Itinerary

Day 1: Home to Quito, Ecuador
Depart this morning for the flight to Quito Ecuador, where you will be met and transferred to our charming boutique hotel, in the colonial city of Quito, located in the highlands of the Ecuadorian Andes. Enjoy a Welcome Dinner at the hotel.
Overnight in Hotel Patio Andaluz or Plaza Grande, Quito (D)

Day 2: Quito
Today you have the whole day to explore the historic Colonial city of Quito - your hotel is practically adjacent to the main plaza in the old town, so you can easily stroll to many of the cathedrals, churches, museums and attraction of Quito including the incredible Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco and the stunning gold covered ceilings of the former Jesuit church of La Compania. We will enjoy lunch overlooking this historic city center and in the afternoon enjoy a visit to the Middle of the World (the monument and the Intiñan museum). This evening you can enjoy dinner at the hotel or in other restaurants nearby.
Overnight in Hotel Patio Andaluz or Plaza Grande, Quito (B,L)

Day 3: Quito to Baltra, Galapagos and South Plazas Island
This morning we drive the short distance back to the International Airport for our flight to Baltra in the Galapagos Islands. We should arrive before lunch and immediately transfer to our home for the next week, the comfortable 14 passenger MV Samba. Once aboard we will get underway, our first destination is South Plazas, where the flat topography is strewn with boulders due to its origins as an uplifted, not volcanic, island. Here you have the opportunity to see an unusual prickly pear cactus forest, inhabited by numerous brightly colored Land Iguanas, also the island is densely populated by sea lions, over 1000 inhabit this island residing in 10 harems each one attended by a male. One of the characteristics of this island is its vegetation of Opuntia Cactuses and sesuvium plants. This small island also offers cliffs with Swallow-tailed gulls, and the dramatically beautiful Red-billed tropicbirds.
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 4: Isla Santa Cruz - Charles Darwin Research Center
Founded more than twenty years ago to assist the National Park Service in its efforts to save Galapagos wildlife, the Charles Darwin station plays an important part in monitoring and assessing the state of the islands. Today you will find buildings housing the different scientific areas of the station, a library and homes of scientists and tortoise keepers. The museum at the station has a facility for rearing tortoises - a project to increase the depleted populations of several species. Also the world famous Lonesome George can be found within the stations breeding program - the last of his kind on earth! Later we head up to the highlands and an amazing opportunity to see the magnificent Giant Galapagos tortoise in its natural habitat, having just seen them in the breeding program in the station, you can now see them bathing and eating in the wild (depending on the season). This area is vegetated with transition zone vegetation and is located in the humid zone of the highlands of Santa Cruz. The walk to the reserve is one of the best places to observe ground birds, tree and ground finches, the Vermillion flycatcher, Cattle egrets and occasionally Galapagos rails.
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 5: Isla Española - Punta Suarez and Gardner Bay
This is the southernmost island, and has the densest and most diversified concentration of wildlife. Punta Suarez is home to Blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Swallow-tailed gulls, American oystercatchers and the majestic Waved albatross breeding grounds. This makes this site one of the richest wildlife locations in the Galapagos Islands. The area is also famous for the marine iguanas with unique copper-red patches. In the afternoon we visit Gardner Bay, an amazing white sand beach with stunning turquoise shallows beautiful to walk, swim or snorkel. You could just sit and admire the extrovert mockingbirds and the sea lions.
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 6: Isla Floreana - Post Office Bay and Punta Cormorant
As one of the oldest islands, Isla Floreana has the most interesting human history. It has stories of marooned whales, prisoners and colonists as well as bizarre disappearances and even murders! It is made up of numerous extinct volcanic cones and has well established extensive scrubby vegetation. In the morning we visit Post Office Bay, significant for its human history - in 1793 James Colnett the captain of a whaling vessel, established the wooden post barrel on Floreana, whaling ships, typically offshore for two years at a time, frequented the archipelago, so outbound ships would drop off letters after rounding the Cape and the ships returning home would mail them. Over the years, thousand of ships have stopped to send and receive mail at Post Office Bay. This will be your opportunity to partake in this amazing postal service. You will be given letters to take home and mail to their intended recipients, and also have the opportunity to drop off letters ourselves! In the afternoon we plan to visit Punta Cormorant which offers two highly contrasting beaches. The landing beach is of volcanic origin and is composed of olivine crystals, giving it a greenish tinge, and at the end of the short trail is a carbonate beach of extremely fine white sand, formed by the erosion of coral skeletons - a favorite nesting site for green sea turtles.
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 7: Isla Isabela - Punta Moreno and Elizabeth Bay
Isla Isabela, is the largest island in the archipelago, occupying over fifty-eight percent of entire landmass of the Galapagos. It is one of the youngest islands and consists of a chain of five fairly young and intermittently active volcanoes. Your first stop today is Punta Moreno that looks at first glimpse like a barren lava field but is full of surprises - including flamingoes on brackish lagoons, with numerous shorebirds and waders. Along the coast here are also mangroves with nesting Brown Pelicans and keep an eye out for the flightless Cormorants. Later you will visit Elizabeth Bay in the afternoon and disembark into the panga for a cruise around the small islets in the middle of the bay, here you can see many Blue-footed Boobies perched on the rocks, flying overhead and diving in flocks after schools of fish. You may also spot the Galapagos Penguins standing on the rocks or swimming by your panga. The snorkeling here is quite good, and you will ikely be struck by the great abundance of small fish and the clear water!
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 8: Isla Isabela / Urbina Bay and Isla Fernandina / Punta Espinoza
Urbina Bay your last stop on Isla Isabela is another special spot, located at the base of Volcan Alcedo here you can find Land and Marine Iguanas, plus if you are lucky a wild Tortoise! The Marine iguanas found here are some of the largest in the archipelago. Later today head to Fernandina Island the youngest and most active volcano in the Galapagos, with eruptions taking place every few years. It is also by far the strangest and most wonderful of the islands, and will give you a true sense of what the Galapagos are all about! The flat lava of Punta Espinosa offers a stark and barren landscape, but here flightless cormorants build their nests on the point, sea lions sprawl on the beach or play in the tide pools and large numbers of marine iguanas dot the sand. You also will have the opportunity to compare the aa and pahoehoe lava types here.
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 9: Isla Santiago - Puerto Egas and Isla Bartolome
Puerto Egas, with its black sand beaches, was the site of a small salt mining industry in the 1960's and a hike inland to the salt crater is an excellent opportunity to sight land birds such as finches, doves and hawks. We may see sea lions basking on the rocks beneath a natural rock bridge, diving blue-footed boobies, sally lightfoot crabs and colorful lava lizards scurrying at our feet. A highlight here is the chance to see Galapagos fur seals, once almost hunted to extinction, they have made a great comeback. The landing beach here is made of black, volcanic sand, and is a great beach for snorkeling from as we sometimes see small sharks, sealions and even sea turtles in these waters!

