The National Geographic Islander was built in France in 1995 and purchased by Lindblad Expeditions in 2004. A 48 passenger vessel with a staff of 33, she is one of two vessels operated by Lindblad/National Geograpic in the Galapagos; the other is the 96 passenger Endeavor. We loved the relatively small size of the ship - enough people to mix things up a bit, but not so large as to make activities or loading/unloading difficult. A 164 foot twin-hull vessel, the ship is fully air-conditioned and operates at 110 volt (typical American). Deck plans and more information about the ship is available here at Lindblad's web site. Passenger cabins are located on three levels, from bottom to top: the main deck, the bridge deck and the upper deck. We occupied Cabin 407 on the upper deck.
The ship had most modern amenities including (slow) satellite Internet access (via prepaid card), a computer kiosk for viewing, editing and saving photos, a LEXspa, an on board doctor and infirmary, and fitness center. Fresh clean water is a highly prized commodity on small boats. I was very happy to learn that the Islander has its own on board desalinization and water purification system - thus it has an unlimited supply of pure, fresh water. Glory Hallelujah!
An easy system was used to account for all of the passengers to make sure that everyone was on board after each stop. The board below was at the disembarkation platform. Passengers moved their magnets between "off" to "aboard" each time they left/returned to the the ship. The ship never departed until all passengers were accounted for. Woe be unto anyone who forgot to move their magnet back to "aboard" - their cabin number was called out over the intercom by Jason!
Here are some additional photos of the bridge level and upper deck:
Although Lindblad has an open bridge policy, I never took advantage of it to pay a visit. Crew quarters are on the lower level, which is off limits to passengers.