Itinerary

Day 1      Quito or Guayaquil

Arrive in either Quito or Guayaquil, Ecuador, where you will be met and transferred to your local hotel*. Quito is located in a huge valley of the Andes Mountains at an altitude of 9,455 feet; it’s a great place to extend your stay to explore the city or the surrounding volcanic mountain range. Guayaquil is Ecuador’s largest city, and with its low elevation and more coastal location it is an ideal point from which to fly to Galapagos. Stay overnight at the Swissotel or Patio Andaluz in Quito or the Hotel Oro Verde in Guayaquil, for two nights. (*Hotel/city tour package is not included in cruise rate.)
   
Day 2      Quito or Guayaquil (city tour)

Quito city tour: Stroll down cobble stone streets and through flowering plazas. Visit the old colonial center of Independence Square, the elegant cathedrals of San Francisco, La Compañía and San Agustín, Quito’s oldest monastery. Drive through the residential section and past the Legislative Palace (Congress). Panecillo Hill overlooks the city and snow-capped mountains. The rest of the afternoon is at your leisure to explore or relax.
Guayaquil city tour: Our first stop is Malecon 2000, an 80-million-dollar riverside complex built along a two-mile stretch of the Guayas River. The waterfront boardwalk features a myriad of restaurants, cafes and shops, and museums with art exhibitions as well as free weekend jazz and classical music concerts. Drive through the colorful streets of one of Ecuador’s most important port cities, Guayaquil. Visit the Public Market, the waterfront and the docks, and Simon Bolivar Park, which is famous for its tree iguanas. Also, admire the watchtower, La Rotonda, Old Santa Ana Fort, and Las Penas, a charming colonial section of town that is occupied by artists. The rest of the afternoon is at your leisure to explore or relax.
   
Meals: Breakfast   

Day 3      Baltra, Galapagos/Santa Cruz/Las Bachas

You will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Baltra. Your resident naturalist guide will accompany you to your yacht. Begin your island visits with a stop at Santa Cruz, the second largest island in the Galapagos. Las Bachas Beach is a white sand beach that is a major egg-laying site for sea turtles. “Las Bachas” refers to the indentations left in the sand by laying turtles or departing hatchlings. On the shore there are marine iguanas and flamingos, which are common in the lagoon.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 4      Santiago Island (Puerto Egas)/Bartolome

The landing at Puerto Egas on Santiago is on a black beach with eroded rock formations in the background. Hundreds of marine birds rest on the pinnacles overlooking the beach. During the 17th and 18th centuries, pirates used this cove as a base for ship maintenance and as a supply of fresh water, meat, and firewood. Land iguanas are scattered around feeding on exposed algae while oyster catchers try to capture sally light-footed crabs. The trail then leads to the fur seal grottos, some of the only places on the island where fur seals can be seen. At Bartolome, walk to the summit for impressive views of the entire Galapagos Archipelago. You will see a variety of land formations including volcanic cones, lava tubes, mangrove forests, and white sand beaches. Swim with the penguins amidst coral formations.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 5      Santa Cruz/Rabida Island/Cerro Dragon

Rabida is the eleventh biggest island of the Galapagos, 1.9 square miles in area. It rises to 1,203 feet, making it relatively high for its area. Rabida's composition is dominated by scoria, a particulate material created by explosive eruptions when hot lava meets sea water. Scoria has high levels of iron that gives it a red color, hence the visitor is presented with a spectacle of tall red cliffs and a red beach. The single volcano that resulted in the island's formation is extinct. A small lagoon behind salt bush that line the beach is one of the best places to see flamingos. At Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill) you will find 2 of 4 brackish water lagoons as well as flamingos, common stilts, pintail ducks, and other species of birds. There is a short walk to the hill, from where you are rewarded with a great view and can visit a nesting site of iguanas.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 6      Isabela/Tagus Cove/Elizabeth Bay

At Urbina Bay, it is an easy landing on a gentle sloping beach. The landscape, with the massive volcanoes silhouetted against the sky, offers a striking contrast to the lower-lying islands of the east. The nature trail at Tagus Cove on Isabela is an ascent through the typical dry vegetation zone and offers spectacular views of Darwin Lake. At the top of the trail, it is possible to catch a glimpse of Darwin and Wolf Volcanoes as well as Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, and pelicans. At Elizabeth Bay on the island of Isabela, the largest of the Galapagos Islands, enjoy a panga ride through the mangrove area to see the rays, turtles, sea lions, and the Galapagos hawks circling overhead. A colony of penguins inhabit a rocky islet at the entrance of Elizabeth Bay.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 7      Fernandina/Punta Espinoza/Punta Vicente

