Las Bachas: the turtle beach behind Baltra
Las Bachas is a pair of white coral sand beaches on Santa Cruz’s north shore, facing the Itabaca canal toward Baltra airport. The name is a mispronunciation that stuck: after WWII, barges (“barges”, slurred into “bachas”) were stranded here, and the name outlived the wrecks. It is a classic cruise visitor site and one of the island’s principal green turtle nesting beaches, and the lagoon just behind the sand adds flamingos to the morning.
The beach and the wildlife
The sand is soft and white, ground down coral, and it slopes into calm, sheltered water: the north shore sits out of the prevailing swell, so the swimming is easy by Galápagos standards. Two things make the site special:
- Green sea turtles nest here in the warm season (nesting runs roughly December to March, with hatchlings emerging January to June; see the season table in our best time guide). Nesting zones are marked; walk below the high-tide line where the rangers direct you.
- A brackish lagoon just behind the beach regularly holds flamingos, along with ducks and migratory shorebirds that winter in the islands.
Marine iguanas dot the rocks at the ends of the beach, and the shallow water off the sand is good for a first snorkel: reef fish, the occasional ray, and young turtles in the seagrass. As ever in the park, two metres from every animal, and no flash photography; the park rules apply in full here because it is a managed visitor site.
How you get there
Las Bachas sits about a kilometre or so from the Baltra ferry dock side of the island, near the Itabaca canal, which is why it works in two very different plans:
- By cruise or day tour: the standard visit is a wet landing on the beach after the morning’s other site, since visitor access to this beach is managed through authorised operators.
- DIY from Santa Cruz: a taxi to the Itabaca canal area gets you close, but there is no marked public trail along the final stretch; if you are not on a tour, ask at the dock about current access arrangements before counting on it.
The honest framing: Las Bachas is primarily a boat-access site. If you are island-hopping without tours, Tortuga Bay and Garrapatero cover the free-beach quota better; Las Bachas earns its slot as the beach day of a Bartolomé-combining tour or a cruise day on the north side.
What the name costs you
Nothing in fees, the site fee is part of your tour or cruise, but the visit is capped and guided, like all park sites: groups walk with a naturalist guide, and the visit is short, typically under two hours. Bring water, sun protection and your snorkel gear if the tour does not provide it; there are no facilities on the beach.
Fitting it into a trip
If you fly into Baltra and board a boat the same day, Las Bachas is often the first or last site of the itinerary precisely because it sits minutes from the canal. For land-based travellers, the northern beaches pair with a Baltra departure day rather than needing their own day. Our cruise vs land guide explains why sites like this one sit mostly on the boat side of the ledger, and the 7-day itinerary shows how a boat day plus land days combine.
Galapagos Dana Tours books cruises and day tours across every budget and every major boat in the islands. And when the trip’s last beach is behind you, our cloudforest hotel in Mindo, Las Terrazas de Dana, is the quiet chapter we recommend after the salt.
Last verified: September 2026