360 TOUR
IN SAN CRISTOBAL, GALAPAGOS
- Last Updated: April 10, 2024
The 360 Tour in San Cristobal is the tour you have to book in order to really understand the size of the island, its fauna, and flora, and see all its different landscapes.
It’s a daily tour and you will go by speed boat around the entire San Cristobal island. The exact tour depends on the day but it passes obligatorily in Bahia Rosa Blanca and Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido).
360 TOUR IN SAN CRISTOBAL DETAILS
This tour has to be done with an agency and i chose by recommendation of my local contact the company Galapagos Eco Fishing.
This agency is environmentally friendly and the Naturalist guides are very experienced and well informed. Totally recommend.
- Highlights: Snorkel at Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido), Bahia Rosa Blanca beach, and Punta Pitt bird watching. On our tour, the other two locations (that vary from group to group) were Cerro Brujo and Bahia Sardinia beach.
- Duration: The entire day (You have to be at 6:30 am at the agency’s entrance)
- Price: 180$ USD (when I did it in April 2022 it was 150$ USD).
- Agency/Guide: Galapagos Eco Fishing
HOW TO DO THE 360 TOUR IN SAN CRISTOBAL
To do the 360 Tour in San Cristobal you need to book it with an agency. I chose by recommendation the Galapagos Eco Fishing company.
You have to book and pay for it at least one day before the tour. They usually don’t accept credit or debit cards so you must have cash with you. There are multiple ATMs on the island so don’t worry.
On the day of the tour just head really early to their store, around 6:30 if I’m not mistaken (they will tell you when you book it) and they will give you your gear. You will have to try the fins and the wetsuits to get your size right.
After that, you just head to the port, and the tour starts.
The tour is done in two directions to avoid crowds, one starts in Kicker rock (clockwise) and the other in Bahia Rosa Blanca beach (counterclockwise).
Before you go I recommend you take the tour that starts in Kicker Rock for two reasons:
- As I was told, hammerhead sharks are more active in the morning so in theory, you’ve more chances to see them if you go earlier. The other tour only reaches Kicker Rock at around 2 pm (We didn’t see any Hammerhead).
- If you start at Bahia Rosa Blanca beach that’s on the east side of the island it is ALOT rougher to go by boat cause it’s not protected by the island. The waves are big and you need to take a sea-sickness pill. I would say it’s a smoother trip if you have the harsh waves only at the end of the tour and not at the start.
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MY EXPERIENCE ON THE 360 TOUR
IN SAN CRISTOBAL, GALAPAGOS
This was my fourth day on San Cristobal Island and I did this tour together with two friends of mine in a group of 10 people.
We started the tour and we were told we were going to visit Bahia Rosa Blanca beach first. We soon figured out that means rough seas for one hour.
I advise you to take a sea-sickness pill 30 minutes before you start the tour if you go this way first. Luckily the guide had enough pills for all (yes, it’s a common thing to get sea-sick on this trip).
I also advise you to go on the back of the boat because there at least you have fresh air and you don’t feel so much the bumps from the waves.
visiting the Bahia Rosa Blanca BEach
After all the bumps and humps from the sea, we finally reached the Bahia Rosa Blanca beach.
To reach the beach you have to leave the speedboat and board a smaller inflatable boat that takes you to shore.
Once you get to the beach you go through a mangrove path and finally reach the beautiful and photogenic part of the beach.
Unfortunately after a couple of minutes, you start seeing the sad reality of this beach. Even though it’s gorgeous, the sand white and the water turquoise, there is plastic garbage everywhere, usually on the waves-breaking-point on high tide. From broken chairs to bottles, flasks, fishing nets, or even parts of toilets.
Because our tour was an Ecological one we picked up all the garbage we could and placed it in a higher place where we were told that later get collected by another boat.
After the beach we went for a small hike around the shore (take at least flip-flops cause the floor is lava). On this walk, we saw some nice lakes surrounded by Opuntia cactuses and we ended up on a lagoon where we snorkeled and saw huge turtles, an eagle ray, many stingrays, reef sharks, and many other small fishes.
Bird watching at punta pitt
After Bahia Rosa Blanca we went on with the tour and before we reached Punta Pitt we had some lunch.
On our tour, they tried to fish some tuna with two fishing poles but were unfortunately not very lucky otherwise we would have eaten some sashimi.
Without the tuna, they prepared us some fish, chicken, and vegetarian menus, which were quite good.
After lunch, we went on to Punta Pitt and did some birdwatching. We saw some swallow-tailed gulls, some tijeretas/frigatebirds, some blue-footed boobies, and red-footed boobies.
A trick to find blue-footed boobies, look for the white spots on the black rocks. It is their poo. Wherever they stop is usually white as you can see in the photos.
visiting bahia sardina beach and cerro brujo
After Punta Pitt, which is the easternmost corner of the island the sea stops being so rough and it’s actually a pleasant trip until Bahia Sardina beach and Cerro Brujo.
In Bahia Sardina, we got around 30minutes to snorkel and swim around and those who went to the beach were attacked by horse-flies, a menace in the Galapagos. But still a beautiful beach.
The next stop on the tour was Cerro Brujo, another edge of the island and from here, through a cave it’s possible to see Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido). It’s a highlight and a very beautiful one.
If you’re lucky on your tour you might end up at Cerro Brujo beach instead of Bahia Sardina or go up to the hill, if I’m not mistaken.
snorkeling in kicker rock (Leon dormido)
And the last stop of the day, Kicker Rock or Leon Dormido in Spanish (sleeping lion, cause on a certain angle the rock resembles a sleeping lion).
We went snorkeling here but unfortunately, it was already dark inside Kicker Rock’s channel so we couldn’t see hammerhead sharks or any other shark.
Nevertheless, we saw some sea lions chilling on the side. The visibility was also pretty poor, full of plankton.
So again, go on the morning tour, the other group saw hammerheads and manta rays.
And that’s about it after Kicker Rock we went back to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and the 360 Tour in San Cristobal was over.
What about you, have you already done the 360 Tour in San Cristobal Island? Leave me a comment down here if you did and after you did it with your impression.
Thanks for reading through and have fun on this tour!
I’ll drop a couple of my other favorite photos from this tour down below, enjoy!
Gallery
The 360 tour in san cristobal
VISITING THE BAHIA ROSA BLANCA BEACH
BIRD WATCHING at punta pitt
VISITING BAHIA SARDINA beach AND CERRO BRUJO
snorkeling in kicker rock (Leon dormido)
5 thoughts on “360 TOUR IN SAN CRISTOBAL”
We like your blogs. Thank you.
I went diving on gordon rocks and will do this 360 tour (now 190).
Great to hear that, hope you enjoy the 360 too!
Hi,
Thank you for this information – super insightful. Do you have any recommendations for tours that go in the opposite direction (visit Kicker Rock first)? I am heading to San Cristóbal in November.
Thank you very much, Maddy
Hey Maddy, you can ask when you book the tour that you want to go on the group that goes first to Kicker Rock. Alternatively if that’s your must see on the island perhaps joining a group of people going there just for diving might be the ideal thing to do. You can just snorkel instead of diving and it costs much cheaper than the scuba-diving option. Here’s an article i wrote about the diving in Kicker Rock. DIVING IN KICKER ROCK
Thank you very much for your help – I will investigate further 🙂