Legend 8 Days - Itinerary D+A

San Cristobal Interpretation Center: Upon your arrival to the airport in San Cristobal Island, you will be transferred to the dock to get onboard Galapagos Legend Cruise Ship. After settling in the yacht and lunch, you will visit San Cristobal Interpretation Center, where you will learn about the natural history of the islands, and the conservation efforts that have been made to preserve the native and endemic species that reside on the archipelago. Then, you will visit Frigatebird´s Hill, where you will be able to view all San Cristobal and the sea that surrounds the Island. End of the day and dinner onboard.

Full itinerary map here: http://bit.ly/legend-8-days-da

Gardner Bay and Suarez Point: The first visit of this day will be to Española Island, specifically to Gardner Bay, one of the most stunning beaches in all of Galapagos, home to a colony of Galapagos sea lions. You can also spot hood mockingbirds endemic to this island along with Darwin finches. You can also snorkel from the beach and you may spot marine turtles while doing this activity. In the afternoon, head to Suarez Point where you will take a walk on a lava terrain and spot marine iguanas, sea lions, endemic lizards and various species of boobies and gulls. End of the day and dinner onboard.

Post Office Bay and Cormorant Point: Early in the morning, the cruise will take you to Floreana Island, where you will visit Post Office Bay, which is the remain of the oldest functioning post office in the Pacific, that whalers and fur sealers used to send their letters, and it’s a tradition for tourists to post their letters to nowadays. During the afternoon, you will head to Cormorant Point, where you will visit an olivine sand beach and a lagoon inhabited by pink flamingoes, and also a white sand beach, that is a nesting area for sea turtles. From here, you can also visit Devil´s Crown, one of the most amazing snorkeling sites of the archipelago, and where you can spot turtles, eagle rays and hammerhead sharks while snorkeling, or you can visit Champion Islet.

Dragon Hill, is located in northwestern Santa Cruz Island, it consists of a trail that leads to a hyper-saline lagoon behind the beach, frequented by flamingos, pintail ducks and other species of birds. This site is also populated with land iguanas that were introduced here to reestablish this species & and in the afternoon you will visit Punta Bowditch (Santa Cruz Island)

At the beginning of this day you will take a bus ride to the last visiting point, Santa Cruz Highlands, where you will see the agricultural island zone and spot giant tortoises in their natural habitat.   After lunch, you go for a dinghy ride through Black Turtle Cove, where you can find 4 species of mangrove, and where you will spot turtles, herons, sharks and rays.

Prince Phillip’s Steps and Darwin Bay: Early in the morning, the cruise will land at Genovesa Island, and your first visit will be to El Barranco, also called Prince Phillip´s Steps. You will begin with a dinghy ride to the shoreline, where you will see fur seals, and then you will hike to the top of a rocky stairway, and once on top you will have a nice view of the island, and also see Nazca boobies, red footed boobies and mockingbirds. After this activity, you will head to Darwin Bay, and once there you will take a short trail past stands of mangroves which are nesting sites for red footed boobies and frigate birds. End of the day and dinner onboard.

First activity of the day will be landing on South Plaza Island where you will see various species of land iguanas, marine iguanas and hybrids of this species. In the afternoon, after lunch, you will head to Santa Fe Island, which is a great place to snorkel and swim along sea lions. This place is also the home of endemic species like the Galapagos Hawk, and native Santa Fe iguanas. 

Bachas Beach: At the beginning of the last day you will head to Bachas Beach, place that was used as a strategic spot during WWII by the U.S to defend Panama Channel. This is also a green sea turtle nesting spot, and is home to marine iguanas and flamingos. After this activity you will be transferred to Baltra Airport to take your flight back to the continent.