Ballestas Islands Guided Boat Tour Paracas

Paracas port and the bay

The tour starts in Paracas, a small resort town on a sheltered bay of the Pacific coast, about 250 kilometres south of Lima. Many travellers ask how to get to Paracas: most arrive by long-distance bus from Lima in around three and a half to four hours, and the bus station is one of the pickup points on this tour. From the office, where you can leave luggage, you go to the port, the busy departure point for all boats to the islands.

Paracas Bay is calm in the morning and rich in life, fed by the cold Humboldt Current that sweeps up the coast of Peru. Even before leaving the pier you often see pelicans perched on the boats and flamingos or terns along the shore. After a short briefing and life jacket fitting, the speedboat heads out across the bay.

The Paracas Candelabra

About fifteen minutes into the ride, the boat slows in front of the Paracas Candelabra, a huge three-branched figure cut into the sandy slope of the Paracas Peninsula. Roughly 180 metres tall, it is best seen from the sea, and it has survived for centuries thanks to the almost total lack of rain on this desert coast. Its trenches, around half a metre deep, are lined with stones and hard salty crust.

No one knows for certain who made it or why. Some link it to the ancient Paracas culture, famous for its textiles, others see it as a navigation mark for sailors or a symbol connected to the Nazca lines further south. Your guide shares the different theories while you take photos. It is one of the most intriguing sights on any Paracas boat tour.

The Ballestas Islands and their rock formations

The Ballestas Islands lie offshore, about half an hour by speedboat from Paracas. They are rugged, rocky islands sculpted by waves into arches, tunnels and caves, and they are protected as part of a national reserve for Peru's guano islands. Visitors cannot land, which keeps the wildlife undisturbed; instead the boat slowly circles the islands, coming close to the cliffs and through the channels when the sea allows.

The white colour of the rocks comes from guano, the droppings of the seabirds that nest here in huge numbers. In the nineteenth century guano was a prized fertiliser and one of Peru's main exports, and it is still harvested carefully every few years. You will see the old loading platforms on the islands as your guide explains this surprising chapter of Peruvian history.

Sea lions, penguins and seabirds

Wildlife is the real star of a Ballestas Islands tour. South American sea lions crowd the rocky beaches and ledges, barking, sleeping in the sun and sliding into the water around the boat; from January to March you may see young pups. On the lower rocks look for Humboldt penguins, a species found only along the coasts of Peru and Chile, standing in small groups near the waterline.

Above you, the air is full of seabirds: guanay cormorants, Peruvian boobies, Peruvian pelicans, Inca terns with their white moustaches and red-legged cormorants. Dolphins sometimes follow the boat on the way back. The best time to visit the Ballestas Islands is in the morning, when the sea is calmer and the light is softer, which is why departures are at 08:00 and 10:00.

Back in Paracas and what else to see

After about two hours on the water, the speedboat returns to the port and our driver takes you back to your hotel or the bus station. Because the tour finishes before midday, it leaves you the afternoon free. Many visitors continue to the Paracas National Reserve on the peninsula, a desert coastline of red and golden cliffs, empty beaches and viewpoints over the ocean.

Others take the road inland to the oasis of Huacachina near Ica, with its lagoon surrounded by giant sand dunes. Paracas town itself has a seafront promenade lined with restaurants serving fresh fish and ceviche, perfect for lunch after the boat ride. Is the Ballestas Islands tour worth it? For close-up marine wildlife in a short morning, it is one of the highlights of any trip along the coast of Peru.