A Taste of Galapagos

Arrive Quito and transfer to your central hotel. A group welcome meeting will be arranged with your representative at the hotel that evening detailing important information. You will have the rest of the afternoon and evening to enjoy the vibrant atmosphere and cobbled streets of this Unesco World Heritage Site.

After breakfast, early morning group transfer to Airport for flight to San Cristobal Island. $120 per person National Park fee to be paid on arrival. Transfer to your vessel. After orientation and safety drill enjoy lunch on the way to Isla Lobos.  Snorkel with sealions and observe your first frigate birds and blue-footed boobies.

Morning landing at South Plaza Island home to colourful land iguanas. Walk through cactus forest and mixed vegetation. Good birding with red-billed tropicbirds and swallow tailed gulls resting on the cliffs, plus juvenile sea lions playing in the waves. Afternoon at Seymour for excellent photography - get close to sea lions, blue-footed boobies,  frigatebirds and marine iguanas. Walking and snorkelling

Morning landing at eponymous Chinese Hat Island, great for snorkelling  with sealions and penguins. Beautiful volcanic landscape and white-coral sand beach. Afternoon at  Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz Island.  Seasonal sea turtle nesting site and abundant Sally Lightfoot crabs on the lava rocks along the water’s edge. Many bird species including flamingos and black-necked stilts.

Morning in lively Puerto Ayora. Visit the Charles Darwin Research Station and see conserved giant tortoises. Free time to explore - see the fish market or do some souvenir shopping. Afternoon excursion to Santa Cruz’s verdant highlands and the El Chato Giant Tortoise Reserve, lava tunnels and lagoon. Opportunities of spotting owls.

Morning landing at Punta Cormorant, Floreana Island for guided walk to observe penguins and marine iguanas. Discover a green sand beach, coloured by olivine crystals, and then white sand Flour Beach. Amazing snorkelling with tropical fish, rays, reef sharks and sea turtles. Afternoon, visit Post Office Bay with its historic barrel post box – continue the tradition and leave or pick up mail yourself for posting! Later, visit lava tubes, descending 80 metres to the sea.  

Morning landing at Punta Suarez on Espanola, nesting site for waved albatross (April-December) plus boobies, Galapagos hawk, finches and endemic mockingbirds. Later to Gardner Bay with its long sandy beach - sea birds, sealions and marine iguanas. Superb snorkelling with large schools of yellow-tailed surgeonfish, king angelfish, bump-head parrot-fish and more.  

Landing at Cerro Brujo, San Cristobal Island - sea lions and marine iguanas plus flamingos in the nearby lagoon. Afternoon, sail to the iconic Kicker Rock for spectacular snorkelling with sharks, turtles, rays and tropical fish. One of the highlights of the cruise.

Visit the Interpretation Centre before a group transfer to San Cristobal Airport for the flight back to Quito. You will be met with a transfer in Quito to your hotel for the last night’s stay and further opportunity to explore Quito.

Depart hotel after breakfast for onward or return travel. Transfer to airport included.
If you need extra transfer, onward flights or extensions to your itinerary Wild Foot Travel can arrange this for you.