0%
0%
Motor sailing catamaran Nemo I welcomes you on-board to discover with your own eyes the unique wonders of the Galapagos Islands. We take you around the remote and most exceptional islands of the archipelago. The Nemo I is considered among the most sustainable & aerodynamic boats cruising this archipelago. Our certified professional crew and the knowledgeable, bilingual naturalist guide on board will do their utmost to convert your once-in-a-lifetime expedition cruise into the most amazing adventure of your life!
Our staff consists of six experienced, trained and IMO-certified crew-members and one National Park-certified multilingual naturalist guide. Though all of them have their specific tasks, each may attend to you, or help in the household aboard.
It is hard work, but our crew are always smiling. To keep our staff motivated and to keep safety, service and quality levels high, our crews work in 6 week stints, before being replaced by a fresh team.
The communal areas are the centre of daily life aboard Nemo I. The smaller terrace and the catamaran nets have cushions for sunbathing. The shaded outside terrace has cosy, horseshoe-shaped seating around two tables for sheltered and romantic ‘al fresco dining’. The terrace on the sun deck has a great panoramic view and is furnished with a large sofa and coffee tables. The lounge windows let in a flood of natural daylight, complete with a bar, lounge tables, TV, DVD-player and a small library.
| DAY | ISLAND | PLACES |
| THU | Santa Cruz |
AM: Baltra Airport PM: Charles Darwin Station |
| FRI | Isabela |
AM: Moreno Point PM: Elizabeth Bay |
| SAT |
Fernandina Isabela |
AM: Espinosa Point PM: Vicente Roca Point |
| SUN |
Santiago |
AM: Buccaneer Cove PM: Espumilla Beach - Egas Port |
| MON | Daphne |
AM: Daphne Island Baltra Airport |
Morning flight from Quito or Guayaquil to Baltra Airport (Galapagos). At Baltra Airport you have to pay your Galapagos National Park entrance fee and your luggage is inspected. In front of the arrival hall you will meet your naturalist guide and fellow passengers, and the airport shuttle will transfer you to the ferry across the Itabaca Channel. Our inflatable dinghies (‘zodiacs’) take you the last stretch to the yacht.
" The Charles Darwin Research Station " (CDRS) and the headquarters of the Galapagos National Park Service share same location on the outskirts of Puerto Ayora. From here biological research and indispensable conservation management of this unique archipelago are directed. The complex houses a bunch of interpretation and information centers about the National Park and the Galapagos Marine Reserve around.
Most memorable from your visit will probably be the successful breeding centre and the enclosures with Galapagos giant tortoises; even after the death of its world famous resident, emphatically called ‘Lonesome George’ († June 2012; the last known individual of the Pinta subspecies, who sadly failed to reproduce offspring). Most remaining adult giant tortoises in the corals are former pets and many of them are accustomed to human company.
ISABELA ISLAND: MORENO POINT & URBINA BAY
" Moreno Point " tells the continuing story of the famous lunatic lava fields of Sullivan Bay (actually not visited by Catamaran Nemo). This once lifeless lava field becomes dotted with tidal pools and filtration lagoons since parts of the crust have broken and fallen into the undermining lava tunnels.
Pioneer life takes advantage; finally the lava cacti get company of two more species of cacti, from which the candelabras can grow up to 7m/23ft tall, and dominate the rest of the shrubby vegetation. Fringes of reed, sea grass and mangrove bushes transform the picturesque lagoons in lush oases. Your pictures get the perfect finishing touch when bright American flamingos forage in the largest lagoon as well. The fresh promising pioneer vegetation seems on the winning hand; just until Sierra Negra volcano spits a new layering cover, and the story starts all over again.
Tidal pools form natural traps and attract scavengers and hunters, such as bright orange sally lightfoot crabs, oystercatchers and herons. During a dinghy-ride along the jagged shoreline, you can spot marine iguanas that wait patiently for their turn at lowest tide to graze weeds on the seabed, and a breeding colony of brown pelicans in the mangroves.
Elizabeth Bay is a lagoon used by sea turtles for resting and feeding.
FERNANDINA ISLAND: ESPINOZA POINT & ISABELA ISLAND: VICENTE ROCA POINT
Being one of the crown jewels of Galapagos, Espinoza Point gives you the exclusive opportunity to become eyewitness of evolution.
The impressive cliffs and coves of Vicente Roca Point are an excellent backdrop for a thrilling dinghy ride. Just three minutes of a degree south of the equator you can encounter a family of endemic Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants along the shoreline.
