National Parks to Visit in 2026: Cocos-Galápagos Swimway

It’s long been known that the Swimway is a critical route for endangered marine species, but 2026 is the first year when visitors may see real changes. Both countries significantly expanded their protected areas in 2021 and 2022, then introduced shared marine patrols and monitoring programs in 2024 and 2025 as well as satellite surveillance to curb illegal poaching and fishing. This makes 2026 the first full year in which all of these measures are in effect, and results are already encouraging: MigraMar and monitoring from the Galápagos Science Center show more silky and hammerhead sharks congregating at ocean cleaning stations, more frequent whale shark sightings, and reef recovery efforts trending in the right direction.

For travelers, visiting the Swimway means exploring by boat; there is no infrastructure on the high seas. Scuba divers can join a liveaboard or dive trip to Cocos Island from mainland Costa Rica, usually leaving from Puntarenas or Quepos. You can also book cruises into the Galápagos Marine Reserve in Ecuador. High-end accommodation options like Pikaia Lodge can arrange luxury day trips on fast yachts, usually accompanied by naturalist guides, and cruise companies like Lindblad, Ecoventura, Quark, and Quasar offer multi-day sailing tours that give you the chance to travel on the Swimway, watching for iconic species like whale sharks, oceanic manta rays, scalloped hammerheads, sea turtles, and more. Most expedition cruises also include chances to snorkel near land, giving you the opportunity to see smaller species like rare corals and schooling fish, too.

How to reach the Coco-Galápagos Swimway

To visit from Costa Rica, you’ll need to fly into San Jose then drive about two hours to Puntarenas on the western coast. Trips leaving from the Ecuador side usually depart from the Galápagos’ Baltra Island or San Cristobal Island, both reachable via direct flights from Quito or Guayaquil.