8 DAYS / 7 NIGHTS CRUISE

(Friday - Friday)

EASTERN ISLANDS

Day 1: Friday

Flight from mainland Ecuador (Quito or Guayaquil) to Baltra, with LATAM Airlines; arriving. approximately. Your guide will meet you at arrivals gate, our crew will take care of your luggage. Your guide will conduct you to a bus and after a short 5-kilometer ride to the pier;you board the Yacht immediately. As the crew weighs anchor, we greet you with our first orientation and we offer a light snack. After navigating, we disembark on Playa Las Bachas, a place where you can appreciate a Flamingos lagoon. During all walks, your guide will be explaining details about the lives of the birds and animals. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and snorkel, in the evening you have an orientation about the Galapagos Islands in general: their origin and evolution. Welcome cocktail with the entire crew, and dinner.

Day 2 : Saturday

After breakfast, you take a panga ride and you make a dry landing on Prince Phillips’s Steps (Barranco), you walk and observe the interesting lives of the birds here. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and snorkel or kayak. You come on board for a delicious lunch. Later in the afternoon, you make a wet landing on Darwin Bay to walk and observe frigate birds, herons, mockingbirds, boobies, shorebirds, turtles, marine iguanas, etc. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or kayak. Dinner on the Yacht, and then your orientation about conservation efforts made to protect the Islands.

Day 3: Sunday 

After breakfast, you make a dry landing on the pier of the South Plaza, there you can enjoy the antics of the sea lions. A walk through a cactus forest allows us to observe land iguanas and many species of tropical birds. Return to the Yacht for lunch. Then, you make a wet landing on Santa Fe Island to visit the cactus forest and a colony of land iguanas native from Santa Fe. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or kayak. At the end of the afternoon, we return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation.

Day 4 : Monday

After breakfast, disembark to take the bus to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island for a visit to the native forests, twin craters, and the ranch to see the tortoises in the wildlife. You will be delighted with the lunch in the ranch. After lunch, you will return to Puerto Ayora to start the visit to the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center. Return to the Port for a walk through the little town to appreciate various handicrafts. We have a welcome cocktail with the entire crew, and dinner.

Day 5 :Tuesday

After breakfast, you make a wet landing, you will continue to the Baroness Point view, named due to the presence of a particular character who lived on Floreana Island, it is the Baroness Eloisa von Wagner, you will enjoy of the beautiful landscape and the ruins of her house; then, we will stop at Post Office Bay, a historic site that recalls the days of the whalers, who presumably placed a wooden barrel in the 18th century to use it as a post office. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and snorkel. Then, we take a bus for a short ride from the small town Puerto Velasco Ibarra to the Asilo de la Paz. It’s is a human historic site, this area was inhabitant by the early settlers who found a freshwater spring and refuge in the “cave of pirates”, this was the home of
the first settlers of the island, Patrick Watkins lived there first, then Dr. Ritter and his companion Dora Strauch and then the Wittmer family. We walk through a path and we visit the cave of pirates and a corral built by the National Park Service where we can see Galapagos tortoises (from various islands) in captivity. Return to the Yacht for lunch. In the afternoon, you make a wet landing on Cormorant Point for a short walk to the Flamingo Lagoon of this island. You then continue the walk until we reach the beach called "La Picona" to see marine turtles and their spawning grounds. Then, we make a panga ride on Champion Islet, a small island off the Coast of Floreana Island. The principal attraction of Champion Islet is the nearly-extinct Charles (Floreana) Mockingbird. Visitors can also observe bird species such as Swallow-tailed Gulls, Nazca Boobies or Brown Noddies. It is a great place for snorkelling; we will see sea turtles, reef fishes, Galapagos Penguins and white-tipped reef sharks. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and/or snorkel. You return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation.

Day 6: Wednesday

After breakfast, we make an early dry landing on Punta Suarez to walk along lava beds where you will observe unique colonies of marine birds, including Albatross (May - December). Return to the Yacht for lunch. In the afternoon, we make a panga ride around the islet of Gardner. Then, we make a wet landing in Gardner Bay for a walk on the beach and observe a colony of sea lions, which inhabit the beach in great quantity during the breeding season; this is also an important nesting area for sea turtles. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or kayak. After this, we will make a panga ride around Osborn Islet. Return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation.

Day 7: Thursday

After breakfast, we make a wet landing on Cerro Brujo to walk on a white sand beach and observe sea lions, brown pelicans, marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or Kayak. Then, your experienced Captain sails easily around Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido), a massive tuff-rock that juts abruptly almost 500 feet straight from the ocean. Kicker Rock serves as nesting place for many sea birds. We will have a delicious lunch. In the afternoon, we make a dry landing at Isla Lobos, where we can enjoy of blue footed boobies, frigates, sea birds, rays, and sea lions. After this we will make a dry landing at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to visit to the Interpretation Center Gianni Arismendy at Port, where you learn about the origin and evolution of the Galapagos Islands, regarding the human, natural and conservation aspects. Time in town to do your last shopping or to go to the ATM. You return to the Yacht for dinner, and our nightly orientation.

Day 8: Friday
After breakfast, you make a panga ride on Black Turtle Cove, series of mangrove-surrounded coves and islets; here you can observe white-tipped sharks, marine turtles, spotted eagle rays, and yellow cow-nosed rays. You return to the Yacht for disembarking on the pier at 09:00. Your guide accompanies you on the bus ride directly to the airport.