Ocean Spray Catamaran 7-Night Itinerary B

AM: In the morning you will fly from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands. At the airport on San Cristobal Island, after you will pay the entrance fee to the national park, a member of the crew will welcome you and accompany you to your ship.  After lunch and a security briefing, we will go on our first land-visit to Lobos Island, located across from San Cristobal Island. This is a seasonal nesting location for Blue-footed boobies and Frigatebirds. You also can enjoy swimming and snorkeling with sea lions in the island’s calm bay.

PM: In the afternoon we will follow the route that Charles Darwin once took and sail around the massive tuff-rock called “Kicker Rock,” which is a nesting site for hosts of seabirds. Here, you will be able to find Blue-footed boobies, pelicans, and frigate birds.  This is a great site for scuba diving, and hammerhead sharks can be seen in the area. 

AM: Today we will visit Floreana Island, considered to be one of the most exotic islands in the archipelago.  There are countless legends that are part of the history of this island, as pirates and buccaneers were drawn to this island in search of for food and water. Later the island was colonized by Norwegians, Brits, and Germans, among others in search of a way to make money from what they hoped to discover here. The name Floreana is in honor of Juan Jose Flores, Ecuador’s first president.  On the island, we will visit Post Office Bay where the legendary post barrel that whalers historically used to put their mail in is still kept. You can leave a letter here in hopes that it will make to its destination via another tourist.  So don’t forget to bring postcards along.

PM: This afternoon’s excursion is to the Cormorant Point visitor site. After a wet landing on the beach, we will go down a 100-meter-long path to a mangrove lagoon, which is home to Galapagos ducks, black herons, oystercatchers, and plovers.  With a little bit of luck, you can also see flamingos. Another path leads to a small beach that is an important nesting site for sea turtles. In the shallow water here, one can often find stingrays and Whitetip reef sharks now and then.   

Later, you will be able to take advantage of the great snorkeling opportunities at “Devil’s Crown” (Corona del Diablo), a broken volcanic cone that is one of the most beautiful places for snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands. The underwater world here includes reef sharks, starfish, sea turtles, sea lions and a host of tropical fish species.

AM: Our destination for today is Genovesa Island, considered to be one of the wildest and most pristine islands in Galapagos National Park. Known as “Bird Island,” Genovesa is the only place where you will be able to see Red-footed boobies. After a wet landing at Genovesa Island’s Darwin Bay, we will walk along a short path that leads through the nesting sites of booby and frigatebird colonies. On the beach, you can observe the interesting spectacle of how frigate birds try to rob the prey of the different species of boobies.

PM: In the afternoon we will go ashore at a crater wall where Prince Phillip’s Steps are located.  These stairs were carved in the stone wall and lead up to a wide plateau where you will find nesting places of great frigate birds, red-billed tropic birds, Bahama ducks, lava seagulls, and fork-tailed seagulls. During this easy stroll, we will cross a little scalesia wood where you can observe the short-eared owl.  With a little bit of luck, you will also be able to observe the unique courtship carried out by various species of boobies (Red- and Blue-footed boobies as well as masked boobies). It truly is a show.  The same path will lead us back to your boat.

AM: After a dry landing on North Seymour Island, we will take a short walk along the coast. Here you will encounter Swallow-tailed gulls, sea lions, and Cliff crabs. This part of Seymour Island is also known for being a major nesting site for Blue-footed boobies and the largest colony of Magnificent frigatebirds, a species different from the Great frigatebird. We can also spot both of the endemic species of iguanas: marine iguanas and land iguanas. You will enjoy this relaxing hike around the nesting sites.

PM: We will then visit the Highlands of Santa Cruz Island, where the lush landscape is a welcome contrast to the arid scenery of the smaller, lower islands. On the way, we will cross through different vegetation zones – from the dry lower region full of cactuses to the scalesia woods in the Highlands.  There one can find two small agricultural communities that grow the famous organic Galapagos coffee.  While in the Highlands you will have the option of visiting one of two tortoise breeding centers: El Chato or Rancho Las Primicias. At either site, approaching these enormous and slow-moving reptiles is always an inspiring adventure. The El Chato tortoise reserve was founded in 1964 to allow visitors to observe the island’s huge Galapagos turtles and White herons in their natural habitat. You will also be able to walk through nearby underground lava tunnels formed during volcanic eruptions. As the outside of the lava hardened, the inside continued to flow to the ocean, creating these tunnels. Alternatively, Rancho Primicias is a great place to see about ten to fifteen Galapagos giant tortoises in the wild. In addition to being able to view the ocean from this location in the Highlands, you can walk through a lava cave that was formed by a volcanic eruption.