National Geographic Endeavour II

National Geographic Endeavour II was not built for the Galápagos. She was built in 2005 at the ASENAV yard in Valdivia, Chile, as Via Australis, working the Patagonian fjords and Cape Horn for Cruceros Australis, which is to say she was already an expedition ship when Lindblad bought her in 2016, rather than a yacht or a ferry pressed into the role. That shows in the hull: 237 feet, an ice-strengthened bow, and the Zodiac handling arrangements of a vessel designed to put people onto beaches.

Lindblad announced the purchase at the end of 2015 (eighteen million dollars for the hull, with up to ten million more budgeted for the refit), and the significant thing the conversion did was take capacity out. She carried 136 in Patagonia; she carries 96 now, in 52 outside cabins. The space that bought went into public rooms and into the expedition platforms, not into more berths.

What the National Park decides, and what the ship decides

Almost everything about a Galápagos week is set by the Ecuadorian authorities rather than by the operator. Itineraries are fixed and approved in advance, each landing site takes a capped number of visitors, guides must be licensed Ecuadorian naturalists, and only Ecuadorian-flagged vessels may carry tourists in the park, which is why Endeavour II is registered at Guayaquil and not in New York.

What the ship changes is how much of the archipelago you actually get at. She carries a full expedition staff (naturalists, an undersea specialist and a photo instructor among them), and Lindblad’s guides in the islands are Galápagueños or mainland Ecuadorians rather than imported lecturers. Twin Zodiac boarding platforms mean the whole complement can be off the ship and ashore without a line, which at 96 guests is not a trivial problem. The kit list runs to a glass-bottom boat, kayaks, paddleboards, underwater cameras and a video microscope for the evening recap, and the bridge is open.

What she sails

One route, sold three ways. The core is the nine-night Exploring Galápagos voyage out of Quito. Most of what is bookable here is that same voyage extended overland (fifteen nights adding Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu), and the longest is the sixteen-night Ultimate Galápagos. She does not reposition and she does not have a season; she does this all year.

Who she suits

Anyone whose reason for going is the wildlife and who wants a full expedition team rather than a guide. She is the more sociable of Lindblad’s two Galápagos ships and the better value of them, and 96 guests is still a small number by any standard other than her sister’s.

Cabins are the trade. They are comfortable, outside and well kept, and none of them has a balcony; a number of them are dedicated single cabins, which is rare on a ship this size. Anyone who wants a suite, a private veranda or a quieter ship should look at National Geographic Islander II instead, which carries half as many people on the same nine-night itinerary and costs accordingly. And nobody should book either expecting an evening: the day starts early, ends with a briefing, and the ship is dark by ten.