Travel Detail

Depart from Quito or Guayaquil to Baltra Island, a flight lasting roughly two hours and 30 minutes (included). Arriving in the Galapagos, you will be picked up at the airport by naturalist guides who will welcome you to the archipelago and assist with the transfer to the nearby pier. After getting acquainted with the vessel, you'll soon disembark on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island, an area accessible only by sea. Here, in Black Turtle Cove, four species of mangrove crowd and form an internal lagoon, and turtles visit the calm waters, peaking their heads above the surface while fish, rays circle below. White-tipped reef sharks can be seen beneath the boat, plus sea birds, including pelicans, herons and egrets. This cove has been declared as a "turtle sanctuary". Please note, on certain sailings, the visit to Black Turtle Cove may be replaced with a visit to the Highlands Tortoise Reserve on Santa Cruz Island.

This legendary, 100-passenger, first-class vessel offers all the amenities of a large cruise liner without sacrificing the intimacy you'd expect on a small sailing craft, and consequently allows you to have it all.

This morning, marvel at the variety of sea life that uses the crevices of the lava cliffs for shelter. Red-billed Tropicbirds fly overhead, switching between their nests and the bay, and a small colony of fur seals may be found near the landing site. You will be dropped off at a steep stairway that begins on rocks at the foot of a path that leads through a seabird colony full of Nazca and Red-footed Boobies. At the plateau, the trail continues inland allowing you to see more nesting booby colonies in the thin Palo Santo forest. Near the end of the trail, over a rocky lava plain, Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels can be observed flying in all directions. If you are lucky, you may catch a glimpse of a Short-eared Owl. In the afternoon, disembark onto a small sand and coral beach. A short trail heads west along a tidal lagoon and then up a rocky hill that leads to a point overlooking the cliffs and Darwin Bay. Along the trail near the tidal lagoon, visitors will see pairs of Swallow-tailed Gulls, Lava Gulls, Yellow-crowned and Lava Herons. The trail continues through Palo Santo trees, Opuntia cacti, and Saltbushes inhabited by Great Frigate birds and Red-footed Boobies. This is one of the few places in the islands where visitors are guaranteed to see Red-footed Boobies. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Red-footed Boobies live in the trees and bushes of Genovesa.

This legendary, 100-passenger, first-class vessel offers all the amenities of a large cruise liner without sacrificing the intimacy you'd expect on a small sailing craft, and consequently allows you to have it all.

Sea lions, swallow-tailed gulls and land iguanas are all present at this morning's landing site - South Plaza Island. This small island is covered with a carpet of red succulent studded with Opuntia cacti. At the cliffs edge, spend some time watching birds fly past at eye level in the updraught. These include Frigatebirds, flocks of Galapagos shearwaters and red-billed tropicbirds. Back at sea level, you will once again encounter land iguanas, some of which have been hybridized with their marine cousins. In the afternoon, you'll make a wet landing on Santa Fe Island. Here you'll find white sand beaches surrounded by sea lion colonies; through the island path, an endemic cactus forest is passed, home the Santa Fe land iguanas (the largest in the islands). This island is the habitat for several species, including the Galapagos hawk, Galapagos snakes, rice rats (one of the few endemic Galapagos rodents), a variety of finches and one of the four mockingbird species of the archipelago.

This legendary, 100-passenger, first-class vessel offers all the amenities of a large cruise liner without sacrificing the intimacy you'd expect on a small sailing craft, and consequently allows you to have it all.

After breakfast, make one final wet landing, this time on the north side of Santa Cruz. Behind the beach lies two small flamingo ponds where iguanas sunbathe, coastal birds rest, and Darwin finches, mockingbirds, and gulls can be found, as well as interesting native vegetation like red and black mangrove, salt bushes. This beach is one of the main sea turtles nesting sites in the Galapagos. After visiting Bachas Beach, you will be transferred to the airport ahead of your return flight to Guayaquil or Quito.