The ‘Hermes’ Catamaran Is Bringing Luxe Chartering to the Galápagos

This new 164-foot catamaran has blown the Galápagos Islands’ charter offerings wide open.

Built by Ecuadorian company Via Natura in 2025, Hermes is the newest and largest charter yacht to exclusively cruise the famed isles. While there isn’t a shortage of expedition-style cruise ships and local dive boats offering week-long tours, most fail to meet the demanding standards of a superyacht experience. Privately owned yachts can charter in the area, but tight restrictions enforced by the Galápagos National Park mean few choose to venture to the region. Now, though, Hermes has hit the seas and changed the game, and Robb Report was among the first to check out the cat’s full offering.

The equatorial sun is riding high during my speedy tender approach to the yacht when I catch sight of the first superyacht signifier; full-height windows that give the four-decked multihull a distinctly sleek aesthetic. According to Esteban Velasquez, CEO of family-owned Via Natura, which has operated its 91-foot boat, Monserrat, in the region since 2005, the late addition of a fourth deck partway through the build was decided upon to elevate the onboard dining experience.

“The needs of the ultra-rich weren’t being catered for in the Galápagos. On the cruise liners you’re just a number, while the small boats lack amenities,” he says. Creating a dedicated deck for intimate meals—including formal five-course dinners prepared by the boat’s Ecuadorian chef with an all-inclusive wine and spirits menu—was central to distinguishing Hermes’s offering.

Other yacht amenities include 12 double suites sleeping a total of 20 guests (with a 1-1 crew-to-guest ratio) arranged across the main and lower decks. Each has a private balcony, butler service, a signature pillow menu, and a jacuzzi bath flanked by a picture window. Family charters can upgrade to the 700-square-foot primary, created by interlinking two main deck cabins to form a private lounge or children’s cabin. There’s also a library, mosaiced hammam, and sundeck hot tub to round off the amenities. The in-room mini bars stocked with guests’ favorites adds a personalized touch.

Velasquez and his wife, Gabriela Soro, were the visionaries behind the yacht’s whitewashed interior. It’s a blend of Ecuadorian artisanal details (think hand-carved oak headboards and soap dispensers crafted by local stonemasons) mated with stainless-steel modern finishes. The exterior deck spaces are ample, with cocktail bars and sun loungers on every level.

Twice-daily land and sea excursions are led by the park’s naturalist guides who remain onboard throughout the charter (one guide for every 10 guests), with itineraries ranging from four to eight days. Expect to hike through lava tunnels on Santa Cruz, stroll through giant cactus forests on Rábida, snorkel with Galápagos penguins near Bartolome, and spot rare birdlife on San Cristóbal.

Biogeography is key to the Galápagos, with the diversity of endemic species rather than the size of colonies being the big draw. Hermes has a strict shoe cleaning policy to prevent the cross-contamination of seeds and fauna between islands. That doesn’t stop the yacht’s swim platform from becoming a popular nighttime resting spot for big-billed pelicans and lumbering sea lions who regularly hop aboard to avoid circling Galápagos sharks. But it does serve as a timely reminder that beyond all the onboard splendor lies the reason a record 330,000 people visited the archipelago’s 127 islands last year: a gluttony of wildlife.

Within minutes of my plane touching down on Baltra Island, I had glimpsed the mustard-hued scaly form of a land iguana crawling through tall grass. Across the next four days, the Attenborough-worthy sights keep coming: a Porter’s tortoise crawling across petrified magma cannonballs, a red breasted lava lizard tiptoeing past a racer snake, divebombing frigate birds (which closely follow the yacht), and nesting pairs of blue-footed boobies.

On our third day, a late-afternoon beach landing on Sante Fe deposited us amid a colony of sleeping sea lions, their barks and coughs reverberating across the sandy shore. The previous day, we’d snorkeled among them, small pups whipping rings around us in a show of aquatic acrobatics.

See Also

Why Ruf-Tuned Porsche Prices Are Skyrocketing

“There has never been a better time to visit the Galápagos,” Pablo Vargas, one of the park’s certified naturalist guides, tells me as we stroll along the copper sands of Rábida Island. “But this isn’t tourism.” Yachting is supplying funds that are properly channeled into grassroots development projects that align with scientific conservation efforts and a preservation-first approach to tourism.

That includes experiential travel companies like Cookson Adventures, whose private yacht charters to the Islands have supported the Galápagos Conservancy for the pink iguana, as well as giant tortoise programs for all species. “Some of the conservation work in the Galápagos has only been made possible by yacht owners who lend the use of their helicopter,” says Luis Rodriguez, Cookson’s onsite Galápagos specialist. He cites a recent repatriation of 450 tortoises that had been waiting for years with funds running out as an example. “Cookson’s charter itineraries aim to connect visitors more intimately with the fragile region while providing much-needed funding for the park’s upkeep,” he adds.

It’s been 190 years since 22-year-old Charles Darwin arrived at the Galápagos during his five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. Now Hermes’s five-star offering has unlocked the destination for those wanting to visit the world’s finest natural laboratory in style.

From four night’s all-inclusive from around $8,400 (£6,161) per person for a four-night, all-inclusive charter, excluding flights

Click here to see more of Hermes.