Galapagos agent review

When we first did research on sailing our boat to the Galapagos, we found the lack of solid information frustrating. Rules change frequently here, and it seemed that every report we read was a little different from the last. How is a planner like me supposed to plan without good intel?!

If you’re considering sailing to the Galapagos from Costa Rica, Panama or Ecuador and need information on securing an agent and obtaining a cruising permit (autografo), we hope our experience will give you one more data point for your collection. Feel free to email us with any questions we don’t answer here.

First off let me say a few things … Yes, there are a lot of hoops to jump through. Yes, the rules and regulations are in a constant state of flux. Yes, it’s hard to find accurate information. Yes, your results will probably vary from ours. But bureaucracy aside, the Galapagos Islands are unique, wild and beautiful. Being able to spend a month cruising the islands was an unforgettable experience for us, and we feel lucky to have gotten the chance. Even though we had a hiccup with our agent at the end, we absolutely loved our time in the Galapagos, and it was well worth the effort and expense.

Our Experience

After doing a healthy amount of research on Galapagos agents and the autografo debate (should we get one or shouldn’t we?), we opted to get both an agent and an autografo. We figured if we’d come all that way, we might as well stay for awhile and enjoy ourselves. Despite the negative review that surfaced on a number of websites, we chose Johnny Romero of Naugala Yacht Services as our agent for two reasons: He was less expensive, and he (initially) responded to my emails.

Pre-arrival:
We contacted Johnny Romero about four months before we planned to visit the Galapagos. He was prompt, if not overly thorough, in responding to my emails. He was not particularly proactive in providing information (what we needed to do, what we could expect, which ports we could visit, etc.), and I had to pester him a few times to answer all my questions. For the most part, though, I was satisfied with our interaction.

Check-in procedure:
We chose Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (Wreck Bay) on Isla San Cristobal as our port of entry and were super happy with that decision. Anchoring is easy in the large bay, the town is charming and laidback and the natural beauty of the island is stunning.

We emailed our agent upon leaving Panama and again a day or two prior to our arrival in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Before we even had the hook down, Johnny’s representative on San Cristobal (his sister, Karmela), approached us in a water taxi. She showed us where to anchor and told us she’d be back with the officials in two hours (which she was, with the port captain and customs agents in tow). Everything about the check-in procedure here was prompt, friendly and efficient, including the run up to the immigration office to get our visas. Karmela was also helpful at answering our questions and showing us around town. She’s a gem. (She doesn’t speak English, though, if that’s a concern for you.)

Fees:
As of March 2013, we paid about $700 for a crew of two on our 33’ boat. That includes the autografo, park permits and fees for the agent, port captain, customs and immigration.

Ports:
The autografo didn’t list out which ports we could visit (which I found interesting), but I’d asked Johnny previously and had his answer in an email. We were granted permission to visit:

- Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (Wreck Bay), Isla San Cristobal
- Puerto Velasco Ibarra, Isla Floreana
- Puerto Ayora (Academy Bay), Isla Santa Cruz
- Puerto Villamil, Isla Isabela

In talking with boats who used other agents, only Johnny Romero’s clients were able to visit Puerto Velasco Ibarra on Isla Floreana this season (2013). I don’t know why, but it’s a shame – Isla Floreana is a special place.

In the end, we skipped the bustling port of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz due to time constraints (and because a rally of 28 boats descended on the place – too busy for our taste!). If you’ve cruised in Mexico or Central America, you’re already familiar with the national zarpe (clearance papers required to leave one port within the country and visit another); Ecuador is no different. We filed a float plan with Johnny and got a national zarpe from the port captain (for $15).

What went wrong:
Things with Johnny went south after we arrived in Puerto Villamil on Isla Isabela. Our autografo was for 30 days (based on the day we thought we’d arrived, not the day we actually arrived), but we discovered that boats were getting up to 90 days for the same price (even boats who also used Johnny)! All this time we’d been unnecessarily stressing about our timeline, trying to cram everything in and worrying what might happen if we needed to wait for weather to head to the Marquesas. Argh.

I emailed Johnny to ask why we were only given 30 days, and he said that he processed autografos based on each client’s request. He also told me it was “strange” that I’d told other boats how many days we got (??). I didn’t remember telling him we wanted 30 days, so I went back through our email exchanges to find out. Turns out, I didn’t.

     Me: “How many days are we allowed to stay in the Galapagos?”
     Johnny: “1 month with an autografo.”

I, politely but firmly, mentioned this to him in an email and asked if he could file an extension for us (weather conditions were such that we weren’t going to be able to leave for the Marquesas on the day our autografo expired). That’s when he completely stopped responding to my emails. I never actually heard from him again.

What we’d do differently next time

Even though we had a bit of a falling out with Johnny at the end, if we had to do it again, we’d still go with him. Hindsight being 20/20, though, I would know to ask for 60 or 90 days on our autografo. Other than that (which is kind of a big deal), everything went smoothly.

We also had a hard time filling our propane tanks. We have the newer, American-style tank with two separate valves – one for filling and one with a check-valve for connecting to the boat’s propane system (one in, one out). People were able gravity-fill the older-style tanks here, but we’d show up with the correct adapters to gravity-fill our tanks.

What we did right

• Asking for an itemized list of fees
• Getting the names of sanctioned ports in writing
• Making Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (San Cristobal) our first port of call
• Provisioning heavily in Panama before coming to the Galapagos, since stores have limited selection and extremely high prices here. Finding produce is no problem – the supply ships visit regularly and there are lots of great, local farms.
• Grabbing cash at the bank on San Cristobal. It is a cash-only economy here, so be prepared with lots of US dollars for tours, laundry, groceries, fuel and restaurants. Islas Floreana and Isabela do not have banks or ATMs.

The bottom line? We loved our stay in the Galapagos. Sure it was more complicated to visit here than say Costa Rica, but any headaches we felt were minor. Aside from wishing would could’ve stayed a bit longer, we don’t have any regrets.