Galapagos Land & Sea Safari - Ecuador and Galapagos -

Days 1-2: 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. Overnight Hotel Anahi.

Day 3: Arrival in Galapagos

Private transfer in the morning to the domestic airport for the 2 hour flight to the Galapagos. Upon arrival, meet your naturalist guide and transfer to the Athala. The ship's crew will greet you on board, 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, a Zodiac ride to Sombrero Chino islet. This is a great introduction to the awesome geological formations you will be seeing and learning about throughout the voyage. Keep an eye out for colorful sally lightfoot crabs, sea lions, and many species of Darwin’s finches. During the rest of this week, you will leisurely voyage through the stunning Galapagos Islands, among a varied landscape of diverse flora and fauna. Overnight onboard the Athala.

Accommodations: Athala

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 4: Santa Cruz & Rabida

This morning’s visit is to Cerro Dragon, on the north end of Santa Cruz Island. Follow your guide on a footpath to see a colony of endemic land iguanas. Once part of the Charles Darwin Station’s breeding program their numbers have now recovered, a true conservation success story. These repatriated iguanas display orange-yellowish skin with large spines along their backs. Walk quietly to keep from startling the pink flamingos that feed in the salt water lagoon, along with common stilts and pintail ducks. Along the trail, keep your eyes open for Darwin’s Finches and Yellow Warblers. There will be time for a swim following the hike. Following lunch, we move onto our next adventure. Located south of Santiago, Rabida Island is one of the most volcanically varied islands in the chain. A visit begins with a wet landing on the deep maroon colored northern beach. Marine iguanas and sea lions are often seen resting in the shade of the caves nearby. Behind the beach is the salt brush home where the brown pelicans make their nests. On the cliffs above the pelicans, blue-footed and masked boobies can be seen. Rabida also offers the best lagoons in the islands for viewing flamingos. Continuing up the rocky red cliffs a short 15-20 minute walk leads to a cliff overhang with a fantastic view of the cove with the ocean, lagoon and scarlet cliffs. Returning back to the beach Rabida offers excellent snorkeling opportunities with sharks and manta rays commonly seen. Kayaks will also be available for those who choose to remain dry. Overnight on the Athala.

Accommodations: Athala

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 5: Isabella Island

Isabela, the largest island in the Galapagos, is formed by the continual eruption and spread of five young volcanoes. Our introduction to this marvelous island comes through a dry landing this morning at Puerto Villamil, Isabela Island’s very laid-back port. We enjoy a visit to the Tortoise Breeding Center, created to protect these unique animals in the earliest years of their lives from the threats of invasive species such as pigs and donkeys. From here we move to the wetlands just outside of the town. This bio-rich area consists of lagoons, swamps and mangroves which are home to myriad bird species, including stilts, whimbrels, pintail ducks, gallinules and other shore birds. Following lunch onboard, we return to Isabela to visit a site with a decidedly human history, the Wall of Tears. Formerly the site of a penal colony between 1945-1959, prisoners were forced to build this wall by hand, stone by stone, only to be ordered to tear it down and start over. This now historic site took the lives of thousands during its cycle of construction/destruction. Overnight on the Athala.

Accommodations: Athala

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 6: Floreana Island

We begin our day on Floreana with a visit to Post Office Bay, quite possibly the most famous site in Galapagos. 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 post card and to pick up any mail from your home area. This island could be the most “infamous” of all the Galapagos, due to many intriguing stories surrounding the pioneering families, which we shall hear about from our naturalist guides. Snorkeling here is rewarded with ample marine life such as rays and reef sharks, and the turquoise lagoons are home to brilliant pink flamingos. You may also observe stilts and pintail ducks in the brackish waters and depending on the season, sea turtles laying their eggs in the sand dunes. Following lunch, we step ashore at Punta Cormorant, a green-sand beach 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 approaching a beach with power soft sand. After the walk, we have an opportunity to snorkel or kayak at Champion Islet. Overnight on the Athala.

Accommodations: Athala

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 7: San Cristobal

The morning finds us at Cerro Brujo’s beautiful beach, the site of Charles Darwin’s first step on Galapagos soil. We visit a lagoon used by the locals for salt mining, as well as habitat for two rare species of halophytes, plants which thrive in soils with high salt content. Our afternoon navigation takes us past Leon Dormido, the iconic “Kicker Rock.’” We land at Isla Lobos, named after its large colony of sea lions, also called lobos or wolves in
Spanish. Snorkeling here will likely lead you to close encounters with the playful mammals, particularly the friendly and curious pups. Keep your eyes peeled for blue footed boobies, as this basaltic island is also an important nesting site, offering an excellent opportunity to observe their comical stiff-legged mating dance and “sky pointing” behaviors. Frigates and a second mammal species, the fur sea lion, may also be found here. Overnight on the Athala.

Accommodations: Athala

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 8: Santa Cruz Island

The main population center of the Galapagos Islands, Puerto Ayora, may come as a shock after the primeval quiet of the more remote islands. But it is here that we visit the Charles Darwin Research Station and learn of the pioneering efforts by scientists, guides, rangers and park managers to preserve this wondrous UNESCO World Heritage site. Meet Lonesome George, perhaps the Islands’ most famous and oldest resident, and the last remaining member of the La Pinta Island tortoise species. Following our tour of the Station, we meet our representative from the luxurious Galapagos Safari Camp and transfer to the lush highlands of Santa Cruz Island for check-in and beginning of a new stage of our Galapagos Adventure! Our afternoon is spent either hiking or mountain biking in the highlands of Santa Cruz, with an optional massage (not included) to cap off the day. Overnight at Galapagos Safari Camp.

Accommodations: Galapagos Safari Camp, Santa Cruz Island

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 9: Coffee farm, Garrapetero

Start the day by visiting Lava Java, an organic coffee farm where we meet the owners, learn about coffee making, and taste some of the region’s best brew. After lunch at a local restaurant we continue to Garrapatero, one of the most exotic and beautiful beaches in the Galapagos. Walk along the nearly two miles of white sand bordered by the turquoise sea and black lava dotted with pioneer cacti. We watch blue-footed boobies and pelicans fishing in the bay, crabs scuttling into their burrows and marine iguanas strolling along the beach. There is a small lagoon behind the beach where bahama ducks and pink flamingos can often be seen and if you’d like there will be time to go sea kayaking. Late this afternoon we get a private cooking class to learn how to make an island delicacy – ceviche. Savor the fruits of our labor as an appetizer on the deck looking out to the ocean. Overnight at the Galapagos Safari Camp.

Accommodations: Galapagos Safari Camp, Santa Cruz Island

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 10 & 11: Santa Cruz and Quito

On our last morning in the Galapagos we celebrate with a farewell champagne breakfast. Our guide accompanies us overland to the Baltra airport for the return flight to Quito. Airport reception and transfer to Hotel Anahi. The following morning, transfer to the airport for your return flight home or extend your trip to visit more of Ecuador's natural wonders.

Meals Included: Breakfast