San Cristóbal 360 Tour with Kicker Rock
Nine hours going the whole way around San Cristóbal, with the Kicker Rock channel as the centrepiece. From $270, rated 4.4 from 47 Viator reviews, and one of the few listings here that publishes a price at all.
Listing details checked by Oleg Galeev, who has been to the islands three times
Check live availability & prices on Viator → See the key facts
Operator's own figure: 4.4 from 47 Viator reviews, from $270
Short answer
Howlanders runs this nine-hour circuit of San Cristóbal from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, leaving at 7:30am from José de Villamil. Snorkel gear, a neoprene wetsuit, a bilingual naturalist guide, lunch with vegan and vegetarian options, snacks, a microfiber towel and photos are included. Prices start at $270 and the booking is non-refundable.
San Cristóbal 360 tour: the key facts
Read from the live Viator listing. The 360 in the name is literal: the boat circles the island rather than running out to one site and back.
| Full listing name | San Cristobal Galapagos 360 - Snorkeling Tour (Kicker Rock) |
|---|---|
| Operator | Howlanders |
| Platform and rating | Viator, 4.4 from 47 reviews |
| Duration | 9 hours (approx.) |
| Start time | 7:30am |
| Departs from | Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristóbal |
| Meeting point | José de Villamil, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno |
| Price | From $270 per person |
| Boat | Named on the listing as the Hammerhead |
| Cancellation | Non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason |
The 4.4 sits below the best Santa Cruz boats but above several of its San Cristóbal rivals, and 47 reviews is a middling sample by the standards of this small market. The published price is worth more than the extra half star: most Galapagos listings hide the figure until you are inside the booking flow, which makes honest comparison hard.
How it compares with the other Kicker Rock full day
Two listings on this site take you to the same rock from the same town, and they are genuinely different products rather than the same boat sold twice.
| San Cristóbal 360 (Howlanders) | Kicker Rock Full Day Más Playa (Sharksky) | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Viator | GetYourGuide |
| Rating | 4.4 from 47 reviews | 4.7 from 34 reviews |
| Duration | 9 hours | About 7 hours |
| Price | From $270 | $260 per person |
| Start | 7:30am, José de Villamil | 8:00am, the aquarium pier |
| Hotel pickup | Not listed | Included |
| Cancellation | Non-refundable | Free up to 24 hours before |
| Extras | Photos and videos included | Fruit, beverages, vegan and vegetarian lunch options |
If your dates are firm and you want the longer circuit with photos thrown in, the 360 is the better fit. If you would rather keep the option to cancel and be picked up from your hotel, the Sharksky full day costs ten dollars less and refunds in full a day out.
What the price covers, and what it does not
Seven items, and the wetsuit is the one that earns its place. San Cristóbal water drops to 19 to 22°C between June and November, and the Kicker Rock channel is deep, shaded by the rock walls and colder than the surface temperature suggests.
On the operator's included list
- Lunch, with vegan and vegetarian menus available
- Snacks and drinks
- Bilingual naturalist guide, Spanish and English
- Snorkelling equipment plus a neoprene wetsuit
- Microfiber towel
- Transport aboard the Hammerhead
- Photos and videos from the day
Not on that list
- Hotel pickup. You meet at José de Villamil for 7:30am
- The $200 national park entrance fee, paid to rangers at the airport
- The $20 Transit Control Card, bought online before you fly
- Flights to San Cristóbal, commonly $250 to $600 return from the mainland
San Cristóbal has its own airport, so you can fly straight in rather than transferring through Baltra, and the $200 fee is collected on arrival there just the same. The official tariff page carries the current amounts, and our cost breakdown shows how the fees, the flights and a few day tours actually add up over a week.
How the day runs
Nine hours built around a full lap of the island. The listing names the elements rather than a timetable, so this is the sequence with the published facts marked.
- 7:30am, José de Villamil. Meeting point in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, no pickup offered. The sea lions on the town waterfront will be there before you are.
- Aboard the Hammerhead. The listing names the boat, which is more than most do.
- Around the island. A 360 circuit means coastline you cannot see from town, and long enough legs that the day is genuinely at sea rather than parked at one bay.
- Kicker Rock. The main snorkel. Wetsuit and gear are handed out aboard, and the channel between the two rock faces is the part everyone comes for.
