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Ecuador and Galapagos. Galapagos Adventure Cruise - Evolution

multiple itineraries available

Southern Islands Overview

Explore the fascinating blend of Indian and Spanish culture in Quito, South America's oldest capital city and designated UN World Heritage Site, and voyage among the unique Galapagos Islands. Discover plants and animals unique to particular islands as you travel through the archipelago. Our expert naturalist guides explain how these species have evolved and adapted over time. During an 8 day cruise you will visit the major wildlife sites, including some of the more remote outer islands. Meet exotic and bizarre wildlife as you venture among cinder cones, lava flows, white and black sand beaches, and rocky cliffs and cool off with snorkel in clear equatorial waters.
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Southern Islands - Day 1: Arrival In Quito

Airport reception and transfer to La Casona de la Ronda, a charming boutique hotel in an elegantly refurbished mansion located on Quito’s oldest pedestrian only street, within easy walking distance to the colonial center.

La Casona de la Ronda
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Southern Islands Day 2: Quito

We begin our Ecuador vacation with a half-day city tour of colonial Quito, including the bustling Independence Plaza, the dazzling gold-leafed altars of La Compania Church, and the impressive San Francisco Church. Visit the Mitad del Mundo Equatorial marker and ethnographic village and museum. Afternoon and evening are free to explore this beautifully restored city with its busy pedestrian plazas, shops, coffee bars, pubs, and many excellent restaurants.

La Casona de la Ronda

Breakfast
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Southern Islands - Days 3: Galapagos Islands

 Private transfer in the morning to the domestic airport for the two-hour flight to the Galapagos. Upon arrival, meet your naturalist guide and transfer to the Evolution. The ship's crew will greet you, take care of your luggage, and run through safety drills. Enjoy fresh fruit drinks as the yacht makes her way to the first site visit, the small islet of “Los Lobos,” which is a haven for barking, playful sea lions. It also serves as a nesting site for blue-footed boobies, and presents us with the first snorkeling opportunity of the voyage! As the sun sets, enjoy a typical Ecuadorian meal, the nightly briefing, and a formal presentation of the captain and crew.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Southern Islands Day 4: South Plaza & Santa Cruz

This morning we visit South Plaza, one of the smallest of the Galapagos Islands yet most colorful. Bright yellow giant land iguanas wander through contrasting red carpet weed, waiting for prickly pear fruit to drop from towering cactus. Orange and turquoise Sally Lightfoot crabs scurry over black lava fields, awash from the ocean spray. We see nesting swallow tailed gulls, while red-billed tropicbirds, frigate birds, and shearwaters swoop in dancing displays overhead. This is a terrific opportunity to see the iconic blue footed boobies as well. Following lunch and repositioning, we land at Santa Cruz Island, where the afternoon snorkeling at Punta Carrion reveals the brilliant tropical life beneath the clear surface, and at Isla Mosquera, a colony of playful and raucous sea lions make our hike and snorkeling extra fun.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Southern Islands - Days 5 Sombrero Chino & Santiago Island

This morning’s visit is to a fairly young volcanic cone, in the shape of a down-facing Chinese hat. Continuing to neighboring island of Santiago, we land on a rocky shoreline where penguins are often encountered. A bit further north, a sea lion colony announces itself with barking. After our hike, we snorkel here with the sea lions and penguins, which are like tiny feathered torpedoes underwater. Following lunch onboard and repositioning to James Bay, we land on a black beach of eroded volcanic formations. A trail leads to grottos of crystal clear water with a natural bridge formed of eroded lava tubes. This is the best place in the Galapagos to observe fur seals, as well as fascinating marine iguanas feeding in nearby tidal pools. Overhead, Galapagos hawks ride the thermals, searching for tiny lizards darting over rocks. Snorkeling here offers opportunities for encounters with green sea turtles and tropical reef fish.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Southern Islands Day 6: Genovesa Island

