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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 |
| MON | North Seymour |
AM: Baltra Airport PM: North Seymour Island |
| TUE |
Genovesa |
AM: Darwin Bay PM: El Barranco |
| WED |
Bartolome Chinese Hat |
AM: Bartolome Island PM: Chinese Hat |
| THU | Santa Cruz |
AM: El Chato Reserve PM: Charles Darwin Station |
| FRI | Isabela |
AM: Moreno Point PM: Urbina Bay |
| SAT |
Fernandina Isabela |
AM: Espinosa Point PM: Vicente Roca Point |
| SUN |
Santiago |
AM: Egas Port PM: Espumilla Beach |
| 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.
NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND
The tabletop islet of " North Seymour " is an uplifted part of the seabed. Between the dry shrubs you might perceive a Galapagos land iguana. North Seymour originally did not count with land iguanas, but in the 1930s an eccentric American millionaire moved the last generation from Baltra, and saved them for starvation caused by competition with introduced goats; the afterwards breeding program at Charles Darwin Research Station turned into a big success.
You can spot lots of seabirds, such as brown pelicans, red-billed tropicbirds, endemic swallow-tailed gulls and seasonally even Nazca boobies. But the main attraction are the archipelago’s most extensive breeding colonies of blue-footed boobies and frigatebirds. At the start of the breeding season (shifting on our calendar) adult frigatebird-males blow up their vivid red pouches to impressive football-sized balloons. This is one of the few spots (besides Genovesa and Pitt Point) where you can compare the magnificent and the rarer great frigatebird breeding next to each other. Frigatebirds rather attack returning boobies and conduct aerial battles than fishing themselves and get a wet suit. The even more popular blue-footed boobies show their cute courtship rituals, in which their remarkable feet play an important role.
GENOVESA ISLAND: DARWIN BAY AND EL BARRANCO
" Darwin Bay " Genovesa’s horseshoe shaped wall shows unmistakably that we have anchored inside the partly collapsed and submerged caldera of a submarine volcano! The visitor’s site named Darwin Bay is located at the very rear. This compact site shows the extreme varied coastal ecosystems of Galapagos in miniature. The trail starts from the coral sand beach and subsequently passes a zone with saltbushes and mangroves, than crosses tidal creeks and barren lava formations, dry shrub lands, and finally turns on the ridge of some cliffs.
In this extremely varied and peaceful ambience, every single species has occupied its own ecological niche (preferred habitat) without disturbing others. Whimbrels and wandering tattlers forage actively along the surf, next to resting Galapagos sea lions. Herons wait motionless at the tidal pools. Impressive frigatebirds (both great and magnificent species) and red-footed boobies nest in the mangroves, where you can also notice some vocalists such as yellow warblers, Darwin’s finches and Galapagos mockingbirds. Unique is that two subpopulations of the same species large cactus finch differ from singing.
Tropicbirds, Nazca boobies, storm petrels, endemic lava- and swallow-tailed gulls soar along the cliffs. When you already have seen marine iguanas elsewhere, the small Genovesa species might not look too impressive, but consider that these are virtually the only reptiles that succeeded to reach and survive on this remote, upstream island (and have become endemic to this island).
" Principe Philip's Steps " Before landing you will make a dinghy-ride along the eastern arm of the caldera. On approach, the 25m/80ft high walls become overwhelming, and will give you a better impression of the dimensions of this crater. Sometimes a Galapagos fur seal is resting on one of the shaded ledges. Although there are also seabirds, the real spectacle will find place on top and on the outside of the rim, which provide better perching and nesting places.
Therefore you have to hike and overcome the steep stairs from the landing dock to a bush of palo santo shrubs on top. Tropical dry forest vegetation appears dead during most months of the year, but just drops its leaves to prevent drying out by evaporation. It’s a threatened ecosystem. Red-footed boobies with different plumages gratefully use these scarce nesting-places; different to their blue-footed relatives ‘red feet’ don’t nest on the rocky ground.
