snorkel gear were provided on the boat. We snorkeled in 2 different locations. The first location was shallower and perfect for spotting Sea Turtles. We could see them feeding, and they would closely pass us when swimming. After our first snorkel spot, we had sweet bread, watermelon, and packadged cookies and crackers for a snack. We headed to our 2nd location, which had deeper water to Sea Lions, which also swam very close to us, their pups, White tipped Sharks, schools of colorful fish, a Stingray, large Starfish and a few more turtles. We had a delicious lunch of salad, rice and fresh fish. It was a once in a lifetime experience!

What a location! If you want to see the most amazing Sea Lion interactions and sharks “sleeping”, turtles, marine iguanas and other colourful fish - this tour has it all.

A great day out exploring the island and seeing the incredible animals, snorkelling too which was amazing - do many beautiful fish. We saw sharks and flamingos too.