We spend the entire day on Genovesa (Tower), considered to be one of the most spectacular Islands in Galapagos for bird species. This morning, we have a wet-landing at Darwin Bay, a coral sand beach where swallow-tailed and lava gulls gather near the tide pools. Enter a forest of Optuntia cactus and mangroves where colonies of great frigate birds nest. In a dramatic display, the earthbound males inflate their red-throated pouches to attract females as they fly overhead. The trail leads through a rich inter tidal zone where your naturalist guide helps you identify a wide diversity of wildlife. After the walk, we can swim and snorkel from the beach with sea lions in these warmer northern waters. Following lunch, you will have a dry landing at Prince Philip’s Steps which takes you to the forest of Palo Santo trees, where red-footed boobies nest. Striking Nazca (formerly masked) boobies nest near the trail. In an open lava field, observe large numbers of storm petrels, and if you are lucky, we will see the elusive short-eared owl. Following the walk, kayaks are available for paddling along the shoreline. Look for the beautiful red-billed tropic bird usually found in the crevices.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Southern Islands Day 7: North Seymour & Santa Fe Island

This morning we disembark on North Seymour Island, teeming with wildlife! We follow the trail past cliffs forming the shoreline, home to swallow tailed gulls. A tiny forest of fragrant Palo Santo trees marks the trailhead which takes us to sea lions, marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds and endemic land iguanas. During lunch we reposition to Santa Fe Island, home to one of the most beautiful and sheltered bays in the archipelago. Our trail leads through a grove of Opuntia cactus, populated with giant land iguanas. This is also some of the best snorkeling in the islands, the crystal waters holding sea turtles and the white-tipped shark.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Southern Islands - Days 8: Floreana Island

 We begin our morning with a visit to Post Office Bay, perhaps not the most scenic, but probably the most famous site in Galapagos. Floreana presents a rich history with mystery and intrigues worthy of a novel, filled with pirates, whalers and mysterious “nobility.” Here we visit a post barrel, originally put into use in the late 18th Century by sailors onboard English whaling vessels. You are invited to leave a postcard and to pick up any mail from your home area. Following lunch, we go ashore at Punta Cormorant, where a beautiful green-sand beach awaits, alive with the sounds of sea lions. Follow a trail to a brackish lagoon, home of the pintail ducks, common stilts, and the pinkest Flamingos in the world. Your guide will help identify a rich variety of plants including morning glories, cutleaf daisies, palo verdes and scalesia, all while making your way to a beach with powder soft sand. Sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand dunes and brilliantly-colored rays swim in the shallow water. We are rewarded with a snorkeling opportunity in beautiful turquoise water.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Southern Islands Day 9: Santa Cruz Island

This morning is spent at the world famous Charles Darwin Research Station. We visit all three tortoise corals and the breeding center with new hatchlings and miniature tortoises not yet ready to be repatriated to the wild. Scientists from all over the globe work at the station and conduct biological research from anatomy to zoology. Following lunch, travel by bus to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island. The scenery gradually changes as we wind our way through all seven vegetation zones found in Galapagos. Here we visit the tortoise reserve where we encounter giant tortoises in their lush natural habitat. We visit Los Gemelos, Spanish for “The Twins,” a pair of large pit craters, and habitat for the brilliant red male vermilion flycatcher. A special treat is a stop at "the tunnels," the largest lava tubes found in Galapagos, and eye-popping evidence of the Islands’ volcanic origins.

Evolution

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Southern Islands - Days 10: Return to Quito

Our voyage comes to an end , but before we bid farewell to the Evolution and crew, we pay a visit to Black Turtle Cove (Tortuga Negra), a gorgeous mangrove sanctuary where we quietly drift through the twisting waterways, to spot eagle rays, diamond-shaped mustard rays, white-tipped reef sharks, Pacific green sea turtles, and a broad variety of sea birds. Transfer to the airport for your return to the Quito airport where you may remain for ongoing international departures.

Breakfast
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Scheduled Departure Dates
Ask about your dates!

Departures available on request
Call 1.800.345.4453 or click here to request more information.

    7/12 - 7/21/2018

    7/26 - 8/4/2018

    8/9 - 8/18/2018

    8/23 - 9/1/2018

    9/6 - 9/15/2018

    9/20 - 9/29/2018

    10/4 - 10/13/2018

    10/18 - 10/27/2018

    11/1 - 11/10/2018

    11/15 - 11/24/2018

    11/29 - 12/8/2018

    12/13 - 12/22/2018

    12/27 - 1/5/2019

Dates listed are current scheduled departures only, other departure dates are available.

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