SANTIAGO ISLAND: BUCCANEER COVE - EGAS PORT & ESPUMILLA BEACH
Buccaneer's Cove and its high cliffs, located on Santiago Island on the west of the Galapagos archipelago, was a refuge for pirates in the 19th century.
" Egas Port " Dominated by Sugarloaf Hill (395m/1300ft) and named after a former salt mine (1960s), Puerto Egas is the southernmost visitors site along James Bay. Its masterly sculptured coastline of black basalts and polished multi-coloured ash-layers forms a photogenic scenery with collapsed lava tunnels, natural arches, caves and blowholes such as ‘Darwin’s toilet’.
In a grotto right below a spectacular rock arch at the end of the beach a colony of Galapagos fur seals occupies the shade, sheltering from the equatorial sun. Unlike more common Galapagos sea lions this smaller species of seal is no beach lover at all, due to their adorable, but insulating coats. This refuge is the very best place to see these endemic, shy and once heavily hunted marine mammals.
Especially at low tide Puerto Egas teems with extremely varied intertidal life. Notice how marine iguanas just leave, return cold or warm-up after grazing weeds on the seabed at lowest tide. Ossified night herons and lava herons keep an eye on the tidal pools that are refilled every flood again with small fish, octopuses, star fish, snails, urchins, shells, green algae and many other snacks. Noisy oystercatchers, turnstones, plovers and whimbrels inspect these pools zealously. Hundreds of sally lightfoot crabs seem even brighter orange against the pitch-black rocks (immature are dark-coloured).
" Espumilla Beach " has revived as an important breeding site for turtles, as it is no longer suffering from digging wild pigs. The turtles return year after year to burry their eggs into the cinnamon coloured sand dunes. About two months later (roughly from February to August) the eggs hatch at once. Most vulnerable hatchlings never will reach sea, and form a banquet for predators such as herons, frigatebirds, mockingbirds and ghost crabs.
The beach ridge hides a mangle with two picturesque lagoons on the backside. A colony of American flamingos and aquatic birds used to be its main attraction, but after the climate phenomenon of El Niño, strong sedimentation altered the brackish water environment, and it no longer contains their food…
As often in Galapagos, different vegetation zones are very close by, providing great scenic contrasts. During the climb of a hill you will be rewarded with a beautiful overview of the transitions from sea into beach into mangrove into dry palo santo forest.
At the nearby Buccaneer Cove we have a great snorkeling opportunity.
DAPHNE ISLAND
" Daphne " The characteristic offshore tuff cone of Daphne Major looks how a child draws a volcano islet. Perhaps you have already got a first glimpse of it from your airplane window on arrival. Access to the 120m/400ft high islet is restricted because of its fragility and susceptibility to erosion. On your last morning in Galapagos you will make a dinghy-ride around. You can spot large flocks of storm petrels and other sea birds.
This islet forms an almost undisturbed semi-closed ecosystem and is therefore of great scientific interest. Coexisting Nazca boobies, red-billed tropicbirds, magnificent frigatebirds, blue-footed boobies and 8 other breeding species have nicely distributed different sections of the cone, according to their needs and the ecological niches they occupy. The caldera contains two craters, both completely white-plastered by the increments of blue-footed boobies, which have founded a very large breeding colony on this sheltered place. There is a colony of Galapagos sea lions on the only small beach. This islet also has been the location for an important multidecade study of Darwin’s finches. This concluded that population fluctuates strongly and finches that survived in dryer years were mainly the ones with larger beaks; results that supported strongly Darwin’s theory of natural selection and evolution.
Assisted by the naturalist guide and some crew members the dinghy will bring you and your luggage to Baltra, where we take the airport shuttle. Your guide will accompany you until the check-in counters in the departure hall.
Important: Itineraries are unlikely to change significantly but are subject to change. Weather, wildlife breeding, safety concerns, instructions from the Galapagos National Park, specific abilities and interests of passengers as well as operational matters may cause your guide or captain to change the time or nature of visits. Your guide and captain will always endeavor to select the best itinerary within these limits.
| Year of Construction | France 1996 / Renovated 2014 |
| Type | Nautitech 82 Sailing Catamaran |
| Length | 24.9 m |
| Width | 10 m |
| Machinery | 2 engines John Deere 150 HP |
| Speed | 10 Knots |
| Capacity | 14 Passengers |
| Crew |
1 National Park-certified multilingual naturalist guide. 6 experienced, trained and IMO-certified crew-members (International Marine Organization):
|
| Accommodation |
|
| Safety Equipment |
|
Write us!! 
English
Español
