Galapagos Cruise Leader Brings Luxury to the Heart

Boasting a significant number of endemic and endangered species, along with UNESCO World Heritage-recognized underwater geomorphology, the Galapagos Islands are becoming an increasingly popular travel destination. However, as a fragile and vulnerable conservation area, one Ecuador tour operator has announced a host of eco-friendly upgrades across its fleet of small 16-person yachts, bringing luxury to the very heart of island sustainability.

Latin Trails, which offers immersive, customized Galapagos cruises, has completed a number of environmental improvements to its small yachts; Galapagos Seaman Journey, and Galapagos Sea Star Journey. Both vessels have strict recycling programs and waste classification systems, but the most prominent upgrade has been to the water processing procedures on each yacht. Following the implementation of new filtering and purification systems, the firm has successfully eliminated the use of plastic on its Galapagos Islands cruises, offering reusable aluminium bottles for guests.

“With the new water purification plant, we’ve been able to stop the use of more than 3000 single use water bottles on Galapagos Islands tours,” said Latin Trails Managing Director, Marcel Perkins. “To date, 18 species have suffered due to plastic found in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, posing a real threat to the 12 mammal species and 36 reptile species endemic to the islands.”

Along with the sustainable changes made across the fleet, the Galapagos Sea Star Journey has also been upgraded with additional features to help protect this diverse National Park. The yacht, which was crowned South America’s Leading Boutique Cruise for 3 consecutive years by the World Travel Awards, has been provided with a new motor with fuel efficient technology, and induction cooking systems which reduce energy by 70%.

The Magellan Gold Award winner is capable of producing 10,000 gallons of fresh water, alongside 60 gallons of drinking water per hour from its onboard water purifiers. All black waters are processed and purified, with the Ecuador luxury tours specialists delivering used filters to the mainland for recycling.

The Ecuador and Peru luxury tours operator offers three exciting itineraries for Galapagos vacations, each designed to show off the very best of the islands while minimizing the impact on the environment. Two itineraries offer 6 days and 5 nights aboard the eco-friendly vessels, with the third offering a shorter getaway of 5 days and 4 nights. Vacations that combine itineraries for longer trips of 10, 11, and 15 days can be arranged through the Latin Trails team.

To find out more about sustainable Galapagos cruising with Latin Trails, visit https://latintrails.com/galapagos-islands