Optional Tours
We begin our day after breakfast with a walk to the harbour to meet our naturalist guide and board our tour boat to Floreana.
The trip is approximately an hour and twenty minutes long so keep an eye out for manta rays and sea turtles on the way. Our first location is Endervil rock, where you can see blue footed boobies on the cliff ledges. Dive into the clear waters and you can find myriad colourful fish, turtles, rays and even sharks!
Our next stop is Playa Verde where we may find a colony of sea lions relaxing on the beach. Next we take a walk inland past the Lago de flamingos, a shallow lagoon that nestles in the lowlands between the hills and Playa Verde beach, before rounding the hill to arrive at Playa Blanca.
The bleached bones of several sea lions lie close to the path as we arrive at the beach. Here, in the shallow waters we may find turtles making their way out of the water to nest in the sandy banks where they lay their eggs. The shallow waters here are also a favourite resting place for the stingrays, that come in large numbers and burrow into the fine sand.
Return to Puerto Ayora around 5.30pm
We begin our day after breakfast with a 35 minute boat trip journeying West around the coast towards our first stop, La Fé. Here we can enjoy some fantastic snorkelling and expect to see sea turtles feeding, maybe encounter a playful sea lion in this rocky bay.
Next we head to Pinzon, passing Nameless Rock as we approach. At Pinzon we drop anchor in Penguin Bay, where you can observe a large colony of sea lions on the rocks. Time to enjoy a spot of lunch aboard the boat before getting back in the
water for some of the best snorkelling to be found in all Galápagos! Here there are turtles, rays, and parrotfish amongst the huge variety of sealife that make Pinzon their home.
While snorkelling in the shallow waters around the rocks, huge shoals of colourful fish dart back and forth around us as we find ourselves amidst the countless white tip sharks slumbering on the sea bed.Time to enjoy a spot of fishing on the return trip, as the crew of your tour boat catch the fresh and delicious lunch for the next lucky group of travellers.
Return to Puerto Ayora around 5pm.
Transfer to Isabela Our tour begins early on day one with a 6.30am transfer from your hotel to Puerto Ayora docks. Here you will board the speedboat to the incomparable island of Isabela, a journey of approximately two hours.
Upon arrival to Isabela, we will be transferred to our hotel for check-in and to drop off our bags. Here we are joined by our naturalist tour guide and taken to our first destination, the Arnold Taupiza Breeding Centre, where we will be able to observe the 5 different species endemic to Isabela Island, and learn about the process of breeding and reproduction in captivity to recover the populations.Our next destination is the Flamingo Lagoon & the wetlands. Here we will have the opportunity to visit lagoons, beaches, and a river estuary.
We will be able to observe flamingos, patillo, oystercatcher, gallinula, ghost crab and beautiful landscapes with a great variety of flora and fauna. Isabela contains one of the most extensive mangrove areas in the archipelago, contributing significantly to the conservation of biodiversity.
Next, we head to a local restaurant to enjoy lunch before our afternoon excursion to Tintoreras. We take a short boat ride (ten minutes) to a small rocky islet known as Tintoreras. It is named after the white-tipped sharks called “tintoreras” that we will find resting in a shallow lava crevice filled with calm and transparent water on the edge of a small rocky bay. Throughout the trail you can see many marine iguanas between the rocks or under the mangroves. There are two small beaches with white sand and one with black stones.
On the first beach there are colonies of sea lions; and some Nolana Galapageia plants, a very rare endemic plant in the area. There will be an opportunity to snorkel with the possibility of close proximity to white tipped sharks, turtles and other marine life.
Return to Isabela hotel, end of Day One.
Day Two
After breakfast we will check out of the hotel, but leave our luggage for collection later on. We will then be transported to the port where we take a forty-minute boat trip to the incomparable Los Tunules. Viewed by many people as the highlight of their trip to the Galápagos Islands, these incredible lava formations provide a landscape unlike any other you will ever see. Los Tunules is an excellent location to see a variety of marine life and nesting blue-footed boobies.
After Los Tunules, we will be taken to a nearby location to enjoy some fantastic snorkelling where we may see white-tip sharks, sea turtles, many species of fish and even sea horses. We return to our hotel in Puerto Vilamil in the early afternoon to collect our baggage before being taken back to the port for our return journey to Santa Cruz.
Return to Santa Cruz around 5.30pm
