The Galapagos Marine Reserve

| Updated on July 26, 2026
A Galapagos liveaboard at anchor, the only way to dive Darwin and Wolf

The Galapagos Marine Reserve covers approximately 138,000sq km (53,282sq mi) of the Pacific Ocean, including the inland waters enclosed by a «baseline» (the hypothetical line joining the outer edges of the Islands) plus a buffer zone of 40 nautical miles measured from the baseline, and an additional zone of 20 miles of ‘minimum impact’. The coastline included in this area amounts to 1, 6667km (036mi.).

Dive inside that protected zone — our guide to the best Galapagos dive sites shows where the marine reserve’s biodiversity is most spectacular.

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