At the seaside of the rim, the bushes open up and you can enjoy wide views, a strong sea breeze and the amazing flying skills of uncountable seabirds. Following the exposed rim you will first pass a colony of Nazca boobies and finally reach the extensive storm petrel nesting places, where you might be lucky spotting how the well-camouflaged short-eared owl is hunting for them on foot!
BARTOLOME ISLAND & SANTIAGO ISLAND: CHINESE HAT
The wild romantic volcano " islet Bartolome " is among the youngest of the islands, and on a geological scale just recently born out off fire. Although tiny (only 120ha/300ac) and at first sight lifeless, Bartolome offers some of the wildest landscapes and best panoramas in the entire archipelago. To enjoy the postcard view of the idyllic ‘Pinnacle Bay’ you have to climb the stairs to the viewpoint on top of the island (114m/375ft). Enter suddenly a dramatical world of threatening (though extinguished) nearby spatter cones, craters, and lightweight lava droplets that have been spewed out by fiery fountains. The Summit Trail is also ideal to witness how scanty pioneer vegetation such as lava cactus is struggling to take root in the bare virgin lava fields.
From the summit you suddenly face a second, paradisiacal world; Galapagos’ landmark ‘Pinnacle Rock’ towers prominently over an isthmus with crescent sand beaches on each side, and dunes with evergreen mangrove bushes in between.
Underwater, a third, completely distinctive world opens up to you, resembling a tropical aquarium. Its shallow, clear and warm waters are ideally for snorkeling between coral-grinding parrot fishes, shoals of surgeonfishes, harmless whitetip reef sharks and Pacific green turtles. If you are lucky you can even catch the sight of fishing Galapagos penguins.
" Chinese Hat " is a 52m/170ft high volcanic cone, forming another islet right out off the rocky coast of Santiago, where a small colony of Galapagos penguins has settled. Approaching Chinese Hat from the north, you certainly will agree with its name. Because its primordial fire has been extinguished recently, this is an excellent place to learn more about volcanism, lava bombs and lava tunnels. On the beach you can also find curious pillow-type lavas with coral heads on top! These spheres have a submarine origin before being lifted above sea level.
But Chinese Hat does not appear that inhospitable any more as almost virgin Bartolome and lunatic Sullivan Bay. You arrive exactly on time to witness how this barren islet gets colonized by pioneer species and begins to sprout! Beaches of white coral sand grow, and holes in the eroding lava fields are filled up with lava sand, which enables rooting. Galapagos sea lions and countless marine iguanas contribute to fertilization. All together create more favourable options for newcomers, like saltbush and the discolouring sesuvium carpet. Colonization of Chinese Hat can occur in a much higher pace than elsewhere, hence Santiago is just a stone’s throw away.
SANTA CRUZ ISLAND: EL CHATO RESERVE & CHARLES DARWIN STATION
" Santa Cruz " offers excellent opportunities for viewing wild Galapagos giant tortoises, roaming through pastures in the agricultural zone and in the transition zone of El Chato Tortoise Reserve. The pond in the native forest reserve is the most authentic setting, but sometimes also requires an adventurous quest for these silent heavyweights. Than you have to listen carefully for the sound of heavy footsteps and of shrubs being slowly crushed. Most time of their stretched lives is spent slowly and silently, except for a warning hiss, or loud screams during mating, which can be heard from far in the first half of the year. Subsequently females leave the highlands and descend all the way down to the beaches to dig holes and lay their eggs. It is estimated that in 2015 about 32,000 tortoises live in the wild in all the islands, most on restricted locations of Isabela. You will certainly also appreciate the native scalesia forest, overgrown with lichens, ferns, and other epiphytes; plus chances to spot endemic Darwin’s finches, vermilion flycatchers, yellow warblers, and less common birds like short-eared owls, Galapagos rails and paint-billed crakes.
" 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.
On Isabela nature seems to hunt for the largest. The exceptional coastal plain at Urbina Bay attracts prehistoric giants in the very wild, such as largest land iguanas, largest marine iguanas.
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: EGAS PORT & ESPUMILLA BEACH
" 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):
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| Accommodation |
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| Safety Equipment |
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