Palomino Islands Tour: Swim With 8,000 Sea Lions From $50 (2026)

A Palomino Islands tour costs $50 to $139 and takes you roughly 6 miles west of Callao to swim in open water with a colony of more than 8,000 South American sea lions. Boats leave from the port in Callao, about 30 minutes from the islands, and the trip runs three to six hours depending on whether you book the boat alone or a package with hotel pickup from Miraflores. Every version puts you in a wetsuit in the Pacific with animals that have no natural predators here, which is the reason swimming with them is possible at all.

The route matters as much as the destination. On the way out you pass El Camotal, San Lorenzo (Peru's largest island), and El Fronton, a former island prison, then the Cavinzas Islands, where Humboldt penguins nest alongside pelicans, cormorants and boobies. The sea lion swim at Palomino is the finale, not the whole outing.

What separates the six tours below is less about the wildlife, which is the same colony for everyone, and more about logistics: how long you are on the water, whether you are collected from your hotel or meet the boat at the dock, and which reserve fees are already paid. Below we compare all six on those points, then cover water temperature, what to bring, and which months actually make for a comfortable swim.

Palomino Islands Tours at a Glance

All six visit the same colony and provide a wetsuit and life jacket. The real questions are how many people share your boat, whether you want collecting from your hotel, and which fees are already paid.

The tour name says Palomino, but the boat threads a small archipelago on the way, and knowing what you are looking at makes the outbound hour considerably more interesting than a transfer.

San Lorenzo and El Camotal

San Lorenzo is Peru's largest island and the first significant landmass you pass, sitting just off Callao and controlled by the navy. El Camotal is the smaller outcrop usually pointed out alongside it. Neither is a landing stop, but both frame the run out of the harbour.

El Fronton

El Fronton is the one passengers remember. It held a notorious island prison, and the ruins are still visible from the water, which gives the trip an unexpected historical dimension between the wildlife stops.

The Cavinzas Islands

The Cavinzas Islands are the birding highlight and, for some visitors, the best part of the day. They host a colony of Humboldt penguins along with guano birds: Peruvian pelicans, cormorants, boobies and guanay. Older sea lions haul out here too. Bring a zoom lens if you have one, because this is a from-the-boat stop rather than a swim.

Palomino

The Palomino Islands themselves sit roughly 6 miles west of Callao, about 30 minutes out, and hold the colony of more than 8,000 South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens), alongside South American fur seals. This is where you get in the water. The animals are curious and will approach swimmers, but touching them is forbidden: they are wild, and the colony sits inside a protected area.

What Else You Might See

The wildlife beyond the colony is better than the listings let on. Guests regularly report dolphins on the crossing, and humpback whale sightings come up often enough to be a realistic hope rather than a fluke. Penguins are the coin toss: some boats see a good group at Cavinzas, others spot one or two. Cormorants, terns and pelicans are a given, and one traveller was handed a sea urchin to look at before it went back in the water.

Palomino Islands tours run year-round, but unlike most Lima activities the season genuinely changes the experience here, because you are getting into the Pacific rather than looking at it. The deciding factor is water temperature, and the Humboldt Current keeps it cold all year.

Palomino Islands tours cost $50 to $139 per person. The $50 to $85 tier covers the boat, a wetsuit and a guide, with you making your own way to Callao. The $125 to $139 tier adds hotel pickup from Miraflores and a longer day. Prices are per person on every tour here, and private charters run far higher, with one listed at $370.