- Lunch. Included, with vegan and vegetarian options if you flag them when booking.
- The rest of the coastline. The circuit continues through the afternoon. The listing does not name each stop, so ask the operator if a specific site is the reason you are booking.
- Photos and video. Shot by the crew and included, which saves risking your own camera in the channel.
- Back in the late afternoon. Nine hours after the 7:30am start.
The guide is not a nicety: a park-certified naturalist must accompany visitors at protected sites, and the two-metre wildlife rule holds underwater as much as on land. The published park rules also rule out drones anywhere in the park or the marine reserve, which is a common surprise for people planning to film the rock.
Kicker Rock, and why San Cristóbal is worth basing yourself on
León Dormido, the sleeping lion, is what Ecuadorians call it. Two sheer walls of eroded tuff standing out of open water, split by a narrow channel you snorkel through. Nearly every boat working out of San Cristóbal goes there, which tells you how much the island's day-tour economy rests on one rock.
The town itself is the other half of the argument. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno shares its waterfront with a sea lion colony that treats benches, steps and moored boats as furniture. Pupping peaks in August and September, when the beaches get loud and the two-metre rule gets harder to keep. The Conservation Trust's sea lion profile explains the breeding cycle behind that.
Water temperature drives the snorkelling far more than the calendar month does. Between December and May the sea runs 23 to 24°C; from June to November it falls to 19 to 22°C, which is precisely when the included wetsuit stops being a detail. Our packing guide covers what to bring for a nine-hour day at sea, including the biosecurity items that get pulled from bags before you fly.
Honest pros and cons
What works
- A published price, from $270, which most listings here refuse to show.
- Wetsuit and gear included, which matters in the cool season.
- Photos and videos from the crew are part of the package.
- A full circuit of the island rather than an out-and-back run.
- Vegan and vegetarian lunch options are stated rather than implied.
What to weigh
- Non-refundable, unlike the rival Kicker Rock full day.
- 4.4 is the middling rating of the San Cristóbal boats we verified.
- No hotel pickup, and a 7:30am meeting time.
- Nine hours is a long day if you are prone to seasickness.
- The channel is open water; the swell there is real and not for weak swimmers.
Who checked this listing
Oleg Galeev has been to the Galapagos three times and has catalogued hundreds of tour and cruise options for the platform he runs. He has not taken this tour, and nothing here is written as a first-hand account of it.
The tables above come from the live Viator listing: price, duration, start time, meeting point, the full inclusion list, the boat name and the cancellation terms. The comparison with the Sharksky full day uses that operator's own published GetYourGuide figures. Fees, park rules and wildlife timing are checked against official and conservation sources.
We earn a commission if you book through our links, at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we write. How this works.
Where Kicker Rock is
Off the northwest coast of San Cristóbal, out in open water rather than tucked against the shore.
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, where the boat leaves from, sits on the island's southwestern tip.
San Cristóbal 360 tour: common questions
What does the 360 tour actually cost?
The listing shows from $270 per person, one of the few Galapagos day tours that publishes a figure openly. San Cristóbal day tours across the platforms run $149 to $320, so this sits in the upper middle of the island's range, with a wetsuit, lunch and photos folded in.
Do I need to be a strong swimmer for Kicker Rock?
You should be comfortable in deep open water. The channel is not a lagoon: it is a snorkel between two rock walls with swell running through it, and there is no standing up. Wetsuits add buoyancy and the guide is with the group, but this is not the place to learn to snorkel. A sheltered bay tour is the better first outing.
Is the tour refundable?
No. The listing states it is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. The GetYourGuide Kicker Rock full day from Sharksky does allow free cancellation up to 24 hours before, which is the trade-off to weigh if your plans are loose.
Which is better, the 360 or the shorter Kicker Rock day?
The 360 gives you two extra hours, a full lap of the island and photos from the crew. The Sharksky day is shorter, ten dollars cheaper, includes hotel pickup and can be cancelled. Both visit the same rock. Pick on cancellation policy and pickup rather than on the half-star between them.
What time do I need to be there?
7:30am at José de Villamil in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. There is no hotel pickup on this listing, so allow for the walk. Nine hours from that start puts you back in town in the late afternoon.