Eastern Highlights 8-Day Galapagos Cruise - Koln Yacht

 Flight from mainland Ecuador (Quito or Guayaquil) to Baltra, with LATAM Airlines. Your guide will meet you at arrivals gate, our crew will take care of your luggage.  Your guide will conduct you to a bus and after a short 5-kilometer ride to the pier; you board the Yacht immediately. As the crew weighs anchor, we greet you with our first orientation and we offer a light snack. After navigating, we make a panga ride on Black Turtle Cove, series of mangrove-surrounded coves and islets; here we can observe white-tipped sharks, marine turtles, spotted eagle rays, and yellow cownosed rays.  In the evening you have an orientation about the Galapagos Islands in general: their origin and evolution. Welcome cocktail with the entire crew, and dinner 

After breakfast, you take a panga ride and you make a dry landing on Prince Phillips’s Steps (Barranco), you walk and observe the interesting lives of the birds here. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and snorkel or kayak.  You come on board for a delicious lunch. Later in the afternoon, you make a wet landing on Darwin Bay to walk and observe frigate birds, herons, mockingbirds, boobies, shorebirds, turtles, marine iguanas, etc. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or kayak. Dinner on the Yacht, and then your orientation about conservation efforts made to protect the Islands. 

After breakfast, we make a wet landing on Rabida, to walk and observe marine iguanas and sea lions, pelicans, blue-footed boobies, masked boobies and brown pelicans. We walk and we arrive at a small saltwater lagoon where we can see pink flamingos. Optional: time for those who would like to swim or snorkel. Return to the Yacht for lunch. Later in the afternoon   you make a dry landing on Dragon Hill, where you can see land iguanas; you walk to a hypersalinic lagoon (saltier than the ocean), where you can observe flamingos, common stilts, pintail ducks and other species of birds. Optional: time for those who would like to swim or snorkel.  At the end of the afternoon, we return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation.

After breakfast, disembark at Puerto Ayora to start the visit to the Interpretation Center Fausto Llerena, then, you will to take the bus to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island for a visit to the native forests, you will be delighted with the lunch in the ranch. After lunch, you will visit the ranch to see the tortoises in the wildlife, and twin craters. Return to the Port for a walk through the little town to appreciate various handicrafts. We have a welcome cocktail with the entire crew, and dinner.

After breakfast, you make a wet landing, you will continue to the Baroness Point view, named due to the presence of a particular character who lived on Floreana Island, it is the Baroness Eloisa von Wagner, you will enjoy of the beautiful landscape and the ruins of her house; then, we will stop at Post Office Bay, a historic site that recalls the days of the whalers, who presumably placed a wooden barrel in the 18th century to use it as a post office. Return to the Yacht for lunch. In the afternoon, you make a wet landing on Cormorant Point for a short walk to the Flamingo Lagoon of this island. You then continue the walk until we reach the beach called "La Picona" to see marine turtles and their spawning grounds. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and snorkel. Then, we make a panga ride on Champion Islet, a small island off the Coast of Floreana Island. The principal attraction of Champion Islet is the nearly-extinct Charles (Floreana) Mockingbird. Visitors can also observe bird species such as Swallow-tailed Gulls, Nazca Boobies or Brown Noddies. It is a great place for snorkeling; we will see sea turtles, reef fishes, Galapagos Penguins and white-tipped reef sharks. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and/or snorkel.  You return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation. 

After breakfast, you make an early dry landing on Punta Suarez to walk along lava beds where you will observe unique colonies of marine birds, including Albatross (May - December). Return to the Yacht for lunch. In the afternoon, you make a wet landing in Gardner Bay for a walk on the beach and observe a colony of sea lions, which inhabit the beach in great quantity during the breeding season; this is also an important nesting area for sea turtles. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or kayak. Then, we make a panga ride around the Osborn Islet and the islets of Gardner.  Return to the Yacht for dinner and our nightly orientation. 

After breakfast, your experienced Captain sails easily around Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido), a massive tuff-rock that juts abruptly almost 500 feet straight from the ocean. Kicker Rock serves as nesting place for many sea birds. Then, you make a wet landing on Cerro Brujo to walk on a white sand beach and observe sea lions, brown pelicans, marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies. Optional: time for those who would like to swim, snorkel or Kayak. You come aboard for a delicious lunch. In the afternoon, you make a dry landing on San Cristobal port, visit to the Interpretation Center Gianni Arismendy at Port, where you learn about the origin and evolution of the Galapagos Islands, regarding the human, natural and conservation aspects. Time in town to do your last shopping or to go to the ATM. You return to the Yacht for dinner, and our nightly orientation. 

After breakfast, you make an early wet landing on Mosquera Islet, a reef of rocks and coral (the result of an uprising) and a great white sand beach and tide pools. You observe colonies of sea lions, brown pelicans, blue-footed boobies and sally light-foot crabs, the contrast between these bright red crabs on top and blue on the bottom and the black lava is stunning. Optional: time for those who would like to swim and snorkel. You return to the Yacht for disembarking on the pier at 09:00. Your guide accompanies you on the bus ride directly to the airport