Galapagos Islands Adventure Packing List

When packing for a small vessel adventure cruise, you need to pack light and normally they advise you to bring a soft sided duffel bag vs. a rolling suitcase. These adventure cruise ships have small rooms and not a lot of space to put your items (or even an empty suitcase) so you need to pack smart.

Galapagos Islands Packing List

Below is my specific packing list for the Galapagos for a 7 day trip on a small vessel. The ship we went on was called The Galavan which was an 88 foot “motor yacht” and took 20 customers and 10 crew members. It was a fantastic lifetime journey and worth the cost and any discomforts for living in a small room. Quite honestly there was so much room outside of our cabin to go hang out, that we really only slept there so it worked out just fine. For the cruise itself, we actually got a 2 for 1 deal so it was very affordable and we planned it fairly last minute.

Photos of Our Ship, The Galavan

If you get sea sick, then living on a small ship is NOT for you! We had the room at the top which was fantastic as we had great views, light and breezes. Being on top our room was “rocking’ with the waves…so much so one night that we had to hold on to our bed so we wouldn’t fall out! The rest of the rooms were down below in the hull which sounded a bit claustrophobic to me so I was happy to be rockin’ at the top of the boat…it was part of the adventure and something we’ll never forget!  Luckily, the rooms were so small that you could literally put your hands on each wall to stabilize yourself. The bathroom was also tiny but again, completely worth the experience of visiting the Galapagos islands! If you love animals, this is must be on your bucket list!

For the packing list, living on a boat and going for 3 excursions per day is all about comfort and everything was extremely casual. The fact that we didn’t need any dressy clothes made packing that much easier!

Quick Links to items in the above photo (Amazon.com):

Kimono Beach Cover-Up, Red Deep V Bathing Suit, Black Faux Wrap Bathing Suit, Large Sun Hat, Rash Guard/Sun Protection, Purple Loose Racerback Tank Top, Quick Dry Tank Top, Tan Muscle T-Shirt, Red Off the Shoulder Top, Off the Shoulder Gray Tee, Sleeveless Sundress, Denim Shirt, 1/4 Zip Sweatshirt, Black Skort, Denim Shorts, Black Leggings, Black Baseball Cap, Black & White Scarf, Travelon Crossbody Anti-Theft Purse, Maui Jim Cat Eye Sunglasses, Silver Small Hoop Earrings, Silver Feather Earrings, Vionic Brown Leather Sandals, Keds Slip-Ons, Merrell Water Shoes/Hiking Shoes.

Galapagos Packing List for Women

BOTTOMS

• Black pants with stretch/comfy & warm
• Black skort
• Jean shorts

TOPS

• Tank tops (2)
• T-shirts (2)
• Long sleeve t-shirt
• Denim shirt which could also be worn as a light jacket

OUTERWEAR

• Sweatshirt

DRESS

• Sundress. I brought a black pull on dress which could also be worn as a skirt. Find it and other colors on Amazon.

SWIM & SUN

• Large brimmed sun hat
• Bathing suits (2)
• Bathing suit cover-up
• Long sleeve rash guard
• Baseball cap
• Lightweight scarf to cover neck/prevent sun damage

SHOES

• Tan Vionic Sandals. These shoes have great support, non-slip soles and very comfortable
• Slip on tan shoes with white bottoms (non-marking soles so they don’t mark up the boat)
• Water shoes/hiking shoes

JEWELRY

• Silver earrings (2)

PURSE

–Travelon cross body purse for hikes

Of course there are more items such as underwear, bras, toiletries, etc but those things are a must for every trip. I feel that the challenge to not overpacking normally has to do with the amount of clothes!

Here are some documents that I found from the actual company and what they recommend when you travel to the Galapagos:

GlapagosItemstoPack

TravelingtoGalapagosIslands