Bartholomew Island, often called a "textbook of geology" is a small island that has beautiful white sand beaches and luxuriant green mangroves. Here, penguins may join us at the swimming beach, and a hike to the summit of a once-active volcano rewards us with beautiful panoramic views of the often-photographed Pinnacle Rock recently seen in the Hollywood movie "Master & Commander".
Overnight on board MV Samba (B,L,D)

Day 10: Black Turtle Cove, Galapagos and Baltra Airport to Quito, Ecuador
Black Turtle Cove is on the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island and is one of the most beautiful marine sites; a small lagoon lined with dense red mangroves. It is a nursery grounds for many marine species such as sharks, spotted eagle rays and sting rays and it is a favored grazing area for the green sea turtle. It is also a wonderful site for watching, herons, finches and blue-footed boobies feeding. This site does not involve a land visit; it is all seen from the small pangas. Later you return to Baltra Island and finally your flight back to Quito.
Farewell Dinner and overnight in Hotel Patio Andaluz or Plaza Grande in Quito (B,L,D)

Day 11: Quito, Ecuador to home
After breakfast you transfer to the International Airport and your flights home

More information from Terra Incognita Ecotours:

• View trip on provider's website
  www.ecotours.com/ecotours…
• Company profile, experience, and history
• View all of their trips