Aqua Naturalist 8 Days - Itinerary B

Upon your arrival to Baltra Airport, you will take a short bus ride to Ayora Port, and get onboard Aqua Yacht, once you settle in and have lunch onboard, you will head to the first visiting point, North Seymour, a small islet. which is also one of the most visited sites for the birdlife, since here resides one of the biggest extensive colony of blue footed boobies and frigate birds. After this visit head back to the yacht for dinner and rest.

Full itinerary map here: https://bit.ly/37kJBCF

After breakfast, you will head to South Plaza, part of to islands known as Islas Plazas, where various outstanding species of the archipelago reside, like hybrid iguanas, a result of crossing a male marine iguana and a female land iguana. The large population of iguanas is due to the presence of tuna, their favourite food. You can also spot swallow-tailed gulls ensting in the cliffs, frigate birds, and brown pelicans. In the afternoon head to Santa Fe island, which was formed by an uplift, and is home of endemic species like Galapagos Hawk, galapagos snake and mockingbird, and also two species of land iguanas. You can aslo snorkel at this spot, along with tropical fish and sea lions. After this visit head back to the yacht for dinner and rest.

In the morning, you will visit Cormorant Point, at Floreana Island, formed by samll volcanic cones, where a Palo Santo Forest can ve visited and there are also two beaches that you can visit, one with green sand, formed by olivine cristals, and one white like sand, formed by coral. In the afternoon, you will visit Post Office Bay and the Baroness Lookout.

In the morning, you will drive to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island to the National Park boundary, where you will see the Twin Craters and then you will visit El Chato Reserve to observe the giant tortoise of Santa Cruz Island in its natural habitat. In the afternoon, you will head to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where you will learn about the protection and conservation of the island, and visit the Breeding and Rearing Centre for young tortoises and adult Galapagos tortoises in captivity

Early in the morning, you will head to Dragon Hill, where you can spot two species: Galapagos Land Iguanas and American Flamingos. You can climb to a giant opuntia cacti site where this iguanas feed and breed, they appear as little dragons, hence the name of this place. There are also saline lagoons behind the beach,, where you can spot flamingos.  In the afternoon, you will visit Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island, the fourth largest island in the archipelago. This is a volcano active island, with many young lava flows and cones to be seen, and where land and marine iguanas reside.

After breakfast, you will head to Egas Port, and you will have a wet landing, and begin with an easy walk through the shoreline of the balck sand beach at this place, while spotting sea lions, salli lightfoot crabs, marine ioguanas, and Galapagos fur seals. In the afternoon, you will head to Chinese Hat, a small islet located at the southeastern tip of Santiago, this place is a recent volcanic cone, shaped like a Chinese hat, hence its name. This is an excellent place to see the formation of lava tubes and lava flows and you can also see marine iguanas, Galapagos penguins and sea lions that inhabit here.

You will begin the day with a wet landing at the red san beach of Rabida Island, it has this particular color beacuse of the oxidised iron particles that can be found there. Behind the beach there is a green fringed lagoon, and around here a palo santo forest tree grows. There are also a lot of aquatic birds, like pintails, and sometime flamingos. There is also a major colony of brown pelicans. In th afternoon head to Bartolome Island, a beautiful volcano island, which offers one of the wildest landscapes of the entire archipelago. You can climb to the highest point of this place to view the idyllic postcard view of Pinnacle Bay. After this visit head back to the yacht for dinner and rest.

Early in the morning, you will visit Mosquera Islet, place where one of the largest concentrations of Galapagos sea lions reside. And also one of the few spots in the national park where you can stroll freely, without being restricted to a trail. After this visit you will be transferred to Baltra Airport to take your flight back to the continent.