Santa Cruz Island: Upon your arrival to the airport in Baltra Island, you will be transferred to the dock to get onboard Galapagos Legend Cruise Ship. After settling in the yacht and lunch, you will take a bus ride to Santa Cruz Highlands, where you will visit a private reserve to see Giant Galapagos Tortoises in their natural habitat OR you will visit Black Turtle Cove. After this activity, you will return to the yacht for dinner and rest.
Full itinerary map here: http://bit.ly/legend-8-days-ab
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 this 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. During the afternoon, you will head to Mosquera Islet, a low lying islet, with a coral sand beach, where a great colony of sea lions resides. It is also a good place to spot herons, lava gulls and boobies. You can snorkel or dive to see sharks, rays and barracudas. End of the day and dinner onboard.
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Port Egas and Rabida Island: Early in the morning, the cruise will take you to Egas Port, at Santiago Island, known for its volcanic shoreline, where a colony of endemic Galapagos fur seals reside. You can also take an optional visit to an abandoned salt mine, which used to work back in the forties. After this activity you will visit Rabida Island, distinctive for its red sand beach, due to the volcanic material that formed it; this place is also home to sea lions, endemic Galapagos doves and vermillion flycatchers. You can snorkel at the beach and take a hike to the Palo Santo Forest to view the entire bay from this spot.
Urbina Bay and Tagus Cove: After an early breakfast, you will disembark at Urbina Bay, on the western side of Isabela Island, a recent example of Galapagos volcanic upliftwhere you can see species like Galapagos Land Iguanas and Galapagos giant tortoises during the wet season. In the afternoon you will visit Tagus Cove, which used to be a hideout and deep water anchorage for pirates in past centuries. After a brief hike you will arrive to Darwin Lake, a stunning volcanic landscape, from where you can take amazing pictures. You can also snorkel along sea turtles, and sea lions.
Espinosa Point and Vicente Roca Point: After breakfast, you will head to Espinosa Point at Fernandina Island, the youngest one of the archipelago, this is home of the biggest colony of marine iguanas on the entire Archipelago and is also an ideal place for snorkeling and spot Galapagos penguins while doing this activity. During the afternoon you will visit Vicente Roca Point, a spectacular visitor site, surrounded by immense cliffs, product of an eroded volcano, this is also home of various species of boobies and is only accessible by dinghy. This is also a nice place for deep water snorkeling.
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Santa Cruz Island: At the beginning of the last day, you will land at Santa Cruz Island, and take a bus ride to Santa Cruz Highlands, to visit a private reserve and see giant Galapagos Tortoises in their natural habitat OR to see the Twin Craters. After this activity you will be transferred to the airport to take your flight back to the continent.
Breakfast