20 adults, plus 3 children, and crew, were squashed into a little boat with padding perhaps an inch thick. One of the passengers rode on top, due to lack of space. Although, practically everyone volunteered, hoping for more air and space, but not allowed. We waited a half hour in the hot weather inside cramped conditions for 4 more people to arrive for the trip. The trip was supposed to be two hour long (actally, we sat on the boat much longer, waiting to leave, waiting for the water taxi upon arrival)…seemed like months. We constantly looked at our watches hoping some time had elapsed. The unfortunate young lady in front of me appeared to be in pain from being cramped. In summary, the trip was hot and miserable. There must be a better way to get from Santa Cruz to Isabella. I dread the return trip.
I booked several tours and transfers between islands with Eduardo at GalapagosBKTours. My overall experience was mixed in working with Eduardo. Overall I rate my experience as 3.5 stars. I am splitting up reviews - here I will talk about primarily booking the travel between the islands, and I will provide separate reviews of the tours that I booked with Eduardo.
I booked 3 individual ferry tickets in advance with Eduardo: San Cristobal to Santa Cruz (am), Santa Cruz to Isabela (pm), and Isabela to Santa Cruz (am). I booked all of this in advance so that I would not have to worry or think about these details during my vacation.
Remotely (before the vacation), it is difficult to tell online which bookings are services and which are directly with the boat companies. Booking in advance with Eduardo, I did not have to worry about it, and he took care of the booking of a reputable ferry transfer for me.
The good: Eduardo is excellent with communication. Before booking the tours, after booking the tours and responding to questions, and then on the islands themselves during the vacation, Eduardo was responsive and worked to help my vacation happen as planned. When things went wrong (which they did), he was able to fix things so that my vacation proceeded as scheduled.
Also, Eduardo knows very good English, which is important for someone like myself who does not know much Spanish. This can be rare in Galapagos - so it was helpful to have him take care of things for me.
The bad: Eduardo had indicated that all I would need to do is provide my name to the people handling the particular boat. However, on 2 out of 3 of the ferry transfers, they did not have my name on the list. I do not know exactly what happened, but my name was not there, and therefore I was not actually booked on the transfer. Eduardo responded immediately when I told him. He indicated that it was a problem with the other people, but it happened 2 times - so I feel like something went wrong with how the ferry was booked.
On the first instance, they were able to get me on the boat that I was supposed to be on. However, on the second instance, there was obviously no room. I went through an hour of stress, not sure whether or not I would make it to Isabela that day. (the person who I was dealing with did not know much English, and she was not communicating well with me regarding the situation - all I knew was that she would not give me a badge for her boat, and therefore I was not assured a spot for travel). They wound up putting me on a different boat and I did successfully make it to Isabela - so it worked out, but this was a less than ideal situation.
For my 3rd ferry transfer, I confirmed with Eduardo the night before that my name would be on the list this time, and it was. So the 3rd transfer went smoothly.
Overall, this was an average experience. I gather that most people book the ferry transfers on the islands a day or so in advance, rather than prior to the vacation (like I did). If my Spanish skills were better, and I was more aware of the situation, this may have been a better option.
However, it is good to book in advance, especially during high travel months. I did witness a couple of women who booked with viator and were told they did not have a boat going (or a reservation) from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz, and it sounded like they were not being helped to get on another transfer ferry. I do thank Eduardo for fixing the situation and making sure my vacation proceeded as planned.