Galopagos Islands (TEST)

[GIVDrvr]

Anyone been recently? Any info appreciated

 

[airpedro]

It's been a few years, but here's how it worked for me...
Flew into Guayaquil (SEGU) to clear customs inbound. We then dropped our pax at San Cristobal (SEST). Pax were staying for a week, but due to ramp size we ferried back to SEGU. I was able to RON at SEST the day before departure, so the crew got an afternoon of touring and a night on the island. It's not the best spot for touring, but still pretty interesting to see tortoise, seals and boobies (the blue footed kind). On the way out, we had to clear outbound in SEGU...makes for a long day if you are heading back to the US. Hope this helps.

 

[thatpilotguy]

I was there this past summer, everything that airpedro stated was on par with our experience. We cleared through SEGU, keep in mind that you should (need) to tanker the fuel required to make it back to SEGU outbound. Fuel is limited or not available or incredibly expensive and must be pre-arranged in the Galapagos. There are no Customs facilities at either airport in the Galapagos so all inbound and out bound aircraft have to go through an airport on the mainland think SEGU. We went into Baltra to drop off our pax. They would not allow us to leave the aircraft on the ramp there for a week so we reposition over to San Cristobal. Also keep in mind the Galapagos are day time airports, no runway lights and we did shoot 3 approaches including a full procedure NDB...haven't done that since initial in the sim! San Cristobal is limited for hotels and places to eat for a weeks stay. If we did it again we would have taken the ferry back to Santa Cruz and stayed there for the week (Puerto Ayora.) The lodging was much better as we stayed there the evening we arrived being that we had a long duty day. If you are a scuba diver, it's incredible. We did 3 days of diving and several land based tours and I would recommend it to anyone. As playing tourist goes, if you are not on a live aboard boat it's really reasonable. As for flying...it's expensive. I'm not sure what we paid per-night, but the final bill was much more than I expected, but was warned it was pricey. Feel free to PM me and I can give you more details...hotels, dive operators and places to eat and see...it's top of my list of places I have been in the corporate aviation world that's for sure!