Fernandina is the youngest and westernmost island in the Galapagos. Punta Espinoza is a narrow stretch of land where some of the most unique Galapagos species can be seen. While the panga driver skillfully eludes the reef to reach the landing site near a small mangrove forest, penguins throw themselves off the rocks into the water. Sally light-footed crabs disperse on the lava near the shore, and herons and sandpipers explore the mangrove roots. Marine iguanas conglomerate in larger groups than on any other island. They are everywhere: basking in the sand, swimming near the shore, grazing on the exposed seaweed in the lava, and blocking the way at the landing dock. This is one of the few places where there is the opportunity of watching the iguanas feed underwater.
Following the trail inland, two different types of lava flows can be seen and compared: an aa lava flow and a pahoehoe lava flow. At the tip of one of the small peninsulas, flightless cormorants are found. These birds are flightless because on the islands they had no predators and it was easier to find food in the ocean than on land. They progressively evolved for swimming rather than for flight. To see these fantastic birds, with their long, serpent-like necks arched forward, their wet, fur-like plumage and their bright turquoise eyes, is to witness evolution.
Located at the “mouth” of the head of the sea horse, which forms the northern part of the islands, is Punta Vicente Roca. Here the remnants of an ancient volcano form two turquoise coves with a bay well protected from the ocean swells. The spot is a popular anchorage from which to take panga rides along the cliff that are the remains of the volcano or explore a partially sunken cave at the water’s edge. Masked and blue-footed boobies sit perched along the point and the sheer cliffs, while flightless cormorants inhabit the shoreline.
The up-welling of cold water currents in this part of the Galapagos, give rise to an abundance of marine life which, in combination with the protection of the coves, make Punta Vicente Roca one of the archipelago’s sough after dive spots. One cove is only accessible from the sea by way of an underwater passage. The passage opens to calm waters of the hidden cove where sea lions like to laze on the beach having traveled along the underwater route. The entire area of Punta Vicente Roca lies on the flank of 2,600’ Volcano Ecuador. This is the island’s sixth largest volcano. Half of Volcano Ecuador slid into the ocean leaving a spectacular cutaway view of the volcanic caldera.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 8      Santa Cruz, Highlands (Puerto Ayora & Da

Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos. The small town of Puerto Ayora is the economic center of the archipelago, with the largest population of the four inhabited islands (approx. 10,000). Tourism, fishing, boat building, and commerce are the major productive activities. Santa Cruz is also the only island where six different zones of vegetation can be seen: Coastal, Arid, Transition, Scalesia, Miconia, and Pampa Zones.
The Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park offices are based here. Scientists, park rangers, and park managers make huge efforts to preserve and protect the Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The station is also a tortoise breeding and rearing center, where tortoises of different subspecies are prepared for reintroduction to their natural habitats.
The lush greenery of the Santa Cruz Highlands is a definite contrast with the arid scenery of the smaller, lower islands. A point of interest is the famed lava tunnels, a fun and geologically informative visit. The trip to the highlands ends with a visit to the Twin Craters.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 9      Espanola Island (Gardner Bay & Punta Sua

In the morning, enjoy swimming with playful sea lions along the beach at Gardner Bay at Espanola Island. Punta Suarez is one of the most popular and attractive visits of all the islands and offers one of the greatest gatherings of fauna in the Galapagos: sea lions, marine iguanas with unique copper-red patches, swallow-tailed gulls, lava lizards, masked boobies, and oyster-catchers. The trail here leads towards the cliffs and blowhole, a fissure in the lava where water spurts high in the air like a geyser.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner   

Day 10      Santa Cruz/Baltra/Quito or Guayaquil

At Black Turtle Cove, the panga will take you into a tidal lagoon to see three kinds of mangrove plants - red, white, and black. White-tipped sharks, spotted rays, mustard rays, and Pacific marine turtles frequent the waters here. In the afternoon return to Baltra for your flight to Quito or Guayaquil, where you will be met and transferred to your hotel.
   
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch   

Day 11      Quito or Guayaquil/Onward

You will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight.
   
Meals: Breakfast

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