• Check the fee line, and carry cash if it is not included. The five-island tour states that the SERNANP environment rate and the Marina Club del Callao boarding fee are covered, and Tours MyG bundles all fees and taxes. Where they are not included, guests report paying the park fee in cash at the dock, and one felt the amount collected exceeded the official rate. Read that column rather than the headline.
• Arrive early for the wetsuit, and message ahead if you need a larger size. One listing states the wetsuit and mask are subject to availability, and a first-hand account reports suits running short on a busy departure. Operators ask you to check in 30 minutes before sailing, and that queue is where the sizes go.
• Bring your own mask if you want to see underwater. Masks are excluded or availability-dependent on most of these tours, and two exclude fins as well. It is a small item that changes how much of the encounter you actually witness.
• Pack a dry layer and a towel for the return. Most tours do not list towels, and guests note that even with a wetsuit you end up soaking wet, so the ride back into Callao with wind on deck is the coldest part of the day.
• If your tour includes lunch, do not pre-book your taxi. Lunch is served after you return to shore rather than on the boat, at a yacht club restaurant on the waterfront, and one guest missed theirs entirely by arranging a pickup for the moment the boat docked. Vegetarians can be accommodated on request, though the default menu is fish.
• Ask about the return timing if you have a flight. Guests who booked the transfer option describe punctual pickups and a return adapted to their own schedule, and several fitted this in on a departure day. The meeting point is an office on a pedestrian street right on the water, and staff wait in the road to steer arrivals in.
• Wear sunscreen even under cloud. Lima's marine layer hides the sun without blocking it, and guests report burning on overcast crossings. There is no shade on an open deck for three hours.
• Be ready for the smell. Thousands of sea lions on a small rock produce a powerful stench, and it comes up in review after review. It is part of the experience rather than a fault with any operator, but it surprises people.
• Do not expect to touch the animals. These are wild sea lions in a protected area and guides enforce it. The colony grew from under 100 animals in a 1969 census to more than 8,000 today, which is exactly why the rules exist.
• Take a morning slot and accept the weather caveat. Departures run 10 to 11:30 AM, one operator sets the exact time the day before based on sea conditions, and rough seas can mean cancellation with a refund. Leave a spare day if this is a trip highlight.
• Take something for seasickness before you board. This is the single most repeated complaint about the trip. The water is calm near the harbour and genuinely choppy out at the islands, one guest counted five people sick on a single crossing, and crews hand out tablets on boarding as routine. Taking your own an hour ahead works far better than treating it mid-swell.
• You may not need to pay for photos. On our top pick, guests repeatedly describe the crew taking GoPro photos and video in the water and sending them over afterwards for free. Tours MyG includes underwater photos and video in the fare outright. A paid photographer is offered on some departures, so ask before assuming either way.
• Getting to Callao is easy and cheap. The port is roughly 40 minutes from Miraflores by taxi or ride-hail, which is worth remembering when a transfer-inclusive tour costs $75 more than a dock departure. Our Lima transfer guide covers the going rates across the city.
• Pair it with the rest of Lima's coast. A morning at Palomino leaves the afternoon free, and it slots naturally alongside our guides to paragliding over the Costa Verde and surf lessons in Miraflores.

• We checked which tours are still bookable. Three widely cited Palomino listings are no longer active, and we excluded them rather than passing on prices that no longer exist. Several others have real fares but zero reviews, and we said so instead of padding the table.
• Operator names are the real suppliers. Ecocruceros, Tours MyG, Vista Adventures and America Viajes are the companies actually running the boats, verified against the listings rather than inferred from tour titles.
• We read the exclusions. That is how we found the availability-dependent wetsuits and masks, the excluded fins, the separately sold photo package and the reserve fees that sit outside some fares. Those details decide the day more than the headline price does.
• We rank on evidence, not on price. Our top pick is a mid-priced tour that carries more than ten times the review volume of its rivals, and the cheapest tour on the page is our runner-up. We have not upsold the $139 option to make the page look premium.
• Wildlife and geography checked independently. The 8,000-strong colony, the recovery from under 100 animals in 1969, the Humboldt penguins at Cavinzas and the species names were confirmed outside the tour listings.
• Reviewed and updated August 2026. Boat operators and prices in Callao change, so we re-check this page rather than letting it age.

ℹ️ We earn a commission if you book through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It does not affect which tours we rank first, and we do not accept payment from operators for placement.