Itinerary A

You will arrive at Baltra Island in the morning. After passing through immigration and baggage claim, you will be met by the Galaven staff and transferred to the yacht. You will be shown to your cabin where you will have some time to settle in before lunch and a welcome briefing.

Afterwards, you will enjoy the El Chato reserve, which is divided into two areas: Caseta and Chato. The trail begins at Santa Rosa (13.7 miles / 22 km) from Puerto Ayora, with the Caseta route being the most challenging. The reserve allows visitors to observe giant tortoises in the wild during the dry season and is also a good place to spot short-eared owls, Darwin’s finches, yellow warblers, Galapagos rails and paint-billed crakes.

In the morning you will visit Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz. The visitors’ site at Dragon Hill is located in northwestern Santa Cruz Island and consists of a 1,600 m long trail that runs through three different environments. The beach is very rocky. At high tide it’s a nice place for snorkeling. At this visiting site you can find vegetation of the typical intertidal zone and dry zone.

The afternoon visit Bachas Beach, located on the north shore of Santa Cruz, Bachas is a swimming beach. One of the few remnants of the U.S. World War II presence in the Galapagos, a floating pier, can be seen here. You may see flamingos, Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black-necked stilts, and whimbrels. Sea turtles also nest on the beach.

There are two visiting sites on Floreana Island. In the morning you will visit the famous Post Office Bay. You will land on  the beach and head to a spot where 18th-century whalers placed a wooden barrel for use as an unofficial mail box. The custom continues to this day with Galapagos visitors. So do not forget your postcards, and do not be surprised if the postcard arrives at its destination before you even get home!

In the afternoon, you will head to Cormorant Point. Here you will enjoy a hike to a salt-water lagoon which is home to flamingos. You will also get to swim in the crystal clear waters of the Devil’s Crown. This extinct volcano peaks out of the waters just off of Floreana’s coast and offers a magnificent snorkeling experience.

Española Island is the southernmost island of the Galapagos and is the breeding site of nearly all of the waved albatrosses in the entire world. Española is densely populated with mockingbirds, bluefootedand Nazca boobies, Darwin finches, Galapagos doves, hawks, red and green marine iguanas, and colonies of sea lions.

The morning trip will start with Suarez Point and a trail where you will have the chance to see bluefooted boobies, albatrosses and Nazca boobies. It is the breeding site of nearly all of the world’s 12,000 pairs of Waved Albatrosses. You will also visit a beautiful site on the ocean front where there is a cliff that the large albatrosses use as a launching pad! The landscape is great for photography and you will also have the chance to see the famous blowhole.

In the afternoon, you will visit the spectacular Gardner Bay. After landing, you can walk across a lovely white- sand beach amongst a busy sea lion colony or dive into the water to swim with sea lion pups. You
can also see curious mockingbirds on the beach.

In the morning you will visit The Interpretation Center which opened in 1998 as a phase of the project “Interpretation and Environment Education Project.” Visitors enjoy exhibitions on natural history, human history, and conservation. The conservation efforts represent the movement to protect the wildlife and natural environment through means of population and tourist control. The Interpretation Center has an outdoor stadium, audio-visual equipment, and meeting rooms.

After this final visit, you will be transferred to the San Cristobal airport in time for your flight back to